Entry Level Jobs in Healthcare

If you are seeking a stable career in a bad economy, healthcare jobs are always in high demand and can be found in most locations in the country. If your aspirations include a career in healthcare, most likely your program of study will include a certain amount of documented hours and hands-on experience in a healthcare setting—so get paid for your time and gain real world experience before dedicating a significant amount of time to a profession you may not know as well as you’d like.

Consider a Start in a Healthcare Position

If you’re done with school and are looking for place to grow, healthcare positions always provide growth and opportunities for you to advance in a career. In addition, you will be able to help people that need you, and job satisfaction can be high and very rewarding.

Palliative care is a growing field of respected professionals that add comfort and healing to patients undergoing medical interventions and noxious drug therapies. Gaining a wide acceptance and appreciation in the medical community, physicians now know the importance of massage therapy to cancer patients and surgical patients that spend long periods of time in a challenging hospital environment and experience high anxiety and pain. More doctors are writing prescriptions for massage therapy and hundreds of studies have shown the positive effects for patients in and out of the hospital setting.

Entrepreneurial Applications and Work Settings

Massage therapists can work according to their schedule, and choose to fix their own rates. Many therapists work in physician’s and chiropractor’s offices, health spas, and contract through agencies. Rate of pay varies due to the option of charging their own rates per hour.

What Kind of People do Best in Massage Therapy?

Compassionate people with a desire to help others that enjoy conversing with people do well in massage therapy. In addition, strong upper extremities and back are required for standing positions for long periods of time. Entrepreneurs that want to build their own business do well in this occupation, and some have advanced to owning their own massage centers.

Many mental health facilities offer their own training programs for entry level mental health technicians. People are usually accepted with high school diplomas or some college. Requirements for employment do vary by state. Mental health technicians, sometimes called psychiatric technicians, work with the mentally challenged and assist them to adhere to a schedule for daily activities and assignments given to them by their psychiatrist. Responsibilities include daily in-services to patients, monitoring of recreational activities, daily documentation on patient behavior and ensuring safety and adherence to facility policies.

What Type of Person Enjoys the Mental Health Profession?

People that can balance their compassion for others with a strong sense of fairness. Mental health can be a difficult field and requires a lot of patience and stamina.

Since medical assistants usually work in physician's offices, they have the advantage of being trained directly by the doctor. Medical assistants may be trained on the job, and take vital signs, laboratory specimen collections, give certain injections and maintain documents in the doctor's office. Highly in demand, medical assistants may also elect vocation training for 3-12 months. Once trained, assistants can move into hospitals, out-patient services and hospitals. Many go on in their careers to become medical office managers and coordinators. Often, nurses start out as nursing assistants and it provides the hands on experience required for component for the nursing program.

Who does well as a Medical Assistant?

People with good documentation skills and are well organized. Also, those who possess good interpersonal and communications skills are needed for coordination of the care team.

For those seeking flexibility and hands on experience, phlebotomy may be the choice for an entry level career. Phlebotomists work in hospitals, nursing facilities, doctor's offices, out-patient clinics and laboratories. Also, many phlebotomists contract for laboratories and are sent out to different facilities on demand. Usually you can work according to your schedule, and being mobile is highly suitable for some people. The skill of drawing blood for laboratory analysis is highly desirable, and if you possess this skill, many opportunities may be available in the healthcare field.

What Kind of Personality does well in Phlebotomy?

People with patience and a strong desire to learn a difficult and valuable skill. Not everyone will possess the ability to learn how to draw blood. Apparently, it is a knack, but anyone can attempt to acquire the ability.

If you plan on becoming a nurse, physical therapist, or physician, you may want to start out as a certified nursing assistant. You can acquire hands on and documented experience in a hospital, skilled nursing facility, or out-patient clinic and pay your rent as well. Nursing assistants assist with hygiene, daily activities, feeding and dressing of disabled patients, and can do home care for a highly mobile and flexible schedule. Assistants provide documentation of the patient, vital signs and are integral to the care of patients. As a nursing assistant, you will work with other members of the healthcare team and get a ground floor look at the medical community in action. Most states require a 12 week approved program for certification, including a two week practicum in taken on the job. Most healthcare facilities will hire you on the spot, as long as you are expecting a certification and have attended the classroom requirement.

What Kind of Person does Best as a Certified Nursing Assistant?

Extremely compassionate and patient people that do well with elderly and confused patients. Nursing assistants are the backbone of the nursing and medical team, and are charged with critical duties of the patient population.

Positions in the healthcare setting provide many opportunities and a stable income in an uncertain world of economic downturn. Whether you need experience for school, or a job with a good income, the fastest growing career trends are in the medical field. Call a facility near you and find out what opportunities may be available to you now.