Healthcare careers are often considered some of the most meaningful and fulfilling jobs. If you’re looking for a career where you can help people every day and go home feeling accomplished, a healthcare career might be a great field for you.
But which career path is right for you? There are many to choose from, so trying to find the perfect fit can be overwhelming. Here’s a glimpse into the daily lives of some healthcare fields so you can get a grasp of which one you might like to pursue.
Dental Hygiene
As a dental hygienist, you would work together with the dentist to help your patients achieve optimum oral health. While exact duties vary state to state here are some of the daily tasks you could expect:
- Taking and developing x-rays
- Removing plaque and cleaning teeth
- Teaching patients correct oral hygiene, like proper brushing and flossing
- Making impressions of teeth to evaluate patient needs
- General patient screening including reviewing health history and taking vitals
Depending on your education, experience, and preferences, your career may move on to teaching new hygienists, researching new technologies and techniques, or managing a dentist’s office.
As a dental hygienist, you have the benefits of a respected career with personal satisfaction. Because you’ll treat a wide variety of patients, you’ll have the opportunity to be creative with your approaches. And, you are able to make a difference in people’s lives.
According to the BLS, dental hygiene is an in-demand and growing career, with an estimated 19.7% growth by 2026 and a median annual salary of $74,070 in 2017.
Nursing
From entry-level nurse assistant to doctoral-level researcher, there are an extremely wide variety of nursing careers. So, regardless of how much education an experience you have, you can find your niche in the nursing field. As a nurse, you will likely:
- Collaborating with other members of staff to best help patients
- Helping patients understand, treat, and cope with illness
- Developing and manage nursing care plans
- Instructing patients on how to best promote their health
- Helping communities take steps to improve and maintain their health
Nurses serve a unique role as educators, advocates, and comfort to their patients. It can be an exhausting day at work, but an extremely fulfilling one. You also have the option to specialize – and there are many specialty options.
Employment of registered nurses is expected to grow 15% by 2026, and RNs make a median annual salary of $70,000, according to the BLS.
Learn more about South College’s programmatic approval.
Pharmacy
Careers in pharmacy are extremely customer facing – you’ll be explaining medications to patients, preparing them for side effects, and helping ease their concerns about their treatment. Here are some of your duties as a pharmacist:
- Safeguarding the public’s health
- Educating patients on their medications
- Distributing medication properly
- Staying up to date with available medicines, their side effects, and their alternatives
Pharmacy careers can be extremely exciting, if you’re looking for adventure in your job. There is plenty of room for pharmacists on the front lines of natural disasters, epidemics, and other national or world-wide crises.
According to the BLS, while pharmacy is less in demand that some other healthcare careers, it still shows positive growth of 6% by 2026. Pharmacy is also one of the most financially rewarding careers. In 2017, the median salary was $124,170.
Learn more about South College’s programmatic approval.
Physical Therapy
The primary function of physical therapy is to improve or restore the mobility of patients or help relieve their pain from injuries. The work of physical therapists is often completely life changing for their patients – ability to walk or move without pain being restored can be an extremely powerful moment!
Physical therapy treatments may include:
- Training patients, including with weights and resistance to strengthen muscles
- Assisting with therapeutic exercise, such as pool aerobics
- Performing deep tissue massage
- Operating electrotherapy and ultrasound therapies
Physical therapy gives you the opportunity to work in a wide variety of settings. Hospitals, home treatment facilities, schools, sports and fitness facilities, offices, and nursing homes all have need of physical therapists.
Physical therapist assistants can expect a 30% job increase by 2026 and a median annual salary of $46,920, according to statistics from the BLS.
Learn more about South College’s programmatic approval.
Physician Assistant
In 2016, U.S. News and World Report ranked physician assistant (PA) fifth in best health care jobs. As a PA, you’re licensed to treat and diagnose illness and prescribe medications in collaboration with a licensed physician – but, with advanced education in general medicine, PAs have a lot of autonomy when it comes to treating patients.
PAs can provide nearly all the clinical services expected of a physician:
- Gathering medical history
- Performing physical exams
- Diagnosing and treating illness and disease
- Understanding and explaining lab tests and results
- Helping patients understand their diagnosis
- Assisting in surgery
Physician assistants are vital parts of the healthcare industry, especially in rural and other underserved areas where healthcare can be hard to come by. For this reason, physician assistant careers are seen as very meaningful.
Based on statistics from the BLS, Physician Assistant positions are expected to increase by 37% by 2026, and the median annual salary comes to $104,860.
Learn more about South College’s programmatic approval.
Radiography
Radiologic technologists get to use some of the most interesting and state-of-the-art medical technology. They get to perform the scans that find broken bones and other internal problems, illnesses, and diseases.
- Performing X-ray examinations
- Executing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans
- Completing computed tomography (CT) scans
- Operating sonography machines
- Conducting mammography
- Preparing and maintaining the diagnostic equipment
- Determining if the procedure has captured all the necessary images and is of appropriate quality
Some radiologic technologists specialize in fields that particularly interest them, like cardiovascular-interventional radiography. The quality of their work greatly affects the quality of the images produced on these machines, so a keen eye for detail is an important aspect of a good radiologic technologist.
Employment is expected to grow 13% by 2026 with a median annual wage of $60,070, according to the BLS.
Learn more about South College’s programmatic approval.
Are You Ready?
South College has institutional accreditation from the regional accrediting body SACSCOC. Various programs at South College have also received program specific accreditation. If one of these careers is calling your name, why not check out our programs at South College? Work towards your career aspirations with online, evening, and weekend classes for many programs!
