July 2009

Healthcare careers: working behind the scenes

You don’t have to be a doctor or a nurse to work in a hospital or in healthcare.

Healthcare shortages are prevalent in many professions. We have all heard statistics on the widespread shortages of primary care physicians, specialists such as neurologists and general surgeons, and nurses. Little attention, however, has been given to the shortages that are present and looming in other areas of healthcare that are not on the front line, but essential to the delivery of quality care.

Healthy Information Management

HIM (Health Information Management) is the point where healthcare meets technology. An HIM professional is an expert on maintaining, collecting and analyzing patient data that doctors, nurses, and other providers rely on to perform their jobs of providing quality care.

The demand for HIM professionals is high and rapidly expanding as the healthcare sector experiences rapid growth. The Bureau of Labor Statistics cites Health Information Technology as one of the fastest growing occupations in the U.S. The profession will experience a 47% growth rate in the next 15 years.

HIM professionals with a two-year Associate Degree earn $30,000-50,000 annually. HIM professionals with a Bachelor’s degree earn $40,000-70,000 annually. Job opportunities are available in hospitals, insurance agencies and clinics. HIM professionals are employed as insurance claims analysts, clinical coding specialists and physician practice managers.

For more information on opportunities in this profession go to www.ahima.org/careers/intro.asp.

Med Lab Techs and Medical Technologists

Shortages of laboratory specialists, such as Medical Laboratory Technicians and Medical Technologists, are at critical levels. In the laboratory, a highly skilled team of pathologists and medical technologists work together to solve mysteries, put together puzzles and answer critical questions of medicine. The practice of modern medicine would be impossible without the tests performed labs.

Lab professionals are the behind-the-scenes backbone of medicine. These professionals are the researchers, investigators and, some say, the real heroes of medicine. Med Techs work in all areas of the laboratory including blood banking, chemistry, hematology, immunology and microbiology. They perform everything from simple blood tests to more complex tests to uncover diseases such as HIV/AIDS, diabetes and cancer.

Medical Lab Technicians with a two-year Associate’s Degree earn $16 per hour and Medical Technologists with a four-year Bachelor’s Degree earn approximately $21 per hour.

So, if you are interested in a career as a lab specialist, a forensic scientist or a researcher, and want to learn more about these programs go to www.bls.gov/oco/ocos096.htm.

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