Have you ever wanted to work in the medical field but found that more than a decade of schooling just wasn’t for you? There are a significant amount of lesser-known and often overlooked healthcare jobs that offer an alternative to the 9-5 office job but also do not require extensive schooling. These include positions such as midwife, medical assistant, and home health aide, important jobs in the medical field that also offer a rewarding salary. Since medicine is a field of continuous growth, jobs in the medical field are also constantly expanding.
Job positions in health care
A cardiac perfusionist is a job on the surgical side of medicine that helps with open heart operations. Their responsibility is to pump the patient’s blood during the time the heart is stopped during surgery. Working in a busy area, a cardiac perfusionist can make up to $90,000. The certified clinical perfusionist (CCP) is a credential that is required to hold this position.
A music therapist helps with depression, motor skills, speech skills, and mobility. If you are interested in music and are passionate about a medical career, music therapy might be the profession for you. To become a music therapist, you must have a bachelor’s degree from an American Music Therapy association training program, or college. A dance therapist is a similar position to music therapy as it treats patients through dance, connecting the body with the mind. These therapy positions have a median salary of approximately $44,500.
Wound care-specialists make approximately $500-$700 a day removing infected tissue to improve patient healing. A wound-care specialist is not bound to work in a healthcare facility or nursing home, many travel and treat patients within their homes.
Would you like to oversee who gets to go out into space? A space psychologist advises select panels and chooses which astronauts are best suited for each mission. These professionals may also provide counseling to the crews before, during, or after a flight. A space psychologist receives a salary of $136,000 annually.
A Pedorthist makes about $39,000 a year studying foot anatomy, biomechanics, and pathology to create custom footwear for patients with special foot needs.
There are also many jobs that are commonly overlooked in medicine, which require little to no education, but still pay well:
Administrative assistant- The job of an administrative assistant is for someone who is organized, helpful, and familiar with Microsoft office and excel. While being an administrative assistant can come off as a highly stressful position, it is known to be significantly less stressful than any other clinical health job. The salary for an administrative assistant is $41,000 per year.
A home health aide-requires a high school diploma and has a median salary of $22,600. This job usually consists of taking care of elderly or disabled individuals.
A medical assistant-performs certain tasks such as taking lab tests, explaining treatment procedures to patients, and taking a patient’s vital signs, in addition to clinical duties, administrative work. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that a medical assistant can make up to $31,500; this number is expected to grow by almost 30% through 2026.
An alternative to Medical School: My personal journey to obtaining a healthcare degree
Diagnosed as a type 1 diabetic at age three and living with several different health complications, I grew up knowing that I wanted to be a medical professional. The trick was, I needed a job that could fit the schedule of a chronically ill individual. I first considered being a physician’s assistant, knowing that the salary for this position was comparable to other medical professionals. However, I knew that in the long run, this job would require extensive work hours and schooling. I was then introduced to medical-device sales, which intrigued me because I had patient experience with medical sales representatives, and I also had 15+ years of experience with an insulin pump and continuous glucose monitor at that time (now more). I chose to go to St. Bonaventure University where I could make my own major formally known as an individualized major. I studied marketing, as well as health science/public health, having the freedom to choose my own courses specifically for my end goal of being a medical-device sales representative. This allowed me to graduate in four years with the degree “marketing of medical technology.” Now I am educated in both the marketing/sales and healthcare aspects of a medical sales representative. When looking at the business end of my career, I am able to understand business to business, and business to consumer selling, in addition to marketing techniques. On the medical end, I have learned about etiology, pharmacology, diversity, and marketing in healthcare. With this education I am able to work as a medical-device sales representative or pharmaceutical representative with a salary that is comparable to that of a physician’s assistant.
