Patrícia de Oliveira has been a community health agent at a health center for 4 years, and she really enjoys what she does, especially because she remembers how this job opportunity changed her life. But she decided to expand her career possibilities even further by going back to school in pursuit of a leadership role in health care.
Contents
- The motivation behind pursuing a leadership role in health care
- A life change through professional fulfillment
- What sets the facilities apart in practice
An undergraduate student in Hospital Management, Patrícia says that returning to school after a long time away from academia has been a real challenge, but one she decided to take on, fitting her studies into her busy work routine.
And besides work and school, the health agent also mentions a very important part of her life that motivates her return to the classroom: her 16-year-old daughter, for whom she wants to be a role model in valuing education as something essential for professional development.
The motivation behind pursuing a leadership role in health care
Looking back on the last few years of her career, Patrícia says: “We stay settled in our situation for a long time, and there comes a point when you want to change direction and move up; nobody expects to stay an ACS (community health agent) or a secretary for the rest of their life.”
And the GH (Hospital Management) program has already brought meaningful progress in her current role. Combining her experience as a community health agent with the new knowledge she has been gaining, she already sees opportunities to make her work even better, especially in terms of ethics and how to deal with people.
“We end up taking some of the topics from class into our everyday lives; they are situations that happen in my day-to-day work, and others that we notice aren’t good and could be improved. Dealing with people is very hard, so I think it has a lot to do with that, knowing how to deal with people, respect.”
A life change through professional fulfillment
The opportunity to work with people, dedicating herself to care in the health field, is something Patrícia finds deeply fulfilling, something that truly changed her life for the better.
Especially because she went through a period of depression, during which she felt as though she had lost much of what she had achieved up to that point, both for herself and for her family. During her recovery, however, the opportunity to work at the health center was an important source of support.
Dealing with the stories and life situations involving other people’s health gave Patrícia new perspectives, including a rediscovery of her own professional potential through a wealth of new learning.
Through her undergraduate program, she is now finding new tools to keep getting better at what she does and thus find even more fulfillment, including through an even more valued position.
What sets the facilities apart in practice
In addition to this curriculum-based learning, which she has already been applying in her own work routine, Patrícia mentions structural aspects of Fapuga, features she sees as truly distinctive for her learning:
“When I got here I was very impressed, I really liked it; the professors are very attentive, dynamic, really nice people; the college itself welcomes us very well, it has really great facilities that you don’t find in other places; we don’t see this at other institutions.”
Asked what won her over most about the institution, she also highlights the availability of laptops for each student, a technology many people don’t have access to and that makes all the difference for doing assignments, exploring software and studying more thoroughly.
All of this makes a difference in shaping an even more competent professional, a hospital manager with a truly qualified perspective and, as mentioned, with the tools to handle the different situations that a position of responsibility demands.
And having learned a bit about Patrícia’s story so far, we are certain she is on the right path to becoming a leading professional in what she does, landing a leadership role in health care, and much more if her dreams and ambitions so desire.
