A Career in Healthcare After High School: Is It Possible?

There is no doubt about the fact that in the United States, medical professionals are not just some of the highest paid workers, but surgeons and otolaryngologists are actually the highest paid professionals in the entire nation! Keep in mind that we are comparing salaried employees with essential skills across every field of work, not the business owners, celebrities and key decision makers, who operate on a different level.

However, in order to become an orthopedic surgeon who gets paid half-a-million dollars per year, you will need to dedicate about than 7 – 11 years of your life to medical education and (paid) residency, all of which comes after the four years of undergrad education of course!

Is there a Way to Start Your Career in Healthcare Right After High School?

The answer would be a yes, it is possible to start a career in healthcare, right after completing your high-school graduation. As you can probably imagine, there is no shortcut to being a doctor, but there are ways which will help you to become a part of the medical industry, even before you have entered medical school.

We are going to take a brief look at some of the great options in healthcare industry that open up to a student right after his/her high-school graduation is complete. Aside from that, we will also discuss a plan of action that will let you prepare for medical school as well.

Complete Your Associate Degree in Healthcare Management Online

Before we discuss any of the job opportunities, it’s necessary to keep the long-term goals in sight as well. The jobs we are going to discuss right after are all entry points into the healthcare industry, but in order to progress further in your career as the years go by, preparation for college is also essential.

Fortunately, an online Healthcare Management Associates degree course lets you both hold a job in healthcare after your HS graduation, as well as allowing you the flexibility to complete the relevant degree, which will help you get started on becoming a doctor, nurse or any other medical professional later on in your academic career.

In case you do not have any plans or the means to think about medical school right now, you should be happy to know that all of the jobs that grant you entry into healthcare after high school will pay a lot better after you complete a Healthcare Management Associates degree. The Associate’s certificate will also open up the doors for promotions and more important roles with better pay.

For those that are not interested in holding jobs after high-school, but simply want to cut down the long-term road which lies between them and becoming a licensed medical professional, the healthcare management associates degree is an excellent choice as well. You can simultaneously start your Bachelor’s degree course and your Associate’s program in the desired field, due to the online nature of the program we are discussing here.

Caregiver

A caregiver has multiple duties, depending on the kind of care needed by the patient. Mostly though, the job of a caregiver is to help adults who are either disabled, or too old to be able to carry out their daily actions independently, or without the help of a supervising personnel. The disability could be psychological as well, depending on where you are working as a caregiver.

To be able to apply for a job as a potential health aide, you will need a high-school diploma only, and not necessarily a graduation certificate. The salary is nothing spectacular, because this is just an entry-level job of course, but given that you have just passed high school as of now, the average salary that ranges between $20,000 – $30,000 is nothing to scoff at!

Medical Assistant

Being a medical assistant isn’t anything that will let you come into direct contact with the patients, but it’s more of an assistant job at hospitals and private clinics. The duties of the medical assistant may involve handling office work, answering calls and emails, filling in forms, scheduling appointments, taking notes, bookkeeping, etc.

The salary is usually higher than what caregivers earn, as the average in the entire US stands at around $35,000. Additional skills and certificates in bookkeeping, shorthand, typing, etc. will help you land the best jobs in this field, but they are not necessary requirements in most cases.

Nursing Assistant

The nursing assistant role is similar to a caregiver, but they work directly under a qualified nurse. Their jobs may involve monitoring the patient, but no nursing assistant is qualified to make any medical decision to aid any situation. Instead, they are to report their findings to the nurse or doctor in charge.

If you manage to get a Nursing assistant degree, your salary could go up as high as $37,000, but even without the qualification, a high-school graduate can apply for the job, but the salary would max out at roughly $27,000 – $30,000.

Psychiatric Aide

The final occupation on this list is that of the psychiatric aide, or what is known as the job of the orderly in a mental healthcare facility. The duties of the psychiatric aide are quite similar to that of general caregivers, however, certain physical aspects of restraining and holding down uncooperative or incoherent patients will be part of the duty as well.

The simple high-school diploma is sufficient to start as a psychiatric aide and it will fetch you anything between $35,000 to a surprising $50,000, depending on the state in question, and of course, the nature of the job.The United States healthcare business is a booming industry, but it’s still short in terms of having qualified medical professionals in every medical facility across the country. Whether students decide to become a doctor, a nurse, a physical therapist or even a primary caregiver, they are automatically helping the country fill a gap that is in dire need of being filled.