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A health care career can be challenging and fulfilling

A health care career is a wonderful field to endeavor. It can be very rewarding in many ways, not just monetarily but for personal satisfaction and the good feeling you get from helping people. 

There is recently an explosion in health care opportunities. Placement is practically guaranteed for people training in the health care industry.

Allied Healthcare jobs include cardiovascular technologists and technicians, dental hygienists, diagnostic medical sonographers, opticians, and radiologic technologists and technicians

The United States spends over $500 billion, each year on health care.  While much of this money goes to develop new procedures and advanced equipment, most of it goest in the areas of treatment and prevention.  Our system needs highly trained workers.  Almost 7 million people work in health care and related fields.  Economists expect long-term job growth in this sector to be higher than average, however some types of medical careers will grow faster than others. 

Students thinking about pursuing a career in the medical field often do so because they have an idealized notion about helping people.  Often, they are simply not aware of the many different job possibilities in medicine.  Many people only associate medical careers with hospitals and doctors' offices and they don't realize that there are many other opportunities in different settings and related fields.  They forget that medical employees also maintain health, prevent illness, and provide ongoing support for medical practitioners.

Recent surveys conducted by the American Hospital Association and OHA [Ohio Hospital Association] showed a number of unfilled positions. The AHA documented over 168,000 unfilled positions including nurses, pharmacists, technologists, aides, and other health care related positions.

Students 14 years or older who are interested in the health care field can volunteer their time in hospitals. Many hospitals and schools have programs for this already set up. It’s a great way to get first hand exposure to what is available in the field and to work hand in hand with the  professionals. Check with your school or local community hospital for information on any programs available.