Meet Online Healthcare Systems Engineering Student: Justin Dizon

The decision to go back to school isn’t always an easy one—it’s an investment in time, money and effort. Like with any big life decision, you want to make sure it’s a good one. UCF student Justin Dizon is here to share his experience, discuss the benefits of a master’s degree and answer your top questions about UCF Online’s Master’s in Industrial Engineering, Healthcare Systems Engineering program.

 

Student’s often wonder if they can work while pursuing their master’s degree. Do you currently work?
I’m currently an analytics manager for a large healthcare organization in which part of my team actually deals with a lot of industrial engineers and analysts of all sorts.

Is this why you decided to return to school? Why choose an online healthcare systems engineering degree?
Right after finishing my bachelor’s and working for a healthcare institution, I knew I wanted to get a master’s degree. I was actually torn between a MSIE or nursing informatics degree because I felt weaker in those areas. I was really into data and information because that’s what’s really helping to drive understanding and designing solutions, but I also wanted to impact more than just a specific area of healthcare. I wanted to see if I could be involved in a program that would allow me to grow and tackle issues within my organization, but also at a large scale, like governmental or national levels. I wanted to be able to have that perspective — that’s one of the main reasons I chose this program.

How would you describe the program?
It’s been quite a ride. It’s been very informational and heavy, but a very beneficial experience overall. The program addresses both engineering aspects, especially that systems-thinking approach, and healthcare-institution knowledge. It really ties that understanding of the industry together. Healthcare is a very complex industry. There are multiple challenges all tied together on a very grand scale. Its outcomes, when improved, are not just saving dollars, but about saving lives. That’s one of the things that really closely ties me both to this program and to what I do for a living.

Finding the “right program” at the “right university” can feel intimidating. What made UCF’s online healthcare-systems engineering program stand out?
The integration of healthcare and industrial engineering principles is what stood out to me. Looking back, this healthcare-systems engineering program not only really weighs in the understanding of healthcare as an industry, but also healthcare from all sorts of levels. For instance, this program helps provide the strategy needed — whether you’re going to be working with doctors and nurses who are aligning with you to improve a specific process, reducing the amount of errors happening during processes dealing with patients or even just making these processes more affordable and accessible to patients. Because of this, the HSE program really aligns with my passion and my drive in the career that I’m in.

This programs combine two industries that can bring in different types of students. Would you say this program is more suited for an engineering background or a healthcare background?
Whether you’re coming in with an engineering or healthcare background, you’ll notice that the program really helps address your weaker side. Although my background wasn’t in healthcare, as a program graduate coming into a healthcare institution I’ve learned to recognize the complexity of the healthcare industry including all of its layers, both vertical and horizontal.

Let’s pivot to your experience as an online student. How was it taking classes online?
The experience has been very flexible and forgiving for me as an online student. This is something that I was hoping for as my responsibilities in both my job and in life fluctuate, whether planned or not. The course work and scheduling are very manageable and the instructors are understanding when there is a need to be flexible with the program. It was also a helpful experience gaining some exposure to other students who are in different parts of the country along with the companies they work for.

Did you interact with your peers?
I came into the program with more of that industrial engineering knowledge and, through my courses, I was able to share more of my experiences and thought processes with my peers with some having different backgrounds than myself. Interacting with my peers allowed me to see my weakness, but also strengthen them as we go through all aspects of the courses together, including different parts of the curriculum.

That sounds like a great way to expand your learning. What are some of the biggest benefits of a healthcare systems sciences degree?
I think one major benefit, if I were to sum this up, is that this program provides a holistic view of how we can start to improve healthcare as an industry from all different types of levels. Exposure to all the different topics and curriculum provides that holistic perspective that helps drive more questions like, “Why am I doing this? Why do I wake up every morning to do what I do?” Having the level of understanding that this program provides has been just a huge benefit to my day-to-day along with inspiring that passion and fire I have for improving healthcare as a whole.

The UCF Online master’s and certificate programs in healthcare systems sciences is made for anyone that is passionate about improving healthcare. Take the next step towards building your healthcare systems engineering career—get connected to a coach and start exploring your options.