Top Tips For Finding Your Calling In The Healthcare Industry
With so many potential careers available in the healthcare industry, trying to decide which avenue to take can be incredibly daunting. While this can be said for most industries, deciding on which healthcare career to pursue is particularly difficult.
There are a few key reasons for this.
Firstly, if you want to work on the ‘frontlines’ as a medical professional like a doctor or a nurse, you will have to study for years to qualify for the job in the first place. There is an enormous amount of dedication involved with this, requiring a lot of effort, discipline, and money to carry you through multiple qualifications. You need to be sure that the career you are studying for is suited to your natural skill set, your personality, and your ambitions as a whole.
It is easy to become drawn towards a certain occupation because you have been encouraged by family and friends, or it boasts a particular financial reward. However, whatever novelty you first feel towards these choices will soon wear off when you are making significant sacrifices towards your future job.
Instead, it is best to find your true calling in the healthcare industry. This might sound cheesy, but your natural instincts will usually guide you towards a career that is right for you.
However, this is not to say that you should rely entirely on your subconscious whims. It is advisable to break down your various requirements and considerations, from where you would like to live, the type of environments you enjoy working in (and the ones you want to avoid), your personality type (along with your strengths and weaknesses), and how well you work in a team.
Only then can you make an educated decision on which healthcare career is best for you.
Here are a number of top tips you can use to find your calling in the healthcare industry:
Consider how much you are willing to study, and where you want to study
One of the most fundamental questions you need to ask yourself before embarking on a career in the healthcare industry is how much time you are willing to dedicate towards studying and where you are willing to relocate to in order to attain your qualifications.
This is not a simple matter of how motivated you are because you could be incredibly enthusiastic about your studies yet have little time to dedicate to it alongside your existing commitments – such as your job and your family.
You need to be realistic about how easily you can sustain your studies. If you can’t afford to spend years as a full-time student, then you might imagine your dreams of pursuing a career as a medical professional are over.
However, there is another option.
Over the past two years, events have highlighted the feasibility of remote working, and college courses are no exception. People are beginning to realize that you don’t need to relocate to a college at the other end of the country, use up your days waiting for lectures, and search for a part-time job in a saturated student work environment in order to pay for your studies.
Instead, you can embark on an online course that allows you to balance your existing life and study for your medical qualifications. For example, if you wanted to become an Oklahoma nurse practitioner (ex – https://onlinenursing.twu.edu/online-nurse-practitioner-programs-oklahoma), then you could study part-time. This would ensure that your studies are sustainable, allowing you to pursue your chosen medical profession with minimum disruption.
Have a good hard look at what you are good at and what you are bad at
If you want to find your calling in the healthcare industry, you will need to have a good hard look at what you do well at and what you struggle with. This is crucial for determining which medical profession is right for you.
While it might sound restricting to base your goals around what you are naturally good at or bad at, it will actually liberate your decision-making process, eliminating unsuitable options from your list and allowing you to focus on the roles you could thrive in.
There is nothing wrong with having blind spots, but if you want to be a medical professional, you cannot afford to discover that you work poorly under pressure or cannot work long shifts on a consistent basis. There are the lives of your patients on the line, and any mistake can be harmful or even deadly.
Instead of finding out what you are good and bad at too late, afford yourself some deep introspection, reflecting on your performance in past jobs, whether you are introverted, extroverted, energetic, or better suited to a desk job.
Once you have done this, you will better know which types of jobs are suitable for you.
Being on the healthcare frontlines requires a lot of stamina, bravery and empathy
Following on from the previous point, you need to be sure before you commit to a career on the ‘frontlines’ as a medical professional. It is not an environment for the faint of heart, requiring considerable levels of stamina, bravery, and stoicism under pressure.
These qualities can be developed and improved, but unless you feel determined to land a job as a doctor, nurse or surgeon, it is best to at least consider a more sedate role elsewhere in the healthcare industry.
Furthermore, you need to possess a natural empathy when you work in healthcare. Having a good bedside manner is essential for the continued care of your patients.
While it might be just another day for a medical professional, hospitals and clinics are scary places if you are ill and can’t see your friends or family. Therefore, it is your job to reassure each patient and ensure they feel comfortable enough around you to ask for assistance or talk through their problems.
There are plenty of jobs other than being a nurse or doctor in healthcare
Another aspect you should consider when trying to find your calling in the healthcare industry is the variety of jobs available in the sector that you may not have considered.
While everyone first imagines a nurse or doctor when they think of healthcare jobs, there are countless other roles to consider. For instance, you could pursue a career in administration, which is incredibly important for a medical establishment.
It might not be as exciting as being a medical professional on a daily basis, but accurate administration that is delivered on time is crucial. Doctors and nurses need to have a wealth of data at their fingertips, from patient information to ward availability.
Alternatively, you could focus on middle-management or executive leadership, two vital departments within a hospital. While you are not in a hands-on role, you are undoubtedly influencing the wellbeing of your patients and ensuring your hospital is making a positive difference in people’s lives.
Are you more of an entrepreneurial brain or a team player?
One of the deciding factors in finding your calling in the healthcare industry will be whether you prefer being a team player or more of an entrepreneurial spirit.
This is because it is usually key to work well within a team as a medical professional, especially in a large establishment like a hospital. You will have to be able to communicate quickly and clearly with a variety of different people, able to soak up any quirks in their characters, hostility, or lack of experience without being tempted to lose your temper or go against the wishes of the larger group.
It is of critical importance that you establish a clear line of communication between yourself and your healthcare team because the information you are conveying could be a matter of life or death and will certainly affect the well-being of your patients (and your staff, depending on the task).
However, if working in a team is not one of your strengths, it could prevent you from succeeding in many healthcare jobs. This is not to say that you should avoid the industry altogether because there is always room for a more entrepreneurial spirit.
For instance, you could train as a medical specialist and start your own independent practice, where you are in charge, answering to no one other than your patients.
This route can be tremendously beneficial because you are likely to be more in control of your own destiny, quantify how well you are helping your patients, and earn significantly more money than you would as part of a larger team.
If location matters, then your options could narrow
Like most careers, you may be required to relocate if the perfect job comes up in the healthcare industry. If this is a no-go for you, then your options may be restricted. This is not necessarily a problem, as you will be able to continue the rest of your life as normal and focus on the opportunities closer to home.
However, if this is the case, it is important to realize that you may need to compromise on the type of role you are looking for, given that there is likely to be fewer opportunities if you don’t search further afield.
