Health Care Certifications
 The health care industry is one of the fastest growing sectors of the American economy, with many experts predicting that job opportunities for qualified nurses, doctors, and medical transcriptionists could far outpace the national average for most other occupational fields through 2016. People are living longer, medical advances are happening more quickly, and our understanding of the human anatomy continuously improves. If you have the requisite training to help cure people or provide administrative support to those who work on the front lines of the health care industry, your job prospects should be quite favorable in the years to come.
What Health Care Certifications Can Teach You
Each position within the health care industry requires a slightly different set of certifications and credentials. Below are just a few of the potential career paths available, from the easiest to the hardest:- Pharmacy technicians typically require the least amount of formal training, with many learning their skills entirely on the job. However, employers increasingly prefer those who have completed at least some post-secondary education.
- Medical transcriptionists usually require a one-year certificate or two-year associate's degree in medical transcription, stenography, or dictation.
- Nurses can complete a diploma, associate's degree or bachelor's degree in the field, followed up with licensing and certification.
- Physicians require the most training, with four years of undergraduate pre-med study, four more years of medical school, and anywhere from one to seven years of residency training.
In most of the above medicine-specific programs, you cover everything from anatomy and physiology to chemistry and biology. However, there also exist countless support and administrative jobs in the non-health care world that can be transferred over with minimal training. For example, if you are already an accountant with a business, you can potentially transition into a hospital position after completing a few classes in health care auditing and billing. The same is true with video editors, marketers, teachers, Web designers, computer programmers, and many other careers not directly related to medicine. |
