If the thought of helping people and contributing to the field of medicine interests you, a career in healthcare may offer you an ideal way to earn an income. By considering these eight factors, you can better decide if a career in health care is right for you.

1. Your Specialty

The healthcare field is made up of doctors and other medical professionals who specialize in different aspects of medicine. A career as a primary care physician may be right if you want to be the person who patients usually come to first when they get sick or injured. 

If you enjoy working with children, you’ll likely find fulfillment in working as a pediatrician. You can also become a nurse or medical assistant. With all the different specialized fields in medicine, you should be able to find a specialty that best suits your interests.

2. Education Requirements

No matter what branch of medicine you want to enter, you’ll need to fulfill the education requirements to work and retain your license or certification. If you want to become a doctor, you’ll need to complete your studies at a four-year university and then attend a medical school to earn your degree in medicine. 

Vocational schools often have programs that prepare students to work as medical assistants. You’ll also need to fulfill continuing education requirements throughout your career, and you can use the MOCA Peds review tools to prepare for your continuing education examination if you work as a pediatrician.

3. The Need To Work Odd Hours

Medical professionals are often required to work nights, weekends, and other unusual hours to care for patients. You may even need to work on holidays as well as rotating shifts, which involve alternating between day and night shifts. 

If you go into private practice and establish your own office or work for a doctor who’s in private practice, you may get to work more regular hours that make having a life outside of your career easier.

4. Patient Privacy Regulations

Patients have a right to privacy, and you’ll need to learn the different rules about sharing patients’ medical records and under which circumstances sharing might be allowed. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) governs many of these policies. 

If you share patient information that you haven’t been authorized to share, you could face lawsuits and possibly lose your license or certification to practice medicine.

5. The Need To Protect Your Own Health

As you care for patients, you should also be mindful of your own health and do everything possible to protect yourself from illnesses and diseases. 

Sick patients often carry germs and viruses that can be passed to other people, so you should definitely wear a mask that covers your mouth and nose and any other protective gear that’s available when treating ill patients. 

You can also safeguard your health better so that you’re less likely to get sick on the job by eating a nutritious diet that includes plenty of vitamin C, zinc, and other immune-boosting nutrients.

6. Not All Patients Are Easy To Treat

Some patients might have rare conditions that are difficult to treat, but other patients may be difficult to provide care to because of personality conflicts or certain fears, or phobias. Patients who aren’t feeling their best may be in unpleasant moods and come across as unfriendly. Other patients might have strong anxieties over needles, surgery, or other medical procedures. 

You must remain professional and try not to engage in combative behaviors with them. If a patient becomes overly aggressive or physically violent, you should leave their presence immediately and seek help.

7. Seeking Mentorship Is Encouraged

To make your journey working as a healthcare provider easier, you can consult with a mentor for guidance. This mentor may be someone who is currently working in the industry or was previously a medical professional. 

You can even interact with different mentors online by joining a mentorship forum, which may or may not charge a fee to join.

8. The Opportunity to Change Specialties

You don’t have to commit yourself to a certain position for life, and you have the freedom to change professions within the industry and still work in the healthcare field. If you become unhappy within a certain position, you can change specialties and work in another branch of medicine. 

If you want to make a career change, you should make yourself aware of the education requirements and other job necessities of your desired position before you commit to changing.

Bottom Line

There are many good reasons to work as a healthcare provider. By weighing the pros and cons of the industry before you embark on your career path, you can make the process easier.