The COVID-19 pandemic put a well-deserved and long-overdue spotlight on healthcare workers. They are the modern-day heroes who have been at the front lines of this still raging pandemic. Their work has been inspiring, considering the risks and challenges they continue to face. You are not alone in wanting to follow in their footsteps.
The good news is that not only are there many career options for you to pursue in their sector, but it is also an industry that is in demand. From doctors to therapists and scientists, there is certainly a healthcare profession that would suit your personality and innate gifts.
Nursing
Nurses are the backbone of the healthcare industry. Apart from their medical knowledge and skills, their compassion, kindness, and empathy define their work. For this reason, a person who wants to pursue a career in nursing must also understand what the work will entail. Good nursing schools can train you on the academic and technical aspects of the work. They can even train you on the soft skills you need to be a great nurse.
Ultimately, however, you need to be innately caring and concerned about others to thrive in the field. If that’s something that doesn’t come naturally for you, it doesn’t mean you can’t be a nurse. It simply means that you need to work on these traits a little harder.
Psychiatry
The COVID-19 pandemic may not have been about mental health per se, but mental illness has been a pandemic on its own. It’s only recently that we as a society have become more vocal about mental health. The conversation, however, still needs to pick up more speed.
The role of mental health in the overall wellness of a community cannot be overstated. So many social issues would be better addressed if approached from a psychological perspective. Social problems like homelessness or drug use, for example, are actually mental health issues.
Even during this pandemic, we’ve seen the importance of mental health services. The coronavirus may not necessarily be a mental illness. Still, the traumatic changes we’ve gone through as a human race this past year have made many of us feel lost, despondent, and even hopeless. Your work as a future psychiatric health professional will be felt way beyond the medical field, and kudos to you for wanting to pursue this.
Physical Therapy
You would think that physical therapy is only for two kinds of people: senior citizens with back pains or superstar athletes. The truth is, physical therapy involves different sorts of treatment for injury or illness that prevents you from doing your daily tasks. It ranges from therapy to help ease pain from a sprain to rehab after an accident.
People of all ages, from all walks of life, benefit from physical therapy. If you’re a student suffering from carpal tunnel syndrome after spending hours hunched over your laptop, then you’re one of the many who would benefit from physical therapy.
Like any healthcare professional, you will need to undergo the proper training to obtain a license to practice as a physical therapist. It’s an enriching career that can allow you to meet different kinds of patients from different industries.
Healthcare Science
This field in the healthcare industry is probably not the first thing you think of when you say “healthcare,” but the contributions made by health scientists to the field are immeasurable. Every decision made by your doctor is based on the painstaking work and research of medical scientists.
Health scientists conduct research and studies on various healthcare-related topics such as the efficacy of a drug, how a certain disease spread, or what kind of policies would be best for certain healthcare systems.
It would be impossible to imagine fighting the COVID-19 pandemic without the studies made by these researchers. It can be a very fulfilling job because of the far-reaching impact that your work can have on so many lives.
These are just some of the many possible careers you can pursue in the healthcare industry. This is just a small sampling of the many opportunities that await a person looking to contribute to the health and well-being of others.
Our world would never survive without our healthcare heroes, and it is commendable that you would want to join their ranks. So take your first step towards a healthcare career today. Match your skills with the right profession, and find a school that offers these programs. Soon enough, you’ll be on your way to making this world a better place.
