Medical Social Network News: Health Care Jobs

Showing posts with label Health Care Jobs. Show all posts

Friday, November 14, 2014

Emerging New Healthcare Jobs, Part 1

By Rick Fromme

Despite the passage of the Affordable Care Act (a.k.a., ObamaCare), the U.S. is still challenged withproviding universal, equitable access to quality, cost-effective care for a population that is becoming ever more diverse and increasingly older.

Exacerbating the situation, some workforce pundits have cautioned there may be significant shortages of nurses and other skilled healthcare professionals. And, there’s also question about who will step into the scrubs of today’s highly skilled workers when they retire in their 50s and 60s.

Despite the above, the news isn’t all dire. In a previous blog about healthcare careers, I highlighted established healthcare positions that the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and Occupational Outlook Quarterly (OOQ) cited as being the most in-demand careers for the next ten years or so. (See our previous blog, “Health Care Jobs Outlook is Jammin’!”)

Importantly, as the U.S. tries to respond to these challenges, several new healthcare occupations are emerging that have the potential to keep people healthier and lower expenses. These jobs are well-suited for college students seeking to enter the workforce, as well as those workers who may want to transition into a new career altogether.

Photo Credit: paulpustelnik.me

In particular, occupations that focus on providing care and services to elders and the disabled, such as homehealth aides and certified nursing assistants, are poised to grow in tandem with the U.S.’ aging population. These jobs provide opportunities in community-based, home care and institutional settings.

These and other healthcare jobs offer promising opportunities, particularly in light of some projected labor shortages. Demographic changes and the emphasis on cost-effective healthcare may also spark new, innovative jobs that are not yet clearly captured in current sources of occupational data, in part because they’ve not yet been assigned federal classification codes.

The BLS defines “an emerging career” as an occupation that currently has a few number of employees, but that is expected to grow significantly in the near future. Happily, several developing healthcare careers fall within this definition. Healthcare reform and the impetus toward patient-centered care have the potential to expedite the development of and increase the demand for a range of new specialties.

Conducted in 2010, a research study was undertaken by a panel of national experts in workforce and healthcare-related issues. This group’s subsequent report, “How Boomers Can Help Improve Health Care: Emerging Encore Career Opportunities in Health Care,” identified six promising new career tracks:

Community Health Worker – Provides health education, guidance and some basic direct services to underserved populations, promoting cost-saving prevention and addressing inequities in care.

Chronic Illness Coach – Offers personalized support and guidance to chronically ill individuals, helping them better manage the stress of chronic illness that can sometimes lead to depression and the need for additional medical treatment.

Photo Credit: nypost.com

Medications Coach – Assists individuals with complicated medication regimens to guard against harmful, potentially costly, drug results or interactions.

Patient Navigator/Advocate – Aids patients and their families in accessing top-quality care so they may better understand preventive measures and treatment options, leading to more efficient use of the healthcare system.

Home- and Community-Based Service Navigator/Advocate – Helps patients access long-term support services, including adult day care and home-delivered meals, to remain living at home and potentially avoid more expensive care in assisted living or nursing facilities.

Home Modification Specialist – Creates safe home environments that support independent living for seniors and the disabled, conceivably preventing costly institutionalization.

The popular online career site, Monster.com, listed Nursing Informatics and Anesthesiologist Assistants as two of the newest professions with increasing salaries. These two professions, unlike the ones cited above, have already been listed in the newest directory of job titles by the “Occupational Information Network.”

Photo Credit: caringheartsofrochester.com

Careervision.org cited several healthcare-related fields as promising new careers. Particularly focused on elderly patients, Life Care Planners, Case Workers and Patient Advocates will all experience an increase in demand for qualified employees. These fields include conducting assessments, research, navigating the healthcare system, and planning and managing services.

Another growing field is Biotechnology. The areas of research and development, quality control and assurance, manufacturing and production, agriculture, and bioinformatics are all fields that will experience growth. Similarly, there’s Bioinformatics, where specialists organize and mine an expansive amount of biomedical data, such as research related to the study of the human genome, clinical trials, and/or diseases.

Photo Credit: rogercatlin.com

Especially in regards to the U.S.’ changing demographics, we’re currently experiencing one of the most dire nursing shortages in history. Skilled nurses are in demand. Hospitals, clinics, surgical centers, doctor’s offices, nursing homes, and elder care facilities are all in need of nurses with specialized skills in critical care, perioperative nursing, neonatal care and geriatric care.

Today’s most in-demand nursing jobs mirror

important trends in American society: aging Baby Boomers, consumer interest in fitness and holistic medicine, and advances in computer technology. Minoritynurse.com cited the following new specialties that are in need of qualified nurses:

Nursing Informatics – Combines nursing, computer science and information science to manage and communicate data, information and knowledge in nursing practice to improve patient care and communication among diverse medical staff members.

Fitness Nursing – Helps patients regain strength and health through exercise, nutrition and educational programs.

Holistic Nursing – Using a combination of traditional and alternative health care treatments, these nurses help patients regain health or deal with chronic conditions.

Gerontological Nursing – Specializing in working with elderly patients, these nurses help individuals who have diseases or chronic pain, and other health issues related to aging.

This article discusses some of the newly emerging jobs and projected in-demand specialties in healthcare. If you found it interesting and useful, please share it with your colleagues and friends. As always, I’m eager to read your comments and questions below.

Find Nursing Jobs at MedMasters.com

Rick Fromme combines entrepreneurial enthusiasm with an insider's knowledge of the medical industry to co-found MedMasters.com. Both his drive and perspective helps provide health care professionals with a superior mechanism with which to communicate, network and market their strengths. Prior to founding MedMasters.com, Rick operated a highly successful medical device distributorship. Other milestones in his 12-year career in the medical industry include a key position at a medical device start-up company that was later sold to the Ethicon Endo division of Johnson & Johnson. You may also reach Rick by connecting with him on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn and YouTube.

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Healthcare Professional Jobs: Not All Require a Bachelor’s Degree

By Rick Fromme

That’s no B.S. (I mean Bachelor of Science degree).

As the title of this article unequivocally states, regardless of your circumstances, if you’re currently unable to pursue a bachelor’s, or more advanced degree, in hopes of working in the healthcare industry, I have good news for you. You don’t need to obtain a bachelor’s degree to get a good and well-paying job in the healthcare field today (and tomorrow). Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for higher education. But pragmatically speaking, there are millions of financially rewarding, challenging and vital jobs in this industry for those without a four-year degree. Interested? Read on …

“Pre-baccalaureate healthcare workers make up a large share of the healthcare workforce and should be seen as an asset in providing high-quality, cost-effective healthcare,” affirm the authors of a major report that was recently prepared for the Brookings Institution.

Photo credit: brookings.edu

The in-depth report examines and discusses the size, characteristics, and job outlook of medical jobs
thatemploy numerous healthcare workers who have attained an associate’s degree and/or other non-four year baccalaureate degrees. The report adds, “The training and skills of healthcare workers in supportive and assistive roles are central, yet often overlooked in generating quality care and patient satisfaction.”

For those not familiar with the organization, the Brookings Institution is a private, nonprofit organization devoted to independent research and innovative policy solutions. Based in Washington, DC, its mission is to conduct high-quality, independent research and, based upon its findings, to provide innovative, practical recommendations that advance three broad goals:

Strengthen American democracy

Foster the economic and social welfare, security and opportunity for all Americans

Secure a more open, safe, prosperous and cooperative international system

The Brookings Institution is consistently ranked as one of the nation’s most influential, most quoted, and most trusted think tanks. So when it recently issued an in-depth report about the future of healthcare jobs, it definitely caught my attention.

Report Findings

Photo credit: thebestdegrees.com

As stated in the report, “Partof the Solution: Pre-Baccalaureate Healthcare Workers in a Time of Health System Change,” which was prepared for the Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings, healthcare occupation jobs continue to make up a large and growing percentage of the national workforce. (Of course, I’ve talked about this on several occasions before, check out previous blogs such as, “HealthCare Jobs Outlook is Jammin’!” and our ongoing “A Day in the Life” series.) The report estimates that 12 million jobs, or about nine percent of all workers in the U.S. economy, are currently employed in the medical and healthcare industries.

And, as I’ve noted in the above-mentioned blogs, that number will continue to rise, in part due to America’s changing age demographics profile, as more Baby Boomer continue reach their “Golden” and “Twilight” years ― some in better health than others. Also, the enactment of the ACA/Obamacare plays a role as well (read the blog “ObamaCare Aware.”) The Department of Labor projects that healthcare occupations will evince strong growth between 2012 and 2022, adding nearly three million more jobs.

And here’s the kicker, according to the report: “Specifically, occupations in which substantial shares of workers have less than a bachelor’s degree are growing the most and the fastest. These include home health aides, nursing aides, personal care aides, licensed practical and vocational nurses, medical assistants, registered nurses, physical therapist assistants/aides, diagnostic medical sonographers, occupational therapy assistants/aides, and dental hygienists …

“While many discussions of the changing healthcare workforce focus on doctors, and other professions with advanced degrees,” the report’s findings continue, “workers with lower levels of education make up a large share of the healthcare workforce and carry out functions critical to an effective healthcare system. The training and skills of healthcare workers in supportive and assistive roles are central yet often overlooked in generating quality care and patient satisfaction.”

Photo credit: thebestdegrees.com

In fact, the detailed report estimates that those in the ten largest pre-baccalaureate healthcare occupations total 3.8 million. These account for nearly 50% of the total number of healthcare jobs in the U.S.’ 100 largest metropolitan areas. Here are the report’s top ten pre-baccalaureate healthcare occupations within the U.S.' largest 100 metropolitan areas (2009-2001):

Nursing, psychiatric, and home health aides (includes home health aides, psychiatric aides, nursing assistants, and orderlies)

Registered nurses

Personal Care Aides

Licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses

Health practitioner support technologists and technicians (includes dietetic technicians, pharmacy technicians, psychiatric technicians, respiratory therapy technicians, surgical technologists, and veterinary technologists and technicians)

Medical assistants

Dental assistants

Diagnostic-related technologists and technicians (includes cardiovascular technologists and technicians, diagnostic medical sonographers, nuclear medicine technologists, radiologic technologists, and magnetic resonance imaging technologists)

Clinical laboratory technologists and technicians (includes medical and clinical laboratory technologists and medical and clinical laboratory technicians)

Emergency medical technicians and paramedics

Photo credit: upstate.edu

In non-metropolitan areas, the number of pre-baccalaureate worker was even higher; the study found that this group of (more “suburban” and “rural”) healthcare workers make up nearly 61% of all workers in healthcare.

Additional Key Points

“Educational attainment varies considerably among workers in pre-baccalaureate healthcare occupations, and earnings largely track education. Pre-baccalaureate RNs and diagnostic technologists and technicians typically have associate’s degrees or other post-secondary educational experience and have the highest median annual earnings (full-time, year-round) of pre-baccalaureate healthcare workers, at $60,000 and $52,000 respectively. By contrast, about half of personal care aides and nursing, psychiatric and home health aides have a high school diploma or less, and post median annual earnings of $21,000 and $25,000, respectively.

“Pre-baccalaureate healthcare workers in the 10 largest pre-baccalaureate healthcare occupations are racially and ethnically diverse and overwhelmingly female.

Photo credit: myfreephotoshop.com

“The number of jobs held by pre-baccalaureate workers in the 10 largest pre-baccalaureate healthcare

occupations increased at a faster rate than jobs held by similarly educated workers overall, but the largest growth was among lower-paying pre-baccalaureate healthcare occupations, and only registered nurses experienced real earnings growth between 2000 and 2009-11.

“The size and nature of the pre-baccalaureate healthcare workforce varies by region, reflecting demographics and healthcare industry mix.”

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In this article, I provided a summary of a recent, key report issued by the Brookings Institution on the current and future state of America’s healthcare industry jobs. The report found that a strong percentage of healthcare workers are non-baccalaureate degree holders, and it furthermore affirmed these jobs are ― and will continue to be ― an indispensable component of the U.S.’ healthcare delivery system. If you found this article useful, please feel free to click “Like” as well as share and repost it. If you have any questions or comments, as always, I’m eager to read them.