Member feature: Charting a new course - The leap from Healthcare to International business
Since childhood, I have always dreamed of a service-oriented career, one where I could make a meaningful difference in people’s lives.
This passion initially led me to pursue laboratory science after completing my schooling. For several years, I dedicated myself to patient care through diagnostic work, performing laboratory tests on patient specimens and contributing healing process behind the scenes. I loved helping people. I have enjoyed this work, and it has given me a deeper purpose in my life. I thought I would spend my entire professional life in healthcare.
However, as time passed, something unexpected began to stir in me-a curiosity about the bigger picture. This led me to think outside the box and leave my home country for Finland to study. It was a transformative decision, marking a beginning of new chapter.
Today, I am studying international business. This may seem like a complete U-turn, but for me, it’s not about leaving my previous passion and career; it’s about giving myself the opportunity to expand and consider how I can make an impact. I still carry with me the desire to serve, and make an impact. What’s changed is my perspective.
Healthcare is rewarding, but it can also be physically exhausting and emotionally burnout. During the pandemic, working as a frontliner presented great challenges to my physical and emotional well-being. Additionally, healthcare workers are often paid the least, especially in private hospitals and clinics in my home country, Nepal. These challenges pushed many of us to seek opportunities abroad – whether for further education or better working conditions.
Becoming a student again
Leaving a career I have built over six years and again starting a school wasn’t an easy decision. Attending lectures, googling business terms that are unfamiliar made me wonder that if I have made a huge mistake. But something unexpected happened after I started the studies. I began to feel excited again and made me realize how much there is still to learn. Learning about global market, digitalization, supply chains, negotiation strategies opened my mind in a way that I have never expected. I saw a connection between healthcare and business in the areas like medical technologies and healthcare innovations.
What healthcare taught me about business
I found that the skills that I gained from healthcare are surprisingly transferable to business.
Empathy: Empathy is essential not only in patient care, it is also very crucial for leadership, team dynamics, and customer understanding. When you are designing a service or a product, truly understanding the needs and feelings of others plays a central role in delivering value and building trust.
Critical thinking: This is valuable skill learned while solving the problems in any sectors whether it is business or healthcare.
Adaptability: Staying calm under pressure is very crucial whether is about caring patient or risks that arises in business, supply chains etc.
Communication: Communication is equally important among teams whether it is business team or a healthcare. Additionally, if you can explain the diagnosis report to the patient, then you can also explain a pitch to a stakeholder. This can be related to the customer care or customer service also which measures how you treat your cusotomers, is the customers satisfied with the way you deal.
Final thoughts
After the transition, I have found more opportunities ahead.
Of course, changes aren’t so easy-but it’s often where the growth happens. Leaving a field that I have known well to the field to which I am totally unknown is not just a career move but it was an act of self-trust. Now I have realized that transitions are not the signs of failure, but they are the signs of evolution.
If you find yourself standing at the crossroads, it’s a reminder that it’s okay to outgrow old dreams. It’s okay to want more, even if it means starting over. The things that you have achieved in the past will not lose its value just because you are choosing the different future.
Whatever it is, we must keep going and my we never stop becoming who we are meant to be.
About the author:
Sriti Maharjan
A former healthcare professional from Nepal with over six years of experience in laboratory diagnostics, now transitioning into the world of global systems, personal growth, and the pursuit of broader impact.
Currently a student of International Business at SAMK, bringing a strong foundation in empathy, critical thinking, adaptability, and communication — skills honed in healthcare and now applied to business contexts.
Sriti joined PoriES in search of community and a place to try different skills, as well as learn more about different aspects of business in Finland.
You can connect with her over Linkedin.