Healthcare is an industry that is fetching and will continue to fetch more jobs in the coming times. With a bachelor’s degree in healthcare you can choose from a number of careers. When we think of health care, images of doctors, nurses and
Healthcare is an industry that is fetching and will continue to fetch more jobs in the coming times. With a bachelor’s degree in healthcare you can choose from a number of careers. When we think of health care, images of doctors, nurses and the like pop up in our minds. But behind the scenes a good number of professionals are working so that we get the best service. Not just in hospitals, these people work in other settings, no lesser important than hospitals and contribute in the development of the organizations.
The healthcare industry is expanding and many new jobs are added so as to cater to the needs of the patients in a better way. Studies reveal that the Americans will spend nearly 4.5 trillion dollars on health care in the year 2019. Thus the scope for different healthcare jobs is widening. If you desire to become a part of this industry, you need to have a bachelor’s degree in healthcare. You can work with different healthcare providers, healthcare suppliers, policy organizations and insurance organizations as specified by the AUPHA (Association of University Programs in Health Administration).
Below provided is a list of some jobs that require you to have a bachelor’s degree in specific areas:
- Healthcare Consultant: A consultant, as we all know is an individual or a firm possessing specialized knowledge or skill sets that another party e.g. any company or organization needs to achieve some specific target. Similarly healthcare consultants use their knowledge and skill sets for the benefit of the healthcare industry.
Healthcare consultants also known as “healthcare business consultants” specialize in many areas like accounting, billing, finance, marketing, healthcare standards, insurance etc. First a client hires a consultant and informs them about the problem area. The consultant researches, examines the present condition and submits a written report and discusses the same in a meeting. These professionals may work for permanent positions in the healthcare related business. Or they can work temporarily even from home. Both large and small companies hire them. Along with a bachelor’s degree, such a professional needs to have brilliant communication and stress-management skills.
- Physician Assistant: Physician assistants (PAs) are not Medical assistants. PAs play an essential role in total treatment process. They work under the guidance of the surgeons and physicians. They have different duties to perform- recording progress of patients, interpreting X-rays and blood tests, taking patient histories, making diagnosis etc. As advised and delegated by physicians, the physician assistants provide therapeutic, diagnostic and preventive services.
- Medical Perfusionist: If you have a bachelor’s degree in perfusion, you can become a medical perfusionist. Medical perfusionists are certified by the American Board of Cardiovascular Perfusion. The job profile involves them to operate bypass machines and other equipments that are required to control a patient’s blood circulation and respiratory functions temporarily during the operation process.
- Health Educator: As the term suggests, a health educator educates patients, families and communities regarding different health issues, ways to prevent those and how to maintain healthy lifestyles. They choose a health topic for a certain group of similar individuals who become their target audience and teach them regarding the different aspects of the topic. For example, they may hold programs or seminars for senior women who may be at the risk of cervical cancer. For an obese population, they may conduct programs on the benefits of exercise and proper diet and the harmful effects of binge-eating and sedentary lifestyle. Thus the approaches to these two programs will vary. So the health educators need to be well-read and effective communicator.
- Radiologic/ Diagnostic technologist: Doing a bachelor’s degree program and passing a national certification examination thereafter will fetch you this job. With the aid of several imaging techniques, a radiologic technologist takes images of a patient’s body. A radiologist then interprets these images. These professional can get job at private, government and local hospitals, diagnostic laboratories and physician’s clinics. They can earn a decent salary in between $38,570 and $78,440.
- Radiology or Diagnostic Imaging Director: As radiologists and the technologists perform different imaging exams like CT scans, MRIs and ultrasound, there needs to be someone who will see whether they perform rightly and all standards are met. The imaging directors are entrusted with these duties.
- Medical and Health Services Manager: Like every business, a health care service also needs good management for its smooth running. And thus there is the need of medical and health services manager. There are two broader types of managers- generalists who are directly or indirectly related to managing a whole system; specialists who handle one or more clinical departments. These professionals are functional in supervising good healthcare delivery.
- Transplant Coordinator: Transplant coordinator must have a bachelor’s degree in a medically specific area. Sometimes they may be registered nurses also. They can work in both administrative and medical procedures related to organ transplantation. Patient care, pre-transplant procedures, post-operation care etc. are some of the major job duties of these professionals.
- Dieticians and Nutritionists: Almost all dieticians and nutritionists require a bachelor’s degree in food service systems management, foods and nutrition, dietetics, clinical nutrition or related fields. If you have a bachelor’s degree and are a licensed and registered practitioner, you can earn a median salary of $47,000. To earn a Registered Dietician Nutritionist credential, you need to go through a dietetic internship program besides having a bachelor’s degree. The main roles of such professionals include providing an effective and well-thought out food and nutrition programs to the patients, educating patients about healthy eating habits, planning meal programs in hospitals, cafeterias etc. You can choose whether you want to become clinical dietician, consultant to clients or organizations, management dietician.
These are some of the well-paid jobs that you can have with your bachelor’s degree. Besides these, some popular options are sales representative in pharmaceuticals, biological technician, product manager, registered nurse, EMT and paramedic and substance abuse counsellor.