Healthcare Career

[Mary3010]

What healthcare career is aligned with my interests? I want to be able to treat/improve Physical and Mental Health Conditions. This would be working with all age groups (if possible) to provide health care to patients in order to save lives and/or provide improved health care in e.g.  emergency situations, general health needs etc. These are my 4 main healthcare interests: 

1) Treat physical injuries/conditions e.g. Performing First Aid, Triage, Check Vital Signs, giving IV’s, taking blood, exercise/nutrition etc.

2)  Provide emotional support/care to patients experiencing mental health conditions and trying to improve their outcomes (in crisis situations, wellbeing support, assisting all mental health conditions such as eating disorders, anxiety, substance abuse  etc.)

3) Use knowledge of medications/naturopathy to help patients e.g. prescribing or utilising it 

4) Use knowledge of tests/scans conducted to help diagnose patients (reading and understanding them and/or performing/interpreting results, or referrals) e.g. US, x-rays, CT, ECG, blood tests etc.         

 

*Other interesting areas: Deliver babies, Lab research/Investigations (I.e. diagnostics, new drugs/cures etc.), Rehabilitation e.g learning to walk, phone counselling, helping homeless or domestic violence victims seek help (e.g. seeking refuge), connecting lost family members.

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

Hello, @Mary3010, have you considered seeking out guidance from a career counselor? You’ve expressed interest in a variety of things and may benefit from their assistance. 

[Mary3010]

Hi Rosie, thank you for replying to me! I have tried doing that but I was only advised to do my research which makes it so hard because I don't know the duties involved in the different health professions.

Anything healthcare related is interesting but my main interest is to use knowledge of the human body to improve a person's physical and mental health. That cuts out heaps of healthcare careers but I'm just confused (I know what I want I just don't know the job that it matches to). The career advisor couldn't help with that. 

[NefforamaRN, BSN]

Registered Nursing covers a lot of your interests but the nature of the healthcare environment it can make it hard to do  all of those areas well. My suggestion would be to prioritize your interests and rank them from most interested to least interested. Take a reliable personality assessment. These things might help you narrow down your decision making and help you understand what you really want to do and what kind of role can come as close to what you want as possible. . Read professional nursing association websites to familiarize yourself with the different specialties. Good luck!