This is the first in a series of posts intended to address new careers paths that are just showing up, or known ones that are becoming important. As technological advancements continue, many exciting career paths are opening up in every field. With COVID-19 pandemic, many new areas are emerging in healthcare, beyond popular and traditional ones. While we can expect more in the future – especially in the aftermath of the pandemic – here are 7 emerging careers in the medical field to explore:
#1 – Lifestyle Medical Practitioner
Description & Duties: This profession is very new and has just been recently certified. It will cover many of the traditional roles within the field of healthcare. It is based on the known fact that a high percentage of healthcare costs are related to chronic diseases, many of which are related to lifestyle choices including quality and type of food, sleep, exercise, social life, etc. Applications will be in both primary care and family medicine as well the growing lifestyle medical centers clinics or residential facilities.
#2 – Mental Health Practitioner/Psychiatrist
Description & Duties: This field is likely to become more important in the aftermath of the pandemic. Their duties include working to improve the mental health of person or to treat mental/psychological disorders.
Notes: There are multiple routes into psychiatry; a medical degree or a degree in psychology or health and social care or relevant art (e.g. music) subjects, followed by relevant postgraduate training.
#3 – Medical Robotics Engineer
Description & Duties: With the success of the Da Vinci surgical system, a lot of technology-aided approaches to improve healthcare continue to emerge. As with other fields, healthcare profession is being invaded by robotics and the field of robotics engineering continues to grow, with the demand for creating more intelligent, and capable robots not only for surgical procedures but for all aspects of medical services like diagnosis, patient care, social interaction, therapies and other types of routine, difficult and important procedures. Other areas of focus will include the development of artificial organs, prosthetic limbs, etc.
Notes: Bachelor’s in the sciences, computing, engineering or a medical field; postgraduate degree (Master’s or Ph.D) in medical engineering, robotics, or other related field.
#4 – Healthcare Manager or Administrator
Description & Duties: Professionals in management who perform management roles across various non-clinical tasks in the operation and management of a healthcare facility. They are concerned about the business side of healthcare services. They can also work within or outside hospital settings. They may specialize in various areas like human resource management, financial management, etc.
#5 – Virtual Administrator
Description & Duties: Virtual healthcare is real-time digital clinician-patient interaction that may involve monitoring situations or medical procedures remotely and supporting healthcare access in real-time from geographically separated locations through video conferencing. A virtual administrator will thus be responsible for organization’s performance, lead initiatives in education and training, and performing other duties of non-virtual administrators.
Notes: A basic medical/healthcare degree; Master’s degree in Medical Administration/Management (MMA/MMM) or a Master of Business Administration (MBA) with bias in medical administration.
#6 – Healthcare Data Analyst, Clinical/Biomedical/Health Informatics Specialist
Description & Duties: As data continues to play central roles across various fields, the role of a Healthcare Analyst or Healthcare Data Analysts is becoming more important among medical professionals. Their roles include evaluation of medical data to improve the business part of medical facilities, collecting and analyzing patients’ health information and applying those insights to improve health, assessing data from different sources, preparing status reports, and creating record-keeping processes.
#7 – Healthcare Therapists
Description & Duties: There are many roles that falls within the scope of healthcare therapy. They include physical therapists or physiotherapists, music therapists, massage therapists, etc. They play very important roles in assisting people with various health conditions battling with physical, psychological, emotional or mental disorders. The main goal of the jobs of therapists is enhancing quality of life of individuals and promoting, maintaining, and restoring health through various processes that may include examinations, diagnosis, prognosis, education and promotion, intervention, rehabilitation, etc.
About the Author
Dr. Bosede is a lecturer, career advisor, and research consultant. She is an international education consultant with Arrows Transactions and OT Consulting.
Reach out for any of these services or support to realize your international education/research goals in Australia, US, UK, Canada, Russia, Malaysia, etc.: Email: arrowstransactions@gmail.com OR otnigeria@gmail.com or Click to chat us on WhatsApp
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