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The past year has seen the vast majority of us endlessly impressed and in awe of healthcare workers. The rapid spread of coronavirus and the rise of Covid-19 has meant that 2020 has been a particularly difficult year for anyone operating within or in support of the medical field. Many of us have been inspired by these individuals' hard work to the extent that we’re considering pursuing a healthcare career ourselves. Not only are healthcare roles massively reliable and consistently in demand (something that many of us are now actively seeking since losing our jobs through the pandemic), but you get the extra reward of knowing that you’re improving others’ lives on a day today basis. Of course, the field of healthcare is huge. So, here are a few specific career paths that you might want to consider following!

Nursing

Let’s start with nursing. Nurses’ duties range from practical work (such as taking blood, dosing medication and managing IV lines) to theoretical work. Nurses can also operate in a wide variety of settings, ranging from hospitals to general practitioners to nursing homes. If you want to become a nurse, you’re going to have to complete a nursing degree. This will give you all of the skills and qualifications you will require to become a registered nurse. The average nursing degree will take three to four years of full-time study to complete, plus placements that will help to train you up on the job. It’s also good to be aware that there are a number of different areas of specialism that you might want to take into consideration as your studies progress. These include child nursing, emergency nursing or midwifery.

Public Health

If you’re looking for a less hands on role, an online mph degree in public health could be a good idea to look into. People working in public health have the set goal of improving the health of all members of society through promoting healthy lifestyles, preventing injury and disease, or controlling infectious disease. There are, of course, many smaller paths that this career path could diverge into. Popular public health roles include:

• Dietician or nutritionist

• Epidemiologist

• Microbiologist

• Occupational health and safety specialist

• Health educators

• Community health workers

As you can see, the scope here is huge!

A Doctor

Of course, a very straightforward option when looking to work in healthcare is to become a doctor. To do this, you’ll have to take an extremely lengthy medical degree - around six to seven years of full time study, followed by placements and other specialist training. Doing this pays off though. You will be able to truly help people at the same time as earning a significant amount of money to afford yourself a comfortable lifestyle.

You may have noticed that training for any medical or healthcare based career takes a lot of time. So, you need to make sure that you’re completely dedicated to the venture before getting started. If you do go ahead, you’ll quickly grow to realise that healthcare careers offer so much more than stability. You’ll be able to see the hugely positive changes you can make to people’s lives day in and day out. It’s hugely rewarding and more than worth the investment of time, effort and money!