Health care jobs in demand.

[cute-1]

Hello,So which careers in healthcare are currently in demand?

Do you guys know other hospital jobs where one can work 12 hour shifts?

I'm not sure about nursing.

[gtshin30303]

Probably just MDs.

[ShayRN]

Respiratory Therapists, Phlebotomists, Lab Techs, STNA's, Moniter Techs, Social Workers, Unit Clerks...How much education do you want?

[Flying ICU RN]

Every time the economy sours, you see a large increase in enrollment for these allied positions. I'm now seeing up to six techs shadowing an instructor. Which begs the question,......

How long will it be until over-saturation occurs?

The current downturn for Nursing is not sustainable.

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

The current downturn for Nursing is not sustainable.

I agree. There's already an oversupply of healthcare workers in the job market. In addition, it seems that everyone and their mothers are flooding into schools at the moment, which will add more people to the supply. I simply do not see how we can absorb all of these new nurses, techs, RTs, etc., without some of them leaving the field altogether.

[GreyGull]

Physical Therapists, Occupational Therapists and Speech Language Pathologists are still in high demand with significant sign-on bonuses. They have continued to make themselves marketable and are the darlings of reimbursement with strong lobbying positions for both in and out of the hospital. Respiratory Therapists may get more opportunities for those with Bachelors or Masters if their proposed Bills pass.

The health care professions that still require only 2 years of college or less will be more oversaturated for awhile as people who have lost their jobs in other industries struggle to redefine themselves. However, once the economy settles and the older, experienced RNs or RTs (or whatever) who came back to fulltime work move out of the work force again, there will be jobs. My money is on long term care both in and out of a facility for the future.

Just about any of the health care professions can work 12 hours shifts. It all depends on the facility and labor laws or contracts for overtime.

[Walden-Puddle, RN]

"Physical Therapists, Occupational Therapists and Speech Language Pathologists are still in high demand with significant sign-on bonuses."

I agree with this one. Went to a "career" fair here in Norther California and the reps from the two big hospital chains showed up not to take resumes from potential nurses, but simply to inform us that "We are not hiring. We will not take your resume. We don't know when we will be hiring again."

BUT.... they were practically BEGGING for PT OT and Speech graduates. Reps from some of the smaller companies were circulating through the crowds of people trying to find the PT OT and Speech people, I think to head them off before they got to talk to the bigger recruiters who probably had more to offer. They were quickly whisking them off to one side behind screens where they could do quick "interviews" and potentially hire "on the spot' (pending background checks etc., I'm sure)

In a few years, nursing will be back 'in demand' but for the moment, we are the ugly ducklings....

[nyteshade, BSN]

"Physical Therapists, Occupational Therapists and Speech Language Pathologists are still in high demand with significant sign-on bonuses."

I agree with this one. Went to a "career" fair here in Norther California and the reps from the two big hospital chains showed up not to take resumes from potential nurses, but simply to inform us that "We are not hiring. We will not take your resume. We don't know when we will be hiring again."

BUT.... they were practically BEGGING for PT OT and Speech graduates. Reps from some of the smaller companies were circulating through the crowds of people trying to find the PT OT and Speech people, I think to head them off before they got to talk to the bigger recruiters who probably had more to offer. They were quickly whisking them off to one side behind screens where they could do quick "interviews" and potentially hire "on the spot' (pending background checks etc., I'm sure)

In a few years, nursing will be back 'in demand' but for the moment, we are the ugly ducklings....

I think this has much to do with changes in Medicare. PT/OT/ST are big money makers for hospitals, LTC, etc. We (nurses) are looked at like burdens on the overall budget.

[Flying ICU RN]

We (nurses) are looked at like burdens on the overall budget.

The largest single labor cost yes, but talk about essential personnel!

As the lyrics to "Git Along Little Dogies" go.....

Whoopee ti yi yo, git along little dogies

It's your misfortune and none of my own

So shed no tears over their "burden." If we could be replaced as in the Spielberg film "AI", we would be. And eventually may be.

[GreyGull]

The largest single labor cost yes, but talk about essential personnel!

The key word here is "essential".

The allied health professions must act as individual businesses and continuously lobby to show their value in patient care or reinvent themselves as needed to stay viable. We have seen the changes in the Cardiology departments where EKG techs are cut to the bare minimum if they exist at all. RT and nursing picked up doing the ECGs. The same for phlebotomists. Cutbacks to the point of elimination has RNs and RTs doing all the blood draws. Back in the '90s Respiratory Therapy departments ran the risk of being eliminated and decentralization seriously hurt that profession until they finally pulled it together with eliminating the word "tech" and raising their entry education level to a degree and their title to "Therapist". In the meantime, many RT functions went to nursing such as nebulizers and MDIs which were not reimbursement rich any longer. ABGs went to lab. It didn't matter who was best suited to do what procedure. When RT made a comeback, they had to decide how to pick up other areas that could support them while they took back their traditional services which offered very little reimbursement.

PT was also not always the money maker until their increased their education level to Masters with DPT preferred for some areas. They used their education to show how much money could be saved by doing outpatient rehab and how quickly they could improve a patient's condition to eliminate the need for long term services. The insurances loved this. Acute Rehabs are also getting gold stars for getting patients who would otherwise become long term care in a SNF back into some resemblance of a productive life. The same for OT and SLP or Speech Therapists.

PT, OT and SLP also have an advantage over RT in that they don't carry beepers and respond to emergencies. They schedule patients by work units and have other units they can pick up if one cancels to maintain productivity. RT has an assigned amount of work units which can be counted as productive or billable and nonproductive or nonbillable. They are then subject to additional units or adjustments in assigments. Assisting the nursing staff with moving ventilator patients from one bed to another, replacing O2 tanks and standing by for an unstable patient to assist in anyway they can are considered nonproductive although necessary. They must justify every bit of time if their productive units are low. Thus, RT departments that want to remain viable and afford new equipment or keep decent employees try their best to discourage slackers who drag down their numbers.

Nursing has also had its share of nonlicensed or lessor educated personnel assuming more duties that traditionally only RNs did.

Even though our hearts and chosen career paths may be with the patients, we must still remember health care is a business.

[TDCHIM]

The key word here is "essential".

The allied health professions must act as individual businesses and continuously lobby to show their value in patient care or reinvent themselves as needed to stay viable. We have seen the changes in the Cardiology departments where EKG techs are cut to the bare minimum if they exist at all. RT and nursing picked up doing the ECGs. The same for phlebotomists. Cutbacks to the point of elimination has RNs and RTs doing all the blood draws. Back in the '90s Respiratory Therapy departments ran the risk of being eliminated and decentralization seriously hurt that profession until they finally pulled it together with eliminating the word "tech" and raising their entry education level to a degree and their title to "Therapist". In the meantime, many RT functions went to nursing such as nebulizers and MDIs which were not reimbursement rich any longer. ABGs went to lab. It didn't matter who was best suited to do what procedure. When RT made a comeback, they had to decide how to pick up other areas that could support them while they took back their traditional services which offered very little reimbursement.

PT was also not always the money maker until their increased their education level to Masters with DPT preferred for some areas. They used their education to show how much money could be saved by doing outpatient rehab and how quickly they could improve a patient's condition to eliminate the need for long term services. The insurances loved this. Acute Rehabs are also getting gold stars for getting patients who would otherwise become long term care in a SNF back into some resemblance of a productive life. The same for OT and SLP or Speech Therapists.

PT, OT and SLP also have an advantage over RT in that they don't carry beepers and respond to emergencies. They schedule patients by work units and have other units they can pick up if one cancels to maintain productivity. RT has an assigned amount of work units which can be counted as productive or billable and nonproductive or nonbillable. They are then subject to additional units or adjustments in assigments. Assisting the nursing staff with moving ventilator patients from one bed to another, replacing O2 tanks and standing by for an unstable patient to assist in anyway they can are considered nonproductive although necessary. They must justify every bit of time if their productive units are low. Thus, RT departments that want to remain viable and afford new equipment or keep decent employees try their best to discourage slackers who drag down their numbers.

Nursing has also had its share of nonlicensed or lessor educated personnel assuming more duties that traditionally only RNs did.

Even though our hearts and chosen career paths may be with the patients, we must still remember health care is a business.

Now that's an interesting analysis. Do you think some of the concepts that both revitalized and heightened the respect for those fields could be applied to nursing? Obviously, the not responding to emergencies part wouldn't fit, but breaking care down into productive and non-productive work units, etc.?

[GreyGull]

Now that's an interesting analysis. Do you think some of the concepts that both revitalized and heightened the respect for those fields could be applied to nursing? Obviously, the not responding to emergencies part wouldn't fit, but breaking care down into productive and non-productive work units, etc.?

Nursing Economics is an area of study all by itself with another degree or two for Business and Accounting as well as an MBA.

Trying to find the right formula for budgeted and actual hours worked by direct and indirect patient care is a science that has yet to be perfected. There are several models for productivity and yet, nurse managers are still left hanging when it comes to justifying their staffing and budget. There are some areas like ambulatory care that can go with the cost per unit of service rather than overall cost of operation more easily then others.

Now before the moderators bust us for being off topic, it is important to see which profession is the "darling" of Medicare if you want to be in healthcare but want a more lucrative and secure future. I would not choose being an EMT or a Paramedic right now because that market is extremely flooded due to the popularity of those professions and low education requirements for entry. Some schools can produce EMTs in as little as 3 weeks and Paramedics in 3 months. If you want to make money in that profession, open up one of these Qwik Marts and charge a few thousand for each certificate.