Healthy Career Choices

Here’s a prescription for the unemployment blues: Look into a career in the healthcare field.

Before you dismiss the idea as too expensive or time consuming or icky, check out this factoid; jobs in healthcare are still healthy. In fact, they are growing. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates the following growth in these areas through 2018: biomedical scientists 40 percent; medical assistants 34 percent; medical billers and coders 20 percent and registered nurses 22 percent. Employment in each of these professions is increasing much faster than the average for all occupations – some are among the fastest-growing fields in the country.

If those numbers made you dizzy, here’s the summary. Quit working the drive-thru window, go back to school and find out what healthcare career fits you best.

It’s not that difficult.

Get this- hospital jobs are in high demand. Hospitals hire all levels and types of professionals for both clinical and non-clinical hospital jobs. Clinical hospital jobs are those which provide direct patient care, such as nurses, doctors, or allied personnel. Non-clinical hospital jobs are administrative or management types of roles, which could include everything from the janitors to the executives, and everyone in between making the healthcare field one of your best bets for job security.

Let’s say you’re tired of being a telemarketer and interrupting people while they’re sleeping and having them yell at you. If you go back to school for a nursing degree after only one year of study, you can earn your licensed practical nurse certificate. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that job growth for licensed practical nurses will continue to grow though 2018, and that their median annual wages will be about $39,000. This is a good option if you need to retrain, only have time to earn a certificate and get back into the workplace quickly. Another perk is that you can still interrupt people when they’re sleeping.

Becoming a registered nurse requires either a two-year associate’s degree in nursing, or a four-year bachelor’s degree in nursing. The Bureau of Labor Statistics expects 22 percent job growth through 2018, with median annual wages around $62,000. Holding a bachelors means more opportunities for advancement and a better chance to rise to the top end of the pay scale – about $92,000 annually &mdash which is why registered-to-bachelors programs are so popular.

Nursing isn’t just walking the hospital floors all day &mdash you could sign up to be a traveling nurse. You could spend your days in the car making the rounds to different patients who are in convalescent or hospice care. These patients are being cared for by Home Health Aides and those Home Health Aides would be under your direct supervision.

You could even be a flight nurse... and yes it is exactly what it says it is. Somebody has to fly the “Life Flight” helicopter and someone has to be the nurse inside the helicopter. Once again, if you don’t want to spend your days walking the halls of the hospital then flying to your patients might be just what the doctor ordered.

But say you don’t want to be a nurse. (Go ahead, say it.) Not everyone is born with a bedside manner, or maybe you just don’t enjoy all that anatomy and chemical/biological stuff. There are plenty of health(y) careers out there for the likes of unemployed you.

Besides nursing, you could go into occupational therapy, health care administration, client care advocacy, pharmacy, phlebotomy, x-ray technician, or medical interrupter.

Going into a healthy new career won’t be easy, but it’s possible. You’ll have to chose a school, fill out forms &mdash get used to it &mdash and most likely apply for Financial Aid. The good news is there is still government money to be had to help you earn that certificate or degree.