The Pursuit of Jobs in Healthcare
By
Jobs in healthcare will become more plentiful in coming years as members of the “baby boomer” generation age. There will be an abundance of opportunities in healthcare careers, particularly in geriatrics, end-of-life care and hospice and nursing home work. In addition, the large number of severely injured and disabled veterans returning from occupation duty in Iraq is already creating an urgent demand for workers in all healthcare fields that will continue for decades to come.
If this kind of work interests you, you’ll need to prepare for healthcare careers with health care training and education. Online degrees are a convenient and economical way to start the training you’ll need in order to qualify for jobs in healthcare.
In addition to “hands-on” careers in healthcare in fields such as nursing, pathology, radiology and physical therapy, the U.S. Department of Labor anticipates a large number of openings for healthcare management jobs as well as healthcare administration jobs.
Healthcare administration is an area that will take on a great deal of importance in the coming years. If you saw Michael Moore’s movie “SiCKO,” you understand just how dysfunctional the present U.S. healthcare system is. The financial power of greedy insurance and pharmaceutical corporations and their undue influence over corrupt members of Congress presents considerable obstacles. However, there is growing rage among American citizens over this issue that may very well force changes at the state level.
Healthcare administrators are among those who see the problems firsthand and understand the issues; therefore, these people are in a position to help shape healthcare policy in the coming years as individual state governments begin the type of healthcare reform that most members of the U.S. Congress are unwilling to address.
Whether you choose an administrative or a hands-on career in healthcare, you’ll be able to complete your coursework at home, often at your own pace, by attending college online. Contrary to what you may have heard, online courses are similar to traditional classes at a brick-and-mortar university or college. You’ll hear lectures, read required texts, submit papers, take exams and even participate in class discussions. The only difference is that you’ll be using Internet technology such as podcasts and electronic bulletin boards for these interactions.
As you might imagine, training for healthcare careers in “hands-on” fields such as nursing, anesthesiology and pathology require some real-world clinical experience. Once you are at that stage, many schools can arrange for you to complete these requirements at a local hospital or other medical center near your home.
When pursuing an online degree, it is important to make sure that the school is properly accredited. Most online college websites provide this information; you can also learn more about accreditation by visiting the U.S. Department of Education website at http://www.ed.gov.
Question and Answer
How does universal healthcare in Europe work?
My professor today mentioned that most European countries have universal healthcare. This means that everyones healthcare is provided by the state, correct? How much more money do people pay in taxes in Europe than in the U.S.? It would have to be more since their healthcare is covered, right?
Anne Harvester is a career consultant who reccomends online degrees to individuals interested in healthcare careers. College online is great way to get the healthcare training and education required for a variety of jobs in healthcare.
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18 Comments
December 23rd, 2009 at 10:29 am
If you are business saavy you may consider being on the administrative side of healthcare. Physicians are required to bill with special codes called CPT-4 codes that describe services that they provide to patients. There are also codes to describe every diagnosis.
In order for the physicians to obtain payment for services these codes must be submitted in a timely fashion to insurance companies and they must be within the scope of usual practices.
Insurance companies also deny payment to the physicians more often than not and they need people to fight for their money.
Administrators allow physicians to concentrate of helping patients without the nagging concern of redtape and paperwork.
There are also budgeting, managerial and operational issues in healthcare offices or other settings that are handled by these professionals.
You may consider obtaining a masters in heatlh administration. Please refer to http://www.ache.org.
December 23rd, 2009 at 11:42 am
First, I doubt that healthcare will become universal.
Second, I see no reason why you as a X-ray technician should lose pay…ompare it to salaries in France & other places where they have universal health care.
December 23rd, 2009 at 10:25 am
crazyyyyyyyy stuff man i like it a lot. i expeccially love that blunt.
December 23rd, 2009 at 11:07 am
Hello, Williams! How’s everything? Fine, I hope =)
Another great work… wow!… AMAZING !!! Also, fine Piano tune! 5 *****
Take care!
December 23rd, 2009 at 6:43 pm
I am English and now live in California. Like most people I thought that there was a huge tax burden in Britain, but after coming here I now think that's not the case.We pay two forms of tax from our wages:Income tax and National insurance. Your income tax is tax like everywhere else, national insurance pays for your pension and healthcare. I have lived in England all my life up till now and I will fiercely defend our healthcare system, the NHS (national health service). In thanks largely to the effort of our heroic doctors and nurses (and all other staff) the NHS survives….the healthcare is nothing like as bad as people make out, and there are no long waiting lists anymore (now if you're waiting more than six months for routine surgery they'll send you abroad to have it done, paid for of course). No-one pays anything for medical care and the one reason it's under stress (As a healthcare proffesional I know this from experience) is the fact that something built as a national health service is used as a world health service. People come to the UK from all over Europe to take advantage of the NHS and from all over the world. I would like to see treatment restricted to citizens/people who have paid at least 5 years national insurance contributions but at the same time I would never ever want to see anyone, citizen or not, turned away or denied medical care because of money. I'm fortunate enough to be able to afford health insurance in the US but the amount hospitals/doctors charge is disgusting and I don't really understand why people are so opposed to universal health care, can you really put a price on life?
By the way income tax is 20% of anything you earn over about 5 and a half thouse pounds ($11k) and national insurance is 11% of anything you earn over 84pounds a week ($160) And people have the option of private healthcare in england too if they want to pay for it
December 23rd, 2009 at 11:50 am
Wow! Seriously, that looks like real picture!
December 23rd, 2009 at 12:07 pm
Goshh…. gus is right!! this is amazing & you are so amazing!!
Beautiful…
December 23rd, 2009 at 4:07 pm
really cool.
December 24th, 2009 at 2:11 am
I am from Canada where medical coverage is free for everyone,regardless of whether you work or not.
December 24th, 2009 at 9:24 am
lemme just say… you are my new hero.
December 25th, 2009 at 1:45 am
prodigious!
December 25th, 2009 at 7:32 pm
Hospitals carry liability insurance for their nurses. It is unlikely that a nurse will get sued unless she/he does something very deliberate and intentional to harm a patient.
December 25th, 2009 at 8:33 pm
Don't get sick!
December 26th, 2009 at 9:01 am
Since the drug companies became privatized, there have been far, far less cures than when it was government controlled. Drug companies only want symptom relievers, since they will be reused over and over, whereas cures are not needed once the problem is gone. No money in cures. Drug companies are more interested in Marketing. Obscene amounts go into marketing. At least thousands if not millions are spent on just pens, clocks, notepads, lunches, clipboards, and a ton of little practically useless stuff they give away for the sole purpose of having the name all around the dr. You should go in a dr's office and just look at the amount of stuff with a drug name on it. That is only a small fraction. The government should really take back the pharmaceutical industry, that would definitely lower regular health insurance prices.
If universal health care is brought in, it doesn't mean you can't get regular health insurance. Considering how very little the health insurances pay out ($0.67 on a $10 charge) I highly doubt that the doctors income would be impacted negatively.
I think universal health care would be a great thing. And this is coming from someone who would probably have to find a new job. You don't see the people who come in who don't have to money to get seen. People who are already sick, dying, and still getting harassed about payments. There are already tons of people who die because they just didn't have the money for a doctor. What is a couple of days wait to that?
6 months is quite far fetched. I was in the military, and the same type of system ran. Health care was FREE and there were no massive wait times.
The only valid complaint that I have heard is that you would not always be able to see the same doctor. Not exactly a big deal.
It could very well be that some doctors could choose to take more regular health insurance patients, and then you could have one of those for your regular doctor.
As atrocious as regular health insurance is, most doctors take most of them. Why? To boost the number of patients. Universal health care could work the same way.
Universal health care will certainly not stop the advancement of medicine. With a little less fear involved, it may even enhance it. Besides, that sounds an awful lot like you want to believe the US is the only place in the world who has helped medicine. Nope.
Would you give up your career to keep universal health care from coming?
That's how strongly I support it.
December 26th, 2009 at 3:00 am
Johnny Depp reminds me so much of John Barrymore.
December 26th, 2009 at 4:36 pm
That would probably be private information. HMO's have fee schedules that list what they allow for certain procedures, but that's probably not available except to providers. They don't "look at information" – they have set schedules, for the most part.
Why would that be important to you in looking for a possible career??
December 26th, 2009 at 9:48 pm
An option to consider is traveling overseas for your dental work. I am originally from Los Angeles, but have been living in Monterrey, Mexico for about 2 years now. I have had regular dental visits and am VERY impressed with the quality of the facilities and the doctors. The best part is that dental work is about 50% less expensive here than it is in the U.S! Monterrey, Mexico is just two hours south of Texas, so it is very easy to get to wherever you are. And, you can always combine your visit with a vacation! If this is something that interests you, check out http://www.travelforcare.com a Medical Travel facilitator that will help you with all the details.
December 26th, 2009 at 8:47 pm
Man, you’re good at that.
I like your subject matter, too.
I can write music til the cows come home but I always tell people that I can’t “draw water”. haha.
Thanks for the invite. Rare treat.