CVAHEC & The Community

Emily Cooke, Champlain Valley Union High School Class of 2009

Exploring Health Care Careers, Graduation Challenge Project Report

Exploring Health Care Careers

When you are a little kid everyone always asks you what you want to be when you grow up. I never really knew what I wanted to do until I went to a summer program called MedQuest, which is a Health Careers Exploration Program, coordinated by Champlain Valley Area Health Education Center (AHEC), this past summer. Throughout the week I had the opportunity to listen to presentations on various health care careers and topics. I was also able to go into different settings and observe professionals during their work days. I got to watch a telemedicine surgery, learn Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR), understand what the significance of someone’s blood pressure was, how to take a blood pressure, and check a pulse. After this amazing week of career exploration I realized that I couldn’t imagine myself doing anything else than something in health care. I also continued doing job shadows throughout the year to be able to see a wide variety of careers.

Going into a work environment is so much more beneficial, in my mind, than just reading about it in a book. You get to see firsthand what people do, who they work with, what kind of interactions they have with others, and ask as many questions as you want about how they got to where they are and what they like about their career. There are several reasons that I discovered that I want to pursue a career in health care. The book Health Careers: More Than a Job lists the many reasons to consider health care as a career. The first is that you will be Respected because of your knowledge and ability to help others. The second is Everywhere because there are so many opportunities all over the country in health care. To be Always needed is the next; as long as there are humans, services will always be needed. Another important reason is Salary which allows you to live and with more training you can begin to earn even more. The next is Occupations because there are hundreds of different occupations that allow you to do the kind of work that you want. Having No barriers is also important so that you can grow professionally and personally. The last reason is Stimulating because health care careers are always changing in ways of technologies, techniques, medicines, and methods. The bolded letters all together stand for REASONS; the reasons that have helped to lead me to a health care career. 

For my graduation challenge hours I went to different health care facilities and shadowed health professionals. Shadowing consists of going to a setting in which someone works and observing what they do throughout the day. This allowed me to see what kinds of patients were seen, if any, and the general atmosphere of their work environments. Shadowing doesn’t involve any sort of hands on activity, but it is beneficial to be able to talk with and ask questions of someone who is an expert in that area. When I shadowed Debbie Choquette, a nurse in the Birthing Center at Northwestern Medical Center in St. Albans, she told me that where she worked was the happiest place in the hospital. She told me that this was where life was just getting started, while in other places it was ending. I knew that I wanted to be a part of this process and see how people change throughout their lives. My community consultant, Kylee Ryan, has been so important in helping me complete my Graduation Challenge hours and throughout the week at MedQuest. Kylee is the program coordinator at Champlain Valley Area Health Education Center and is charge of programs like MedQuest and Shadow Days. With her amazing help I was able to do other shadows throughout the school year and learn a lot about different careers. Doing my graduation challenge on exploring health care careers was the best decision I could have made because it has allowed me to realize what I want to do as a career and what kind of person I want to be. In this paper I will be describing some of the reasons to choose a career in health care. I will share my experiences, thoughts, and research about work settings, job outlooks, education, and salaries in health care.

I think that one of the best things about health care careers is the diversity in work environments. There are so many different places to work which makes finding a place where you fit more likely. Probably the first place that people associate with health care is hospitals. Hospitals have all kinds of medical care from emergency and diagnostic services, to surgery, to continuous care. Certain hospitals have specialties such as children, cancer patients, or the mentally ill. Hospitals provide inpatient and outpatient care which allows them to serve different kinds of problems. When I was completing my grad challenge hours I went to three different hospitals that were a range of sizes and therefore had different capabilities and goals. I shadowed several nurses in various units of the hospital and with each one there were different duties and tones to the settings. I also shadowed Nathan Kokinda, Master of Science, Senior Research Physiologist and Clinical Research Specialist. This was at Fletcher Allen Hospital but was much different than other shadows. Mr. Kokinda showed me research he was doing and different equipment that he used to conduct it. He had a volunteer run on a treadmill for 45 minutes while he was monitoring his heart rate and different vitals. The volunteer was trying out a new supplement that was supposed to reduce soreness after running. It was really interesting to get to see new ideas in the initial steps of creation. This kind of career is still in the hospital but there was much less patient contact and much more data analysis.

There are also nursing and residential care facilities which are separate from hospitals but sometimes are affiliated. Nursing care facilities allow people who do not need hospital care but still need assistance to be able to get the help they need, like rehabilitation.  Residential care facilities have full time personal care for children, the elderly, and others with limited ability. Such establishments can also include alcohol and drug rehabilitation centers. During my MedQuest experience, I went to an elderly persons home where we talked with patients and spent time hearing about their lives. This was a residential care facility where the patients need assistance but not the acute care of a hospital. Another work environment that most of us have visited quite a bit is the office of a physician. These are places where physicians and surgeons who practice privately or in groups of practitioners, work on the same or different specialties. Another common place is a dentist’s office. Usually there are only a few dentists employed at each office who provide preventative, cosmetic, or emergency care. Some offices specialize in one aspect of dentistry such as orthodontics. There are also home health care services in which nurses or some sort of medical care is brought to the home. Many home health care services are provided to the elderly. Many patients prefer this kind of care and it has proven to be cost efficient. There have been many advances in medical technologies that make it possible to be portable and able to be provided outside of a hospital or a physician’s office.

There are also many, many offices of other health practitioners. Some of these include chiropractors, optometrists, podiatrists, occupational and physical therapists, psychologists, audiologists, speech-language pathologists, and dieticians among others. Hospitals may often refer patients to these offices if they do not have the resources in their own facility. These kinds of offices could also include homeopaths and acupuncturists. During my week at MedQuest, I went to shadow a Physical Therapist who worked at an off-site location through a hospital. I also shadowed an Athletic Trainer who did clinical research with UVM. Doing clinical research involves a lot of data analyzing while working in a clinic or through a hospital you are always working with patients. Working in different environments allows you to have different kinds of patient contact and goals. I also shadowed an Occupation Therapist specializing in hand therapy. Her job was at a building that was affiliated with Fletcher Allen Health Care but was off-site and focused on the healing of very specific muscles and bones in the hands. There are also outpatient care centers like kidney dialysis centers, mental health and abuse centers, and other places where patients do not stay overnight. In addition there are also a small number of careers in ambulatory heath care services like ambulance and helicopter transportation, blood and organ banks, and specific monitoring services over devices such as pacemakers. Another work environment is medical and diagnostic laboratories. People analyze blood, take x-rays, and perform a range of other clinical tests. These jobs usually have the fewest number of jobs in health care but are still very important. There are so many different places that you can work in while being a part of health care. Each environment has its own set of benefits and challenges that every person can use to their advantage. Working in health care doesn’t restrict you, but allows you to discover opportunities wherever you go.

   

Between 2006 and 2016 health care will generate more that 3 million new wage and salary jobs (U.S.). Being in a health care field provides job security and a good outlook for future generations of workers. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics health care workers at all levels of education and training will continue to be in high demand. Nursing aides, orderlies, attendants, and home health aides are some of the occupations that are adding the most new jobs, about 647,000 between 2006 and 2016. Jobs like physicians and surgeons have few replacement openings and are characterized by being highly paid and having had lots of training. A very popular in demand job right now is registered nurse (U.S.). Many nurses are growing older and there are not enough younger workers to replace them. In some places employers are reorganizing workloads and improving compensation and job responsibilities to attract more applicants. This summer during my MedQuest experience our group met with Human Resources Manager, David Fuller, at Porter Medical Center in Middlebury. He stressed to us the importance of job security and the opportunities that there are in health care. I personally had expressed an interest in nursing which he described as a great prospect right now in the industry. There are, of course, some downsides to nursing like working late shifts, especially when you first start out.

Health care will generate more jobs in the next ten years than any other industry (U.S.). I think that this is a great reason to become involved in a health care career. Our country has been facing huge jobs losses and financial issues and I think that students who are thinking about their futures should definitely consider health care. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics in 2006 health care was the largest industry and provided 14 million jobs. Of these, 13.6 million jobs for wage and salary workers and about 438,000 jobs for self-employed and unpaid family workers. Of the 13.6 million wage and salary jobs, 40 percent were in hospitals; another 21 percent were in nursing and residential care facilities; and 16 percent were in offices of physicians. The majority of jobs for self-employed and unpaid family workers in health care were in offices of physicians, dentists, and other health practitioners, about 295,000 out of the 438,000 total self-employed. Health care jobs are found throughout the country, but they are concentrated in the largest States; in particular, California, New York, Florida, Texas, and Pennsylvania (U.S.).

People working in health care tend to be older than workers in other industries. I saw this many times when I visited hospitals. There were many older nurses and doctors which is why there is such a need for younger workers now. Health care workers also are more likely to remain employed in the same occupation, mostly because of the high level of education and training required for many health occupations. Health specialists with clinical expertise can advance to department head positions or even higher level management jobs. Many of the nurses I spoke with told me that when they first started working that they had to work late shifts and didn’t have much power but the longer they worked there, the more responsibility they gained as they climbed the ranks. Medical and health services managers can advance to more responsible positions, all the way up to chief executive officer (U.S.). Everywhere you go there are hospitals, health care centers, or somewhere where people are in need of care. There will always be jobs in health care especially as the large generation, the baby boomers, continues to grow older. The outlook for jobs in health care is a great one and will continue to grow throughout the years.

Some of the most educated people work in health care while others have less than 4 years of college education. The amount of training that you need to have to work in a health care field varies. The health care industry also provides many job opportunities for people without specialized training beyond high school. More than half of workers in nursing and residential care facilities have a high school diploma or less, as do a fifth of workers in hospitals (U.S.). There are many programs that students can enter which offer a certificate or a degree at the associate, baccalaureate, or graduate level. There are several two-year programs that can result in careers like dental hygiene and assistants like a surgical technician. My sister is a nurse and went through a two-year associate’s degree program and now works for a rehabilitation program. Many people choose to go through less schooling but still have rewarding careers in health care. Most therapists and social workers hold at least a bachelor’s degree. Health diagnosing and treatment practitioners like physicians, surgeons, optometrists, and podiatrists are some of the most educated workers with many years of training after college. During MedQuest, we met a surgeon who was still going through his residency, and he stressed to us the long term commitment he had made. He had many, many years of school, along with internships and he still had several years to go before he would finally be done with all his training. Some people don’t want to spend that much time in school and there are definitely other options.  For some careers, on-the-job training is an option. Some hospitals have training or tuition assistance programs when the workers promise to stay at their facility for a certain length of time (U.S.). High school and undergraduate course work for many health care careers should focus on math and science (Health Careers). There are so many opportunities in health care that if you go into one field there can be many specialties that you can continue to study for and become educated in. There is always room to grow in health care and the learning is not limited.

The average entry-level health care worker earns from $15 to $50 per hour (U.S.). While salary should not always be the most important factor when deciding a career, it definitely makes a difference to the lifestyle you want. The payment in different careers will vary with diverse duties, levels of education, training, and amount of responsibility. Some facilities have tuition reimbursement, paid training, child day care services, and flexible work hours (U.S.). Many places also give payment for overtime and weekend, holiday, late, and on call work. There may also be bonuses or other payments that would contribute to earnings. Salary or payment may also vary not just by the facility and occupation but by the size of the establishment and location. Larger hospitals and group practices tend to pay higher salaries.  The more training and education you receive the more money you will make; professionals and managers typically make more than other workers (U.S.). During MedQuest we also visited Vermont Student Assistance Cooperation (VSAC). While we were there we used VSAC’s Vermont Guidance Central online resource to search for the kinds of career that would best suit us. Salary is definitely important to some while looking into a career. There was a lot of information in this online resource in regards to searching for careers, colleges, loans, and scholarships. When you find a career you like it is also important to think about how to pay for education and how your salary will play into that. There is a very wide range of salaries ranging from an entry-level 10 thousand dollars a year to over 100 thousand dollars. People who make the least, 10-30 thousand dollars a year, would have careers in anything from an ambulance driver to a nursing assistant to a medical secretary. Those who have middle income jobs, 30-50 thousand, are licensed practical nurses, school nurses, massage therapists, personal trainers, dental assistants, among others. Individuals who have upper middle level income jobs, 50-80 thousand dollars, range from registered nurses to audiologists to health educators. Workers who have high income jobs, 80-100 thousand dollars, can be anyone like a nurse practitioner, chiropractor, or head of social services. People with jobs that have a salary of 100 thousand dollars or more can be anyone from a surgeon to a nurse anesthetist to a number of different kinds of physicians (Entry). There are many levels of salary that you can receive in a health care career. Salary shouldn’t be the most important factor in deciding on a career but should be taken into account.

Before last summer, I really did not know how many different careers there were in health care. From a child life specialist, to a dentist, to a pharmacist there are so many ways you can do the things you like and use the skills you have in exciting new ways. There are many benefits to being in health care like the many places that you can work. By listening, observing, and asking questions throughout my grad challenge experience I learned a lot about the kind of skills and interests that I would need to possess in order to have certain health care jobs. If you want to work with people and take care of them then maybe being a nurse or physician is the right job for you. If you are good with problem solving then maybe you would make a good diagnostician. If you prefer to work behind the scenes and do lab work or research there are plenty of opportunities and careers that would allow you to do just that. I love being around people and helping others which made me realize that I could incorporate this into a job and do what I love to do. 

Throughout my MedQuest experience and the job shadows I have done this year I have seen what it takes to have a health care career. I observed many different professionals within hospitals and other facilities. I shadowed nurses in the birthing center, mother/baby unit, neonatal intensive care unit, and the transition center. I got to see the progression of life from where it starts in the birthing center, to the place where the moms and babies rest, to where the sicker ones go, and then to the transition center where those that are sick are getting back into the healthy nursery. I also observed an occupational therapist specializing in hand therapy. This was much different than other things that I had seen because it was with such a small part of the body. In each place that I went there was a great difference in the actual tasks being done but always the same goal of helping people and accomplishing something beneficial. I learned that people considering careers in health care should have a strong desire to help others, a genuine concern for the welfare of patients and clients, an ability to care for people of diverse backgrounds, and to be able to work in stressful situations. I saw many things this past year and learned a lot about other people and myself. Without this experience I would not have discovered exactly what I want to do with my education for the next few years and eventually with my life. 

Bibliography

Career Guide to Industries. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2008-09 Edition. 2 Mar 2009. www.bls.gov/oco/cg/cgs035.htm.

Choquette, Debbie. Personal Interview. July 2008.   

Entry Level Income Healthcare. Career Advancement Tools and Resources.  2 Mar 2009. swz.salary.com/salarywizard/layouthtmls/swzl_salaryrangenarrowjob_10_HC02.html

Fuller, David.  Personal Interview. July 2008.   

Kokinda, Nathan.  Personal Interview.  July 2008.   

Top 10 Reasons to Pursue a Health Career Now. Explore Health Careers. 4 Mar 2009. www.explorehealthcareers.org/en/Article.178.aspx.

UVM Area Health Education Center Program at the University of Vermont College of Medicine. Health Careers, More Than a Job. Burlington: Area Health Education Center Program Office.