Essential industries like healthcare are one of the best fields to work in. Not only do you have greater job security when you work within healthcare, but there are also more opportunities – and all typically paid well.
You can work at your pace, in your favorite place. Not only that but there are many great options available to you. You can work within medicine as a physician or a nurse, or you can work outside of medicine in a supportive role like administration.
There are so many excellent careers to get started with, and this guide outlines the top six healthcare careers to consider for 2022:
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Healthcare Administration
Healthcare administrators and other similar roles, like medical or health services managers, work to support both staff and patients. They provide the essential everyday busywork that keeps hospitals, clinics, and medical practices afloat. Without them, the entire structure of healthcare as an industry would collapse. Their work is instrumentally important and allows those not interested in the medicine or in the care side of healthcare but who still want to make a difference, find their place.
To become a healthcare administration, your best bet is to enroll in a top healthcare administration degree online. A BHA can be completed entirely online, with each course only taking six weeks to complete. In it, you will learn the principles of finance, leadership, healthcare management, HR, and even marketing. The median salary is also high, with healthcare administrators earning around $94,500 and healthcare managers earning even more.
Medical Assistant
Medical assistants are also at the top of the list when it comes to careers that offer a great work/life balance. One of the main reasons for this is simple – they have more flexible schedules. Assistants also tend to provide a lot of administrative work, though unlike those working solely in administration, they also take on supportive clinical tasks as required.
What’s better is that there is little training required to become a medical assistant, making it easy to get started or alternatively to change your career into this role. All you’ll need is a certification from an accredited short course.
This option is the perfect entry point for many, as it allows you to adapt your time and efforts as necessary to suit your current goals. If you want to further your education to become a manager or a nurse, you can do so easily after becoming a medical assistant.
Nurse Practitioner
Nurse Practitioners are advanced nurses that hold at least an MSN degree. They can work anywhere and often specialize either within a certain area of medicine or alternatively within a certain demographic (like children or the elderly).
It does take a lot to become a nurse practitioner. You will not only need to complete a BSN; you will also often need to be working as an RN for a full year before you can then enroll in the MSN. Though the journey is long, your options are massive once you get there. You can find the perfect work/life environment simply by exploring your options and finding the right workplace for you.
Mental Health Roles
Mental health is critical, and it’s only becoming more in-demand, and an increasing number of people have begun to recognize the issues that they have and want to break out of. Add in complications like anxiety, depression, and other compounding factors (like the pandemic), and society today arguably needs mental health resources now more than ever.
There are different kinds of mental health work you can get involved in, allowing you to customize your work/life balance and your interests. You can work as a counselor, a therapist, a psychologist, and a psychiatrist – all slightly different roles, but each allow you to pursue your passion and find a working balance that you love.
Physical Therapist (and Aide)
Physical therapists work with patients throughout long recovery periods. These patients will have suffered from broken bones, amputations, severe muscle and organ injuries, burns, and more. Whether you work as a physical therapist or aid the physical therapist as an assistant, know that you have a great career ahead of you.
If you are looking for an option that helps you get started sooner, always aim first to become an aide. Becoming a physical therapist aide only requires an associate’s degree. After that, you can then work towards the full qualification and start working as a full physical therapist.
The reason why the work/life balance is so great is that you often work with either one or just a small group of patients at a time. This takes a lot of the pressure off and also allows you to see and customize treatment for the best results.