Do You Really Need A Medical Degree To Make A Difference In Health?
Going after a medical degree and becoming a practicing doctor is all well and good but there are plenty of people who don’t have that opportunity. If they want to make a difference to health in society, do they still have options? The answer is an emphatic yes. With all levels of training and skills in different fields, there are paths for them to take. What are they?
Working on the front lines
You can’t talk about careers in the world of health without paying the due respect and bringing attention to the work that nurses provide in hospitals, practices, schools, and all over. There’s a big need for nurses, too. So much that getting a nursing degree will practically guarantee you a relevant job. It’s a career that offers both a lot of stability and a lot of options. There’s also plenty of progression into specialized fields, including administration, neonatal nursing, and fields like mental health.
Vital parts of the industry
The nurses and doctors working with patients aren’t the only ones with a role to play in the industry of health, either. With certificates in health and medicine, there are a lot of different career paths that could be ready to accept you. You could work as a medical assistant. You could get involved in the billing and coding systems that support many healthcare providers. You could even get involved in the lucrative world of pharmacology. The industry wouldn’t survive without any of these occupations playing their part.
Doing your part
There are also jobs that require no prior training at all to get started in. Entry level healthcare jobs don’t just give you a chance to get into an immediate and necessary position in many practices and organizations. Besides doing necessary work like working as a home care aide or working as a patient care assistant, you also have a foothold in the industry. From there, you could look at further training opportunities available from your employer. There is as much internal progression available in medicine as any other industry. You might not be able to go from an aide to a doctor, but you can develop a very senior and important role in the team.
Taking wellbeing into your hands
Health isn’t just about curing ails, fixing injuries, and treating illnesses. It’s also about helping people get a better quality of life for themselves through their own choices and habits. To that end, fitness, diet, and wellbeing could be the area you could do the most good. Whether it’s working as a personal trainer, getting a degree as a nutritionist, or even helping to run an exercise class. The wellbeing industry is growing every year as more people take up the battle against bad habits. You could be a part of that battle.
From requiring no training to getting the training and expertise that can help you make a huge difference, there are a lot of health career paths worth exploring. Just make sure you’re mentally and emotionally ready for a demanding, tough, but rewarding life.