With an aging population and new innovations in medical diagnosis and treatment, healthcare jobs are growing faster than in any other field. An aging population needs more health services while healthcare innovations increase the use of medications and the demand for treatment facilities.
Even though healthcare provides job opportunities both to health services professionals and others such as accountants, personnel officers, buyers, computer programmers and food service personnel, the emphasis in this article is on health services professionals.
Health Services Professionals
Health services require both professionals with advanced training and technicians with different kinds of operational skills. We look at the range of healthcare jobs in this market. This is more an indicative list rather than an exhaustive one.
Physicians, dentists, chiropractors, optometrists and veterinarians are professionals who require varying levels of training
Technologists and technicians in clinical laboratory, EEG, EKG, nuclear medicine, radiology and surgical work
Health technicians like dental hygienists, dispensing opticians and emergency medicine technicians
Dieticians and nutritionists, occupational, physical, recreational and respiratory therapists and speech pathologists
Pharmacists and pharmacy technicians
Registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, nursing aides and psychiatric aides
Home care nurse, health aides, medical assistants and social workers
Medical billing specialist, coding specialist, patient account representative and insurance claims/reimbursement specialists
Medical records technicians
Medical transcriptionists
As would be immediately evident, the field is quite extensive, and could extend further with new innovations in diagnosis and treatment.
Healthcare Jobs Information Resources
Each of the healthcare jobs requires specialized training, certification and licensing. Being a matter of life and death, unlicensed practitioners are not allowed to work in healthcare fields. Licenses are granted by different states in the USA, and each state has its own licensing regulations.
There are many sources for information on healthcare jobs.
The US Department of Labor publishes projected demands for different kinds of labor. Similar projections might be published by the healthcare industry also. These projections can help you select a healthcare job that is in line with your inclinations and also promises a growing demand.
Then there are numerous career centers, on the ground and on the Web, which will provide you information about each job. You can get information on:
What the job involves. A description of the work that the job involves.
Qualifications needed to be hired, and details of education and training needed to acquire the qualifications
Training institutions and admissions procedure
The formalities regarding certifications and licensing, such as the need for internship
Career progression paths indicating the potential for growth in job satisfaction and earnings
Current earnings levels in each healthcare job
Associations of healthcare professionals and technicians
These career centers also interview persons engaged in each occupation and publish the interview details. These published interviews portray life in each profession, the kind of satisfaction it can provide, and give you a more realistic picture of what to expect if you choose it. |
