The current COVID-19 crisis has exposed a great number of things about the modern world. From the ways that different governments are handling it to the reaction from many business owners. However, one of the things that has been thrown into the starkest relief by the current crisis is just how understaffed many hospitals and doctor’s offices really are. There simply are not enough people working within the medical field right now to handle the pressure of something like a global pandemic. This has many people considering a change in their careers in order to switch to something that could be genuinely beneficial to those around them. Here are some of the ways that many people are looking to switch to careers in medicine.
Becoming a doctor
The most obvious career path for those looking to enter the medical field is, of course, becoming a doctor. Of course, obvious does not mean easy or simple. Becoming a doctor is incredibly difficult and takes years of training. You need to be sure that you’re willing to commit to this career path. Of course, it’s not just a matter of working within hospitals if you’re looking to become a doctor. A family medicine job search shows that there are also plenty of available careers for those looking to work in more personal, low key environments. There is no one single kind of doctor and finding the right specialisation is something that can make a huge difference in any doctor’s career.
Home care
Just as not every doctor will work in a hospital, not every medical professional is someone that their patients come and see. Instead, you might want to consider a career in home care. There are plenty of people who require medical support who don’t spend their time in the hospital. Older people and those with disabilities may require help and support at home and home care workers are an essential part of the medical workforce, particularly in the modern climate.
As healthcare continues to improve and people live longer, the support needed for the elderly community needs to improve and grow with it.
Nursing
Nurses are maybe the most important and most overlooked part of the medical workforce. Without them, the entire thing would come grinding to a halt. It’s the perfect career if you really want to be there on the front lines treating patients and saving lives. Doctors might be the ones who get all of the accolades by society, but most people are fully aware that nurses are the ones who really make the difference in the vast majority of people’s lives. They are every bit as essential to patient care as any physician. Therefore, it is absolutely vital that as many people are encouraged to take on this career path as possible. No matter what age they are, from high school graduates to those seeking a career change later in life, if they have a passion for helping others, they should consider what difference they can make by switching careers or choosing this profession in the first place. Reaching out to those people is going to be vital.
How to Reach out to Potential Healthcare Professionals
More needs to be said about the benefits of becoming a nurse, doctor, and other health care professional and what career prospects are like. This can give people even more reason to enter such a healthcare profession. For example, if more people knew that there was room to grow within the career and didn’t need to stay stagnant, this could be a more appealing career option for those who want to keep growing throughout or love to learn new things.
Doctors can take on more specialized roles with advanced training and qualifications. This can ensure that they can find new passions and expand their knowledge to provide better care. However, it can also ensure that they always have a reason to love working in healthcare. It ensures burnout is avoided, and they don’t become tired of their job because they are performing the same tasks every day. With advanced training, doctors also open up their opportunities for work. For example, doctors could work overseas and educate other budding doctors on the best practices or could set up a private medical practice if they are really keen to create a change in their career while still offering patients top health care.
There are also plenty of different advanced nursing roles that registered nurses can apply for so long as they know of the right routes and have the opportunity to gain the qualifications they need while working.
Take the role of a family nurse practitioner (FNP). A role of this sort enables you to carry out many of the tasks that doctors do. FNPs can perform physical exams, diagnose and order diagnostic tests, and so much more. However, not everyone knows that becoming an FNP opens up plenty of different career directions. When a person qualifies as an FNP, they technically earn a nurse practitioner’s subspecialty status. This means students could potentially go onto a number of specialties like oncology, emergency, orthopedic, and palliative if they are willing to put in more hours of learning. This means a person has a lot more say in the career they have, including the kind of hours they work, when, and the salary they can earn. They don’t have to decide between doing something they are passionate about and doing something that pays well. Instead, if a student knows they can climb up the career ladder in healthcare, they may be more willing to take the plunge in the first place. For those that are considering making this move, you want to ensure you take your course at a reputable school and one that enables you to do this while working. You will want to pursue a BSN to MSN program online to become a registered FNP. No matter what avenues nurses and doctors want to go down, it is imperative that they are aware of the different options available.
Online learning is the key to getting more healthcare professionals
If healthcare professionals are hesitant to take on this job role due to concerns of becoming stagnant and falling out of love with what they do, spreading awareness that this is not the case is the first thing to do. The next is to ensure that more people can apply for online courses. Students wouldn’t be able to earn top healthcare educations, and working professionals wouldn’t as easily be able to move up the career ladder without the online courses being available. Online courses are slightly less expensive than traditional university courses due to the fact that a student doesn’t need to relocate or commute to the campus. If courses are made more available, and people are made aware of the great options out there for them, then it may be possible to increase the number of working healthcare professionals. However, employees should also ensure that they are giving support to healthcare professionals to pursue these new careers and advanced knowledge.
A stressful and difficult environment
Another thing that the current crisis has proven is just how stressful and difficult working within a medical field can be. Even at the best of times, these are high pressure, challenging jobs. The current pandemic has put even more pressure on these professionals. If you are considering this kind of career change then you need to be sure that this level of challenge and potential stress is something that you’re actually going to be able to handle.
Of course, there are ways that you can cope with this. For example, making sure to set enough time for self-care, eating well, and sleeping enough are going to be vital. However, the problem doesn’t lie solely with the person themselves. In fact, to combat this stress and difficult environment so many have to deal with, it is vital that wider support is given. If society is to expect nurses, doctors, care home workers, and more to be able to continue providing the services they do, more support needs to be given to them to see this through, especially in the form of more staff. After all, even with funding supplied to staff to create suitable breakrooms, where they can get a moment’s rest, staff will be unable to use these rooms if there is not enough staff to cover their breaks. This nice gesture simply becomes a room that is barely used.
It always constantly comes back to how many people are part of a company and work for hospitals. You can give funding, upgrade the facilities, and offer higher salaries, but this won’t keep burnout from occurring with staff. Support in numbers enables staff to continue loving their jobs and provide top care to patients. Mistakes are more likely to happen if staff members are exhausted from tending to hundreds of patients without a break during their usually long-hour days. Spreading the workload is the answer.
