Not Just for Doctors: Graduates Needed to Fill Array of Health Care Careers

Health care: in a variety of ways, it’s in a state of flux in our country. One such way is the health care field’s viability as a career option. There is a fierce personnel shortage within the field, and both traditional and online colleges alike are struggling to attract the students needed to catch up.

According to DOTMed.com, The American College of Physicians has been warning of the potential shortage crisis for primary care physicians as far back as 2006, but that so far “The United States has yet to implement comprehensive strategies to recognize, support and enhance primary care to the degree necessary to reverse a worsening primary care shortage.” We recently mentioned the shortage and its alarming implications, given the rising age of the country’s population and growing need for well-rounded care, as well as how a shift toward better primary care training at nursing schools may help to alleviate some of the pressure. Still, even with students neglecting primary care medical training in favor of specialty work, somehow there is still a need for more specialists as well. In a recent letter to the Dallas Morning News, according to DOTMed, AMA president J. James Rohack, M.D., said: “Physician shortages extend far beyond primary care and have already been reported in 19 specialties as varied as emergency care, general surgery and child and adolescent psychiatry.”

Of course, the health care field hardly begins and ends with doctors. On the contrary, the field is said to be growing faster and building more jobs than any other industry, and DOTMed reports many other areas of expertise besides primary care that are equally in need of well-trained graduates. Medical laboratory technicians, registered nurses, and physical therapists are classic career options that rank highly among the needy, while other career paths are relatively new. The field of biomedical engineering is especially booming, with great advances being made in prostheses and robotics, and many hospitals are hiring their own engineers in-house to bring technology to their patients that much faster. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, those with graduate-level biomedical engineering degrees will have an edge on the growing competition, and can take advantage of this blossoming field.

Health care careers are a topic often discussed, but with reason. Until the health care shortage is fully solved once and for all, it remains an important issue of concern. With the attention now being given and the career opportunities shining like a beacon, however, hopefully it will be solved before long.

© Copyright 2009 The Distance Daily. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.