The Many Faces of Health Care

Updated on July 30, 2019

Considering a career in healthcare but not quite sure where to turn? That’s not surprising! Healthcare has so many unique and rewarding opportunities and many of them do not necessarily include being a doctor. The common threads that hold healthcare careers together when they can be so diverse, are the ability to help others, the rewarding feeling of knowing you are in a profession that truly makes a difference, and the satisfaction of knowing you are directly impacting someone’s quality of life.

A career in the healthcare industry can vary from diagnosing, treating, preventing or rehabilitating those who would benefit from your expertise. The beauty of such diversity within a single career field is that no one path is more important or impacts the people you are helping more than another. Every profession either complements or works hand-in-hand with the other; much like a well-oiled machine.

Best Healthcare Jobs

According to US News, one of the top ten best jobs within health care is nursing. Nurses are an invaluable asset to the medical profession because they offer a more intimate and hands-on relationship with patients than any other job within the industry. This is where having a good bedside manner is essential for your success and advancement. You must possess the ability to communicate effectively and listen empathetically to promote the well being of your patients. That being said, placement for nursing positions within the most reputable health care facilities are at your fingertips, especially if travel is something you want to do. Companies like American Mobile specialize in helping people find placements in travel nursing jobs all over the country.

In the same US News study we mentioned above, health care assistants are ranked as the number one profession within the healthcare industry, following closely are dentists, orthodontists and nurse anesthetists. All the aforementioned professions are uniquely different as well as equally as pertinent to the welfare of those whom they treat.

A Pragmatic Approach

If you are reading this and wondering to yourself “why even consider a career within the healthcare industry,” you can also view the choice as a simple matter of economics and supply and demand. The demand for healthcare is steadily rising; by the year 2050, most countries will spend more than 20% of their gross domestic product on health care. Why such a steady increase in the demand for healthcare? The answer is two-fold: it boils down to the increasing prevalence of preventable illness and the suboptimal use of healthcare resources.

You must also consider that healthcare is different from most other services that consumers use because it is not clearly demarcated. In most other service industries, service can be standardized to improve quality. Health care cannot be standardized in the same way because of the countless variables; no two people are the same so the type and level of care they require will be unique from one individual (or consumer) to the next.

The demand for quality health care will always be on the rise because people innately want to be healthy and will take all reasonable precautions to live a healthy life. Inversely, if health issues arise due to circumstances outside their control, even when reasonable precautions have been taken, they will also turn to health care professionals to manage their afflictions.

Regardless of what facet of health care you choose to pursue, the bottom line is that, as a whole, medical needs will dictate that professionals in this field will always be an invaluable resource. It goes without saying that people would rather be healthy than sick; but it also offers us comfort and hope to know that once we do fall ill, we’ll be in good hands.

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Throughout the year, our writers feature fresh, in-depth, and relevant information for our audience of 40,000+ healthcare leaders and professionals. As a healthcare business publication, we cover and cherish our relationship with the entire health care industry including administrators, nurses, physicians, physical therapists, pharmacists, and more. We cover a broad spectrum from hospitals to medical offices to outpatient services to eye surgery centers to university settings. We focus on rehabilitation, nursing homes, home care, hospice as well as men’s health, women’s heath, and pediatrics.