(Akiit.com) Medicine is often considered to be one of the most fulfilling areas of work that there is. After all, you’re often on the front lines, helping people and potentially saving lives. What could possibly be more fulfilling than a career where you’re actually doing a genuine amount of good in the world? Many people would much rather use their work days to do some real good in the world rather than slaving away behind a desk crunching numbers for a living. The problem that a lot of people run into is that they assume that the only career option that would help them do this is to become a doctor. For a lot of people, especially those who have been working for a number of years already, the idea of having to spend years training is either unrealistic or completely unfeasible. Fortunately, that’s not the only option available to you. In fact, there are dozens of career options available to you if you want to break into the field of medicine that don’t require you to spend half your life racking up enormous medical school bills. Here are just a few possible careers that you might want to consider.
Nurse
This is probably the most obvious choice when people think of non-physician medical careers. Nurses are some of the most important medical professionals working today. A great many hospitals would simply cease to function entirely were it not for the incredible work
that nurses do every single day. There are plenty of reasons why become a nurse might be an extremely attractive career prospect. For one thing, you’ll be earning an excellent salary, and you’re often able to be more flexible than you might expect in terms of your working hours. Not only that but you often get the chance to work in a whole variety of different establishments, allowing you the opportunity to put your skills to use in plenty of unique situations. There’s also plenty of room for you to progress within this career as well. Organizations like Our Lady of the Lake College allow you to grow and expand your skills and knowledge entirely online. Nursing is one of the most challenging careers out there, but it’s also one of the most engaging, exciting and fulfilling.
Medical assistant
If you’re looking for the opportunity to work in the medical profession but don’t know how well you’d handle a lot of hands-on contact with patients on the front lines? Well, then you might want to consider working as a medical assistant. A medical assistant is responsible for completing administrative tasks within a hospital environment, as well as physician’s offices and other medical environments. These kinds of tasks involve taking patient histories and updating records, measuring vital signs, as well as supporting doctors during patient examinations. This is the perfect career for someone who wants to be a part of a field that helps people without the extreme pressure or levels of training required to become a doctor. You’re able to support and connect with patients without having to be directly involved in some of the more dramatic elements of working in a hospital. A medical assistant might not get the levels of recognition that other medical professionals do, but they are undeniably a crucial part of any hospital environment.
Dietician
Again, this is a great option for those who are looking to avoid working right on the front lines of the medical profession while still making a real and important different in the lives of patients. A dietician advises people on how to manage their eating in order to achieve the healthiest lifestyle possible or to help then achieve a specific health-related goal. It generally requires a bachelor’s degree, as do many of the previously mentioned jobs, so there is a decent amount of training involved, but certainly far less than you would need for many other careers as a medical professional.
Hopefully, this sampling of careers has shown you that there are a plenty of options within the medical and healthcare professions and that, just because you’re not necessarily in a position to spend years training to become a doctor, that doesn’t mean that you can’t start a more fulfilling career. There are so many different medical careers, and each and every one of them is just as important as the next. They each provide a crucial service in order to support and help patients every single day.
Staff Writer; Larry Harris