Healthcare is about serving people by using your gifts of intelligence and compassion. For some people, looking after others comes naturally to them; if this sounds like you then why not consider making this into your career? You could be working with children, older adults, mental health patients or those who are physically unwell. I have spent the past twenty years of my life in medicine enjoying the rewards of this profession. There are so many really great reasons for joining this career path, read on if this is a route you’d like to go down.
Career Options
Your first option could be working within the medical field and could include careers from paramedics to physiotherapists, GPs, surgeons, midwives, dentists, dermatologists and more. However, the careers that are higher up the ladder do take years of training and might not be something you can realistically achieve if you’re already later into your life. If you’re making a career change later in life, care work is a good one to consider, you’ll most often be doing personal care in nursing homes and looking after the elderly and sick. You don’t usually need any experience to get started in care, but there’s a chance to advance your career. With further study, you can gain qualifications into things like breathing and ventilation, administering medication and other more medical aspects of the job. If you want a job that’s not restricted to a formal workplace and instead prefers to be out and about, there are lots of medical jobs within the community. Community nurses, health visitors, community care workers, and others all go out to visit patients in their homes.
It’s rewarding
Going to work for most people is a way to put food on the table and pay the bills- a means to an end. It’s why so many of us end up in unfulfilling and unrewarding jobs, but it doesn’t have to be this way. When you work in an industry like healthcare, you can go to bed each evening knowing you made a genuine difference to people’s lives. You get to help people and pick them up after going through the worst time of their lives. Healthcare work is never easy, but the rewards of helping people can be so worth it. In light of the current COVID 19 pandemic, for example, healthcare workers across the world are being praised and recognized for their bravery and selflessness in helping others. Look into crisis contracts for nurses for more information about working in relation to the virus.
You can keep improving your skills
When your career challenges you, it prevents you from clock watching and wishing the days away. When you are being challenged, you’re always growing and improving which can be satisfying, rewarding and good for your mental health- there’s no chance of falling into a rut. Whether you’re at the start of your healthcare career or right at the top, working with people means there are always new things to learn and improve upon.
