Career experts say that for those deciding on a field of study for their future careers, the health care industry is a good option.
Professionals agree that health care, including veterinary care, has perhaps the most extensive variety in career choices of any field.
Health care workers can personalize their job experiences by deciding which diseases and conditions they want to focus on and the age group of their patients – or even to have no patients at all. Jobs in health care could involve research science, pharmaceutical science, dentistry and veterinary medicine, amongst others.
Education requirements vary based on the job type, ranging from four years of high school to 10 or more years of college and medical school. Medical receptionists, for example, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), need at least a high school diploma with on-the-job training, along with optional completion of a medical reception or medical office technology program.
For registered nurses, the education requirements are, as stated by the BLS, a bachelor’s degree (four years), associate’s degree (two years), or a nursing diploma (three years).
Cardiac surgeons, who have some of the most extensive education requirements, must earn a bachelor’s degree, a Doctor of Medicine degree (four years after bachelor’s) and complege residencies and fellowships in cardiac surgery, according to the BLS.
The diversity in health care allows for a wide range of people to hone in on their interests and to follow their passions in whatever way is feasible for them, with education and its costs in mind.
Another benefit of a career in health care is job security.
According to the BLS, health care and social assistance are projected to have the greatest growth in demand for employees by 2022. With all the opportunities that are opening up in health care, the rising demand for workers is likely to outpace the increase in the workforce, providing most health care workers with a variety of job offers as soon as they finish school.
Along with stable jobs, according to the BLS, health care workers should expect growing paychecks over the next several years as demand for workers increases.
The benefits of a career in health care attract many students, but some may not know where to begin in order to enter this field.
Capt. Robert Tosatto, the director of the Division of the Civilian Volunteer Medical Reserve Corps, a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said in an interview, “One of the most important things that students can do for themselves is to get involved – in their schools, their communities – whatever interests them.”
He explained that this is especially valuable in the health care field, which provides such an extensive variety of options.
“You never know,” he said. “Volunteering – especially if you are doing it in the field that interests you – helps you gain perspective, and sometimes that perspective can end up impacting your whole life.”
Tosatto explained the importance of what he calls “generational succession planning,” in which today’s professionals help teach volunteers and interns in the health care industry in order to ensure a sustainable flow of educated, capable new workers for each successive generations.
He further encouraged students to get involved, explaining how volunteering allows students not only to see all of the possibilities for them, but also to help the professionals themselves learn and grow, thanks to students’ fresh, innovative approaches to issues.
Yash Patel, an Esperanza High School graduate who will be a freshman at California State University, Fullerton during the coming school year, is involved in Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA), an organization whose “two-fold mission is to promote career opportunities in the health care industry and to enhance the delivery of quality health care to all people.”
Patel was one of over 8,000 students who attended HOSA’s 38th Annual National Leadership Conference in Anaheim June 24-27. He explained how HOSA and its conferences have allowed him to learn more about health care and its applications in medicine and forensic science, helping him explore his interests and meet people with different perspectives from across the nation.
“It is guaranteed that whoever joins an organization like HOSA will walk away more educated and social than he or she was before,” he said.
Nicole King, a recent graduate from the North Orange County Regional Occupational Program, is another HOSA member who attended the National Leadership Conference.
To her, health care means more than just a career. When King was 6 years old, one of her siblings, then just 8 years old, was diagnosed with cancer.
“I decided then and there that I wanted to help ease the suffering of children by studying oncology (the study and treatment of tumors) for children. There is something about the way that [health care professionals] boost the spirits of kids and help give them hope that makes me want to do the same,” she said.
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