Healthcare is a broad field that encompasses various occupations. Selecting your ideal position depends on your own interests and qualifications as well as your desired work environment. These are the right careers in healthcare.
Some healthcare careers provide more flexible work schedule options, while others are more limited in scope. Here are some of the more commonly seen healthcare career options to consider:
Nurses
Nurses are charged with the diagnosis and treatment of their patients, working closely with physicians and healthcare professionals to meet patient needs. Nurses also play a vital role in providing educational materials on conditions they treat to help educate patients on managing their own healthcare and resources for managing it effectively.
Nurses work in various environments, including hospitals, schools, and long-term care facilities. Some nurses specialize in home care – providing healthcare services directly to patients at their homes – while others educate the general public on healthy lifestyle choices and disease prevention.
Nursing can be an exciting career that helps you reach your life goals. It offers high salaries and an exciting yet fulfilling work environment while giving you the chance to make real differences in people’s lives.
Occupational Therapists
Occupational therapists assist their clients to overcome physical, cognitive, and emotional limitations that restrict daily activities. Working closely with them, occupational therapists help patients improve their quality of life. Evaluation and personalized treatment plans are developed specifically for each client to promote healing and participation in everyday tasks.
Occupational therapists (OTs) can also pursue careers as clinical educators or hospital administrators, which require someone who is goal-driven, outgoing, and can establish relationships quickly. These roles usually have quotas to meet and offer less direct career advancement.
Occupational therapy services can be found everywhere from homes to community settings, hospitals, nursing homes, primary care offices, and schools. Therapists work with children all the way up to injured warriors and the elderly. With special equipment and exercises, they help restore independence with services like learning a new prosthetic limb or using public transit for transportation purposes.
Physical Therapists
Physical therapy (or “physiotherapy,” in some countries) is an established healthcare career that provides direct hands-on care to patients in order to help them meet their personal goals for pain reduction and mobility improvement. Physical therapists (PTs) collaborate with people of all ages and abilities in order to increase mobility while managing pain effectively and decreasing surgery or prescription drug requirements.
Physical therapists utilize evaluation sessions to devise care plans to guide their work. These plans may include specific personal goals such as pain and stiffness reduction or movement and strength enhancement.
Physical therapy programs typically require students to hold both a high school diploma and bachelor’s degree from an approved field, though some students opt for 3+3 programs that enable them to complete both undergraduate studies and professional doctorate degrees within three years. Depending on their specialty, some physical therapists also participate in clinical residency.
Occupational Therapy Assistants
Occupational therapy assistants work alongside occupational therapists in offices, hospitals, and nursing care facilities. Their duties involve providing patients with special equipment necessary for daily activities and instructing them on its use.
Occupational Therapists also help people engage in meaningful tasks to occupy their time, which helps in recovering from emotional, physical, cognitive, or social impairments. OT assistants assist patients of all ages ranging from newborns to the elderly. Furthermore, they often offer vital moral support.
OTAs provide one of the fastest paths into healthcare careers, requiring only two years of college to secure employment. Their pay and job outlook is excellent. Unfortunately, however, their work often involves standing and lifting, potentially placing them at risk of injuries; additionally, they could come into contact with infectious diseases when caring for patients with infectious conditions.
Phlebotomists
Phlebotomists, one of the top careers in healthcare, draw blood for laboratory tests used to diagnose illness or evaluate medication efficacy. They also perform other related duties such as briefing patients to create an enjoyable experience and disinfecting collection areas.
Blood bank professionals as careers in healthcare commonly work in hospitals, nursing homes, or doctors’ offices. Throughout each shift, these professionals make rounds collecting blood samples from multiple patients as requested by treating physicians.
Phlebotomy requires only minimal training to enter, making it an attractive gateway into other medical careers. Phlebotomists must possess strong interpersonal skills in order to put patients at ease during procedures that can cause anxiety; additionally, they require exceptional attention to detail when it comes to finding veins for drawing samples correctly and correctly locating veins for drawing blood samples – it offers both job satisfaction and great pay! A career in phlebotomy offers job satisfaction as well as great pay.
Medical Laboratory Technicians
Medical laboratory technicians play an invaluable role in healthcare. From clinical settings to labs, medical laboratory technicians collect samples and conduct tests on body fluids and tissues to ensure treatments such as blood transfusions are safe and successful.
Lab technicians must also keep their facilities organized, following best practices to ensure specimens are labeled correctly and delivered on time. Furthermore, they provide quality assurance checks on equipment to detect any errors which must be immediately reported to supervisors for correction.
High school diplomas typically are sufficient for employment as medical lab technicians; however, an accredited college degree is usually necessary in order to become certified. Search online MLT programs at schools that offer them, so you can earn your degree wherever it may take place – such as SNHU which provides affordable bachelor’s and master’s degrees with competitive tuition costs that vary by program – starting now (tuition may differ according to program). *Eligibility rules and restrictions may apply*
Medical Records Technicians
Medical records technicians (also referred to as health information technicians) oversee the paperwork moving through hospitals and physicians’ offices, often acting largely administratively and seldom interacting directly with patients.
Working as a medical transcriptionist requires meticulous attention to detail and outstanding interpersonal communication skills, particularly since medical transcriptionists work directly with healthcare staff, administrators, and insurance companies, often working in healthcare facilities or insurance agencies – thus needing to collaborate effectively in order to be effective.
Some workers, like medical coders and cancer registrars, perform specialized jobs that require additional education and certification. Medical coders specialize in classifying healthcare concepts into numerical codes used by the industry, while cancer registrars keep records on cancer patients. Both professions fall within the healthcare sector’s high demand and projected nine percent annual growth through 2030.
Medical Coding Specialists
Medical coders’ careers in healthcare examine patient records and physician documentation before translating it into industry-specific codes. Furthermore, they utilize software programs for processing healthcare claims and performing accounts receivable functions.
Coders may work for small and large health facilities alike, including private practice offices, hospital billing departments, and telehealth companies. Based on employer needs and job qualifications, they may focus on either coding or auditing duties.
Medical coding requires strong attention to detail, computer skills, and confidentiality management abilities. HIPAA regulations and payer policies for reimbursement, claims processing, and patient privacy must also be abided by. Many colleges provide certificate, diploma, or associate degree programs that prepare graduates for entry-level jobs in this field – some even offering financial aid assistance as part of these courses.
Medical Billing Specialists
Medical billing specialists as one of the best careers in healthcare work in healthcare facilities to manage insurance claims, invoices, and payments from insurance companies. They use standardized codes to interpret provider diagnoses and services into information that insurance providers can bill for.
Medical coders and billers also gather and analyze data regarding healthcare costs, patterns of disease, and injury to help inform policy. Medical coders and billers may also be accountable for filing insurance claim denial appeals and tracking payments while following up with patients.
Individuals in this profession typically possess vocational or postsecondary education in areas like computer systems, medical terminology, communication skills, and coding systems. Some also pursue professional certification through medical billing organizations.
Medical Transcriptionists
Medical transcriptionists or healthcare documentation specialists listen to audio recordings made by doctors or other healthcare providers and translate them into text format. While most work at doctors’ offices or hospitals, there are also opportunities available remotely from home.
MTs use speech recognition software to transcribe speech into text; format and reword reports; review for errors in translation, punctuation, and grammar as well as ensure the accuracy of terminology; keep records organized and up-to-date; assist with keeping them organized and up-to-date.
While medical transcriptionist jobs have seen some decrease, this profession still provides job stability and pay. This is particularly evident in large metropolitan areas like Atlanta, Denver, and Boston where higher-paying medical transcriptionist jobs exist – where average salary exceeds the national average likely due to increased cost of living factors.