Shoi Parker traded a career in financial services for a career in healing.
Before enrolling in the R.N.-B.S.N. program at RIC, Shoi Parker was an M.B.A.-degree holder employed in financial services both domestically and abroad. She said it was the excellent nursing care she received during the birth of her first child that inspired her to become a nurse.
She is a 2014 Student Honor Roll Scholarship Recipient, a recipient of the Nursing Faculty Award for academic excellence and a member of the Sigma Theta Tau international honor society for nurses.
Parker is described by RIC nursing faculty as “an exceptional nursing student, with a diverse skill set” and “a real problem-solver.”
Using her background in financial services, she conducted independent research and prepared a financial analysis that could potentially help hospitals, nationwide, reduce the amount of Medicaid and Medicare revenue they lose each year.
Under Obamacare, Parker explained, hospitals must meet specific performance standards in order to receive full reimbursement from Medicare or Medicaid, which is paid for by the government. If a patient comes to the hospital with a hip fracture but is not turned in bed every two hours by the nurse and develops bed sores, the government will deduct the cost of treating the bed sores from the patient’s Medicaid or Medicare bill. “Hospitals end up losing a great deal of money,” she said. Parker was able to determine exactly how much they would lose. She also discovered that the majority of the government’s performance standards are based on nursing care. Parker proposed that if hospitals would take some of the funding they lose to the government each year and invest it in better nursing support, such as hiring more R.N.s and nursing assistants, they could advert some of their loss in revenue. “Ultimately, nursing performance has a great impact on the economic health of a hospital,” she said.
As a Sigma Theta Tau International (STTI) Rising Star of Nursing, Parker presented a proposal at the STTI annual conference. She was also a select invitee to the MA-RI Partners Investing in Nursing’s Future Interprofessional Education Collaborative Annual Conference.
“Shoi is a remarkable student,” said RIC nursing faculty. “She is clearly a leader among her peers.”