Requirements to Apply for Healthcare Jobs
Healthcare job eligibility demands less than four years of college education, but health diagnosing and treating practitioners are among the most-educated workers. Students preparing for health careers, and aspirants for healthcare jobs, can enter programs leading to a certificate or a degree at the associate, baccalaureate, or graduate level. Two-year programs resulting in certificates or associate's degrees meet minimal requirements for dental-hygienist or radiology-technologist occupations, while most therapists and social workers have at least a bachelor's degree. Health-diagnosing and treating practitioners like physicians and surgeons, optometrists, and podiatrists are among the most educated.
Healthcare jobs are also available for people without specialized training beyond high school in places like nursing and residential care facilities. Some healthcare jobs have on-the-job or classroom training. Other healthcare jobs are promised by hospitals to students, after they provide training or tuition assistance for a particular length of time after graduation. Many nursing facilities have similar programs. In addition to technical qualifications, persons considering careers in healthcare should have a strong desire to help others, genuine concern for the welfare of patients and clients, and an ability to deal with people of diverse backgrounds in stressful situations.
Healthcare Job Settings and Varieties
There are around nine different settings in which healthcare jobs are available. They are:
- Hospitals—Hospitals are integrated medical care units, ranging from diagnostic services to surgery to continuous nursing care. Some hospitals have specialized treatment available like treatment for the mentally ill, cancer patients, or children. Hospital-based care may be on an inpatient (overnight) or outpatient basis. If hospitals are funded or managed by government then they provide government healthcare jobs for which candidates have to go through a government-approved application procedure. The healthcare jobs offered by hospitals ranges through all types of work. Hospitals employ many physicians and surgeons, therapists, social workers, nurses and administrative workers.
- Nursing and residential care facilities—These healthcare jobs provide inpatient nursing, rehabilitation, and health-related personal care to those who need continuous nursing care but do not require hospital services. The nursing aides provide the vast majority of direct care in a healthcare industry. Residential nursing care facilities provide around-the-clock social and personal care to children, the elderly, and physically or mentally challenged individuals. The healthcare jobs offered by this sector include nursing, psychiatry, and home health aide, while professional and administrative support occupations make up a much smaller percentage of employment in this area.
- Offices of physicians—This sector comprises around 37% of all healthcare establishments. This job requires physicians and surgeons to practice privately or in groups of practitioners who have the same or different specialties. Practicing in groups helps by providing backup coverage, reducing overhead expenses, and facilitating consultation with peers. The healthcare jobs in offices of physicians are in professional and related occupations, primarily physicians, surgeons, and registered nurses. About two-fifths of these jobs, however, are healthcare officer jobs and administrative support occupations like receptionists and information clerks.
- Offices of dentists—Around 20% of healthcare establishments are dentist offices. They also provide healthcare jobs to a few workers, who provide preventative, cosmetic, or emergency care.
- Home healthcare services—These healthcare jobs require skilled nursing or medical care in the home under a physician's supervision. Home healthcare services are provided mainly to the elderly. The development of in-home medical technologies, substantial cost savings, and patients' preference for care in the home have helped change this once-small segment of the industry into one of the fastest-growing parts of the economy. This segment provides healthcare job opportunities mainly in service occupations: mostly home health aides and personal and home care aides in addition to nurses and therapists.
- Offices of other health practitioners—The healthcare jobs in this segment include chiropractors, optometrists, podiatrists, occupational and physical therapists, psychologists, audiologists, speech-language pathologists, dietitians, and other health practitioners.
- Outpatient care center—This kind of healthcare establishment includes kidney dialysis centers, outpatient mental-health and substance-abuse centers, health maintenance organization medical centers, and freestanding ambulatory surgical and emergency centers. This segment provides healthcare jobs to a high percentage of professionals and related workers including counselors, social workers, and registered nurses.
- Other ambulatory healthcare services—This area gives a relatively smaller amount of healthcare job options that includes ambulance and helicopter transport services, blood and organ banks, and other ambulatory healthcare services such as pacemaker monitoring services and smoking cessation programs. The uniqueness of this is that it provides healthcare jobs mainly to emergency medical technicians, paramedics, ambulance drivers, and attendants who are not directly related to healthcare industry.
- Medical and diagnostic laboratories—These professionals provide analytic or diagnostic services to the medical profession or directly to patients following a physician's prescription. The healthcare job includes analyzing blood, taking x-rays and computerized tomography scans, or performing other clinical tests. The healthcare jobs are mainly for professional and related workers, primarily clinical laboratory and radiology technologists and technicians, added to service workers such as medical assistants, medical equipment preparers, etc.
Work Environment for Healthcare Jobs
Since healthcare jobs involves direct patient care, precaution must be taken: to prevent back strain from lifting patients and equipment; to minimize exposure to radiation and caustic chemicals; and to guard against infectious diseases, such as AIDS, tuberculosis, and hepatitis. There are higher chances of occupational injury in the healthcare job segment, so for many professionals in healthcare job, the number of work hours per week has been reduced as a standard.
Apart from this, the other factors make it a lucrative and satisfactory job worth working for.
