The Healthcare Professions: Rewards, Opportunities, Challenges, Growth

Have you figured out yet what you want to be when you grow up? I was lucky enough to know in second grade what I wanted to do with my life. I chose nursing then because I wanted to help people. (Okay, I confess; I also wanted to play with my new toy nurse’s bag.) But life and my view of the world were simple when I was seven years old. What I didn’t know then was that a career in nursing meant four years of college, endless studying, sleep deprivation, and enough science courses to enable me to pronounce deoxyribonucleic acid and many other polysyllabic medical terms.
So why would I encourage you to pursue a career in health care? The answer is simple: you will be hard-pressed to find a profession that is more rewarding or that offers more opportunities for challenge and growth.

Rewards Healthcare professionals often say that they gain far more from their patients than they ever give to them. Patients often say that healthcare professionals have made a real difference in their lives. For you to truly understand the significance of these statements, imagine for a moment that you are (as someday you may be) . . .

• the physical therapist who trains and rehabilitates an athlete to learn to walk again after an injury and eventually compete on the field
• the hospice nurse who supports a cancer patient’s wish to die at home among his loved ones
• the carrier who travels cross-country to deliver a life-saving organ to someone awaiting a transplant
• the developer of a nonadhering bandage that will reduce pain in a severely burned patient
• the pet therapist who brings joy to seniors living in isolation who may otherwise never receive visitors
• the scientist who discovers a therapy that prevents Alzheimer’s disease for future generations
• the nurse-midwife who delivers a long-awaited child
• the operator at a crisis center who comforts a teenager and talks him out of suicide
• the Webmaster of an online support network that links patients across the nation suffering from a rare disease, enabling patients to connect with someone else coping with the same illness
• the educator who teaches a child to administer her own insulin injection to avoid daily trips to the hospital
• the fundraiser who grants a sick child’s wish for a trip to Walt Disney World
• the music therapist who breaks through a patient’s long years of silence
• the information specialist who brings computer technology to the bedside in rural areas so patients can communicate with their family, friends, or other patients during extended hospitalizations.

These are just a few examples of the many people who shape the healthcare team. Each member brings to the team a unique combination of skills, knowledge, and experience, and each works to improve the quality of life for a patient. Believe me: touching someone’s life in a positive way is most rewarding work.
Opportunities I can’t promise your life will be like it’s portrayed on ER or Scrubs, but I can promise you many doors of opportunity. Just about any interest, hobby, or skill you have now can be integrated into a healthcare career.
Take a look at the classified ads in your local paper, and you’ll see the diverse opportunities available now in this field. And if you’re not a “hands-on” person, you can look beyond “direct patient” careers such as doctor, nurse, dentist, or technician to the many “indirect” healthcare careers: website creation, computer informatics, drug development, medical law, medical illustration, genetics, research, complementary (alternative) medicine, and administration are just some of the new, interesting, and booming fields.
And think about this: traditional healthcare settings are changing, too. Health care is moving away from the confines of the hospital and into the community. You might work at nontraditional sites such as pharmaceutical companies, corporations, home care, health clubs, schools, camps–even law enforcement agencies.
This shift in health care was prompted by the advent of managed care and is evident in the growing number of home care agencies, same-day surgery centers, and outpatient clinics. Managed care forces practitioners to continue to provide high-quality care to our patients, but in less time and at less cost. Not too long ago, a new mother would remain in the hospital for a week or more after giving birth. Today, Mom and baby are often home within 48 hours.
Challenges Changes in where and how healthcare professionals practice are mirrored in the changes in patient populations. Thanks to advances in medicine and technology, diseases are diagnosed and treated earlier, and patients are living longer, healthier lives, all of which raise new challenges for care providers. In addition, we are facing critical shortages and a decrease in college enrollment in every field of medicine and the allied health professions. Healthcare facilities are paying top salaries and offering many incentives, including free tuition or college tuition assistance. We need young, fresh, talented individuals to enter these careers to replace those of us who will be retiring.
A little more than a decade ago, we didn’t know what chronic fatigue syndrome was or how to treat patients with the AIDS virus. With each new discovery comes the challenge of learning how to treat new diseases and care for patients who suffer from them. So because health care is always changing, your healthcare education won’t end when you earn your degree; it will just begin.
Earning a degree in the healthcare field is a challenge in itself. It requires a strong commitment and dedication to your studies. Perhaps my college professor said it best on exam day: “If caring were enough, anyone could be a nurse” (or physician or therapist or technician or radiologist or . . . ). Each day, you’ll be challenged to apply classroom information in real-life situations.
Before you make any college decisions, investigate careers that interest you. Internships, summer work, and volunteering will expose you to a variety of careers and professionals in the field. Get involved in your school’s Health Careers Club. If your school doesn’t have one, start one! When healthcare professionals come to your school to speak, be sure to attend. Ask plenty of questions, and find out where you can get more information.
Growth This is an exciting time in the field of health care. In your lifetime, researchers and other medical professionals will probably invent an AIDS vaccine, map every gene in the human body, and develop many new drugs. As a member of a healthcare team, you could play an integral role in medical advances such as these, or you could be employing such advances in your work with patients. You’ll grow personally and professionally–in ways you can’t possibly imagine now.
More than anything else, you must be willing to work hard and have confidence in yourself. A high school counselor once told me I’d better marry rich because I would never be successful. Ten years after my college graduation, I’ve achieved many professional and personal goals, received awards for clinical excellence, and survived a rigorous curriculum at Thomas Jefferson University in Pennsylvania. More importantly, I love what I do, and I make a difference in the lives I touch every day. For me, that is success.
So as you read the profiles and articles in this edition, picture yourself in that white coat with those well-deserved initials after your name! I look forward to the day when we might work side-by-side as colleagues, or when I might read your career profile in a future edition of PC&U.
Until then, I wish you the best of luck on the exciting journey that lies ahead of you!
Article by Colleen A. Merrell and courtesy of www.careersandcolleges.com