If you’re eager to start a career in the healthcare industry, you’re not alone.
Right now, millions of undergraduates are completing their medical degrees. In addition to this, millions of others are completing certificates and online training courses in order to advance their careers and open up more opportunities.
But why is this? It’s simple—the healthcare industry is a great place to be.
There are lots of different attraction points. You get to help different communities, work with ambitious colleagues, and experience the prestige of having a respectable career.
Not only this but there are also lots of career advancement opportunities. Essentially, no matter what role you’re in, there’s a chance for you to climb up the ladder, take on more responsibilities, and ultimately experience great career satisfaction.
With that covered, let’s now go through the best jobs in the medical field today.
Health Administrator
Being a health administrator is one of the most prestigious roles you can have in the industry.
Typically, health administrators work in either hospitals or private health practices.
As a health administrator, there are a variety of different roles that you will take on, including:
- Overseeing day-to-day administrative tasks
- Planning and supervising all medical services
- Budgeting
- Keep health records up to date and well organized
- Holding face-to-face meetings with employees
- Listening to feedback from patients
To become a health administrator, you can’t simply walk into the job—even if you have a bachelor’s degree that’s part of the medical field. Instead, most health administrators return to university to study an executive master of health administration degree. This way, they get to learn all the knowledge they need surrounding management, team leading, data, and analytics.
After completing their master’s degrees, healthcare professionals can then apply for new and more advanced roles within the industry. Or, they can progress up the ranks within their existing organization, whether it’s a public hospital or private clinic.
Without a master’s degree or specialist training, it’s very difficult for a healthcare professional to make the transition into becoming a health administrator. If you ask any health administrator today for advice regarding this, they will tell you that education, training, and experience are the key factors behind their success.
Surgeon
Surgeons are some of the hardest-working professionals in the medical field today. On average, they work around 50-60 hours per week. A portion of this time is spent on call, which is where surgeons are in standby mode for if any emergency surgeries or procedures need to be done (for example, if an individual gets in a really bad car accident and is in a critical condition).
The attractiveness of being a surgeon isn’t just limited to the US—surgeons are also extremely regarded across Europe, Asia, and Africa. Plus, the benefits that come with the role are endless.
Becoming a surgeon is a very complicated process. Usually, it involves:
- Earning a five-year degree in medicine
- Completing a two-year foundation program based on general training
- Completing two years of surgical training within a recognized hospital
- A further six years of specialist training
It’s a long journey to becoming a qualified surgeon, but it’s highly rewarding if you can make it to the end.
Moving forward into the future, the demand for surgeons is going to continue growing, meaning it’s more than possible for people to be a success in the industry after initial studying and training.
Plus, surgeons can easily travel the world and work in different countries and healthcare institutions if they wish to do so.
Physician
Over the past year, you might have seen your local physician face-to-face or spoken to them over the phone.
For most physicians, it’s a demanding role. After all, they must deal with hundreds of patients every week while ensuring they receive the correct advice and treatments. Essentially, there’s no room for mistakes.
Naturally, physicians are under a lot of pressure – especially in this day and age – but the job is nevertheless rewarding.
Just like becoming a surgeon, being a physician is no different—you have to undergo years of education and training before you can work for a healthcare organization or open up your own private practice.
Right now, many physicians are still adapting to the post-COVID world of healthcare, where it’s become the norm to speak to patients over the phone and via video call rather than in person.
Moving into the future, it’s expected that physicians will spend most of their time communicating with patients digitally rather than in person. This will take some time to adapt to both parties, but it will come with lots of benefits that can’t be ignored.
Dentist
Dentists experience highly rewarding careers and often get to retire early with a healthy pension.
To become a dentist, you need to complete a total of five years of study at a dental school. From there, you will then progress into two years of supervised training. Usually, this training will revolve around you performing dental procedures on public healthcare patients while under the supervision of a clinical supervisor.
As a dentist, you get to experience different patient challenges every day. Essentially, there’s never any boredom in a dental office.
Unsurprisingly, a career in dentistry is related to high career satisfaction levels. According to dentistry.co.uk, 82% of private dentists report being happy in their roles, while 76% of them state that they are happy with their work-life balance.
It’s very common for experienced dentists to start out in public healthcare before opening their own private dental practices further down the line. The main reasons for this are to gain greater control of their careers while building up their own portfolio of patients.
On average, dentists work fewer hours than doctors, so bear this in mind if you are a younger reader who is considering a career in the healthcare industry.
Nurse
Over the past decade, it’s become more popular to study nursing at university level. Now, both men and women are studying and training to become nurses, as they know it’s a very fulfilling career path to take.
Interestingly, despite the increase in nursing students, there’s still a huge demand for nurses in the US. Not to mention, there’s also a demand for nurses across Europe and Asia, too. This falls in line with the recent COVID-19 pandemic, where many countries have realized that they’re short on nurses and aren’t equipped to deal with pandemics when they strike.
Being a nurse encompasses many different roles, including:
- Caring for patients
- Communicating with doctors and making sure they’re up to date with patient symptoms and behaviors
- Administering medicine
- Providing physical and emotional support to patients
- Monitoring patients during the day and overnight
Becoming a doctor is incredibly difficult. With nursing, though, it’s a much easier process (although it still requires significant effort).
Typically, you must complete a nursing degree at university before moving on to your training. Usually, training takes place in the public healthcare sector. Altogether, it takes roughly three to five years to become a registered nurse.
Unsurprisingly, many nations are now looking to fast-track undergraduates and trainees into the industry due to the worldwide nursing shortage. Whether this trend will continue or not remains to be seen.
Nursing Assistant
Despite fewer duties being involved in the role, a nursing assistant career is still an incredibly fulfilling and exciting one.
Nursing assistants work closely with nurses and doctors out on the frontline, providing them with equipment as well as completing general tasks. In addition to this, nursing assistants will also help to dress and care for patients, as well as serve them meals.
For people who want to enter the world of nursing but with fewer demands on their shoulders, being a nursing assistant is the perfect role to undertake. Plus, less education and training are required for the role, as nursing assistants only need to complete an accredited training program before completing a state-issued exam.
Due to the pressure that nurses are under in their day-to-day roles, the demand for nursing assistants isn’t going to slow down. In fact, it’s going to continue rising in line with the demand for registered nurses.
Pharmacist
Being a pharmacist is a great career to have in terms career overall satisfaction and reward.
Pharmacists typically work behind the counter of registered pharmacies. During working hours, they will dispense medications to patients (these medications have previously been prescribed by doctors).
In addition to this, pharmacists will provide over-the-counter advice to patients. This is especially useful for patients when they are unable to see their doctor face-to-face and need advice from somewhere else. For example, a pharmacist can advise someone on what to do if they have a headache, which might involve directing them to the nearest drop-in clinic so that they can undergo testing if the headache won’t go away.
Occupational Therapist
An occupational therapist is a healthcare professional who provides specialist care to people with health issues that affect their day-to-day lives. For example, this includes people who have learning difficulties.
According to the BLS, the employment of occupational therapists is projected to grow by 17% between 2020 and 2030. This is an excellent growth rate for an occupation, highlighting that the demand for occupational therapists isn’t going to slow down.
Becoming an occupational therapist requires a lot of studying and training, but it is widely regarded as one of the best healthcare jobs available right now. If you’re a young student, this is something to keep in your mind.
Speech and Language Therapist
In the US, speech and language therapists are highly regarded within the healthcare industry.
Their role involves providing treatment and care to both children and adults who have difficulties with speaking. In addition to this, they also work with patients who have problems eating and drinking.
Sometimes, the causes behind this are physical; in other cases, it’s psychological. A speech and language therapist must then take everything into account before creating a long-term treatment plan for the patient.
The end goal is to provide the patients with a better quality of life—both professionally and personally. Struggling to speak can impact people’s lives in a variety of negative ways, which is why speech and language therapists are so important in solving the problem.
Becoming a speech and language therapist is straightforward in comparison to the more complex roles in healthcare, such as being a doctor.
Typically, you’ll need to go to university to complete a four-year speech and language bachelor’s degree. From there, you can do a two-year fast-track course for postgraduates if you wish to enter the profession as quickly as possible.
Moving into the future, the demand for speech and language therapists will continue to increase, making it one of the most secure and prosperous professions around.
Psychiatrist
For many medical students, their ultimate career end goal is to become a psychiatrist. However, this role typically requires 11 years of training, which means only the most dedicated of people earn the title of being a psychiatrist.
Interestingly, the demand for psychiatrists outpaces most other industries. This is primarily to do with the worldwide mental health crisis that has taken place over the past decade.
Currently, from the US to Europe, millions of people with mental health problems are on lengthy waiting lists to get treatment from psychiatrists. This is terrible for a number of reasons, but mainly because it can lead to mental health problems worsening over time due to a lack of treatment.
Dietitian
Lastly, there are dietitians.
A dietitian is someone who is an expert in both food and nutrition.
Typically, a dietitian will work in a public hospital, private clinic, or doctor’s surgery.
Here, they provide advice to patients regarding their health, with the goal of helping them to adopt healthy eating habits. By the end of the treatment, a patient should have a significantly healthier lifestyle and diet, enabling them to live a better quality of life.
The fastest route to becoming a registered dietician is studying an undergraduate degree in either dietetics or dietetics and nutrition. Whilst studying, students are advised to get work experience so that they are more prepared for full-time work upon graduation.