There is no doubt jobs in the healthcare industry are the most sought after, mainly because careers in this field are stable and profitable. With advancements in medicine, people live longer and medical needs increase accordingly. According to United Nations statistics, the number of people in the world aged 60 and older is expected to double by 2050 from 841 million in 2013 to more than 2 billion. Naturally, the healthcare sector will need more hands to serve this huge population. Healthcare is one of the fastest growing occupational sources in the United States. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says that jobs in healthcare will be the highest in job growth by 2022, and this will include not just hospital workers, but a wide range of other professions such as home healthcare jobs, lifestyle strategists and health finances planner to name a few. Jobs such as medical data entry and medical document scanning have made it to the list of prospective careers in healthcare as these require professionalism.
With Artificial Intelligence, robotics and wearable sensors, some existing human jobs may be replaced, and new ones added.
Why healthcare-related job opportunities are likely to increase?
- The baby boomers
In the US, baby boomers constitute around 20% of the population, and they require geriatric services. A substantial increase in life- and mind-altering conditions such as Alzheimer’s and cardiac diseases increase the need for home healthcare. As everyone is becoming conscious about maintaining a healthy lifestyle and these elderly have got time to ponder and plan their last few years, professionals with the role of end-of-life therapists (or simply lifestyle therapists) can help them get involved in wellness programs. - Availability of affordable healthcare
With the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2010, more and more Americans have become health-conscious. They are making use of laboratory tests and are getting their eyes tested, implying more jobs for lab technicians, optometrists, nurses, physicians and their assistants. This need for professionals will only increase in the coming years, as the population is expected to grow by 9% in the next 10 years. - Healthcare records
Medical offices are becoming paperless to become streamlined and make it easier for both the physician and the patient to access and use health records. Dependency on transcriptionists, medical records scanning service, and technicians is vital for this task of transforming and maintaining records. - Wellness is more than medicine
People are becoming aware that to become healthy, one has to lead a life as directed by nutritionists and therapists. These professionals are experts in advising wellness programs and balanced diets and always recommend these over medicines.
Be it in the near future, or in 5 – 10 years from now, it will be exciting to consider what all new jobs will come up and how the existing jobs will survive. The future jobs will be without any precedent and will need much training and research, whereas existing jobs will need professionals who can complete their tasks more efficiently.
Here are some of the future jobs that are likely to take over the healthcare sector sooner or later:
- 3D Bio-printing Specialists for Reconstructive Surgeries: There will be a need for a new breed of 3D printing specialists who will specialize in generating tissues with the help of a combination of materials, tools and procedures. The ability to produce unique, patient-specific internal or external body parts at a relatively low cost is becoming popular and these specialists will be experts in 3D printing of biomaterials for tissue engineering applications.
- Medical Roboticist: Heartlander, the mobile robot for cardiac therapy, enters the patient’s chest through a small incision and carries out the therapy as prescribed by the physician. Controlled and used by the physician, HeartLander was invented and created by a medical roboticist. These professionals create intelligent tools that can be used by medical professionals to diagnose ailments or perform surgeries.
- Healthcare Information Technology Manager: People with a background in IT administration and computer science are suitable for this job. These professionals are hired to take care of all the records, bills and other data in the healthcare sector.
Health Finances Planner: Just like how you will need an advice for your income tax filings, you will need the help of a professional who will help you choose the right health insurance coverage. A health finances planner will assist you in choosing the right kind of insurance coverage and making sufficient contributions to health savings accounts to meet any anticipated health needs. With the rapidly changing technology in the healthcare sector, healthcare is becoming expensive. Not always does a health insurance company provide a reimbursement and this is when financial experts have a role to play.- Health Specialist Professor: Having seen the scope and possibilities of these innovative professions, there arises an important question – who will train them? A person, who may be a physician or professors who are researchers, can train nurses, pharmacists and technicians, and also bioinformaticians and cryopreservation specialists. Healthcare is a rapidly changing field and these professors must stay updated on the changes in innovations in their field.
- Voice assistant healthcare content specialists: These professionals will be required to build out content more effectively for voice-based virtual assistants that are becoming popular.
- Virtual hospital manager: These managers will work in virtual hospitals based around telehealth that may become popular in the future. An example of such a hospital is the Mercy Virtual Care Center in St. Louis.
- Precision medicine compounding pharmacist: With precision medicine, bulk pharmaceutical drugs may become obsolete. However, a compounding pharmacist will be required to enter the right patient information into an artificial intelligence platform.
Health Finances Planner: Just like how you will need an advice for your income tax filings, you will need the help of a professional who will help you choose the right health insurance coverage. A health finances planner will assist you in choosing the right kind of insurance coverage and making sufficient contributions to health savings accounts to meet any anticipated health needs. With the rapidly changing technology in the healthcare sector, healthcare is becoming expensive. Not always does a health insurance company provide a reimbursement and this is when financial experts have a role to play.The surge in healthcare jobs is expected to continue, according to the Bureau of labor Statistics – they project a 28.1% growth in ancillary healthcare jobs along with a 21.5% growth in the number of medical providers. With medical technology advancing second by second, there will be more career opportunities in this field for innovators.
