Nursing And Physical Therapy: Two Health Care Careers To Consider

Although experts are split on whether or not the US economy is recovering from the worst recession since The Great Depression, it doesn't hurt you, as a career seeker, to try to understand where the stable jobs will be in the future. Doing so can help mitigate financial shortcomings, especially if you have kids you want to send to college.

One area to look is health care. Since health care is currently the biggest agenda in Obama's administration, you should be thinking that a career in health care is one way to go. It could even be the best bet since health care is already a big industry.

Now a job in health care could mean anything. Doctors and nurses are the most known careers, but there are plenty of room for other positions. So you could be a techie and be in health care. You could be in office administration and be in health care. You could be in marketing and be in health care. There are enough varied responsibilities to make the health care system work.

Here are two examples of what are deemed to be very important jobs for health care in the future.

Nurses: Working with patients at the hospitals and clinics

Nurses are the most popular health care jobs and have been for the past few years. Being the main workforce in hospitals, they keep a very busy schedule, most times, working 10-12 hour shifts at a time for three to four days in a row. Nurses perform a lot of testing, monitoring, medicine application, etc. Their hands get dirty, so to speak.

Because of the service they provide, nurses are paid well. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (USBLS), the average salary for a nurse in 2008 was $31.31 per hour. Put that in 40 hour work week plus overtime, then the yearly pay for nurses skyrockets. According to the USBLS, the top paid nurses in 2008 made $92,240 per year. That salary is more than enough for the average US household.

To become a nurse, you must finish nursing school college with a bachelor's (BSN) or associates degree (ADN). Then you must pass the NCLEX-RN, the standardized, national test to become a nurse.

Physical Therapist: Working with patients out of the hospitals

When a patient gets discharged from the hospital, his or her medical care is not necessarily over. There are follow ups that need to happen so that whatever ailment they've had that sent them to the hospital in the first place is not repeated. The care outside of the hospital is called outpatient care.

For some ailment, one of the outpatient care follow-ups is physical therapy. This is needed to make sure that the patient regains physical fitness. Many times, the therapy is done at the patient's home while he or she is recovering.

Physical therapy is like having your own gym trainer visiting you at your home. Except that the physical therapist also documents the patient's progress with instructions from the doctor in charge of the outpatient care.

In a physical therapy, the patient performs light exercises such as leg lifts, stretches, and walking. Sometimes, they provide brief massage therapy when necessary. Visits could be periodical or just a one time event.

Physical therapists do no get down and dirty as nurses do, but they still work hand in hand with patients. Although the patients they deal with are already better. They ought to have great people skills along with other skills that could come in handy. Attending a massage therapy college is something that could help.

When looking to get in healthcare, one must realize that the majority of job opportunities require direct interaction with patients in some form or another. That's what healthcare is all about, taking care of another person's well being. Healthcare is one of those subject where consumers at large look to experts who are properly schooled and knowledgeable in their field of expertise. You have to be a people's person to succeed.

More details for nursing school college and massage therapist college are available at Hubpages. The author writes freelance on various subjects including health care career choices.