5 Questions to Ask to Find out if a Medical Career is Right for You
A blog article at the Huffington Post notes the healthcare industry will create around another 5.6 million jobs by 2020. If you’re looking for a job, and you feel the medical profession suits your skills and passion the best, then it’s a relatively secure path to go. With training and diligence, you could qualify for jobs such as a dental assistant, medical administrative assistant, ultrasound technician, pharmacy tech, or vocational nurse. But how do you know if a job in the medical field is right for you? To figure that out, ask yourself these questions:
1. Do you enjoy helping people? This is far and away the number one question to consider. When it comes right down to it, the medical field is all about helping people improve their quality of life. That could mean a single procedure that cures a life-threatening condition, or it could be helping a cancer patient battle their ailment over a period of years.
2. Do you empathize strongly with other people and their pain? Sometimes, it’s very difficult to help a patient keep their pain under control.
During these times, it’s especially important to have empathy for the patient and the pain they’re experiencing. When you can’t help the patient calm down, the temptation can be to get frustrated. However, when the patient sees staff getting angry and irritated, they only go further into panic and experience more pain. If you’re able to keep a cool head and empathize with the patient, even during excruciatingly painful times, that helps them stay calm and reduce their pain.
3. Are you a good listener? Often, patients can clearly communicate what’s ailing them. Others may enter the emergency room in such a frantic state of mind that they have a difficult time communicating what’s going on. In either case, it’s important to have good listening skills so you can quickly determine what action to take, and what information to communicate to the doctor or other staff.
4. Do you enjoy the challenges involved with learning new things? Technological advances happen rapidly in the medical field. Regardless of which aspect of it you get into, you will be faced with new things to learn. It’s an important skill to have if you’re going to remain in the field over the long-term.
5. Can you handle sad and tragic things happening? People are innocent victims in car accidents, and sometimes, even if a highly experienced team of medical professionals gets involved, nothing can be done to save their life. It may not happen often, but ask yourself if you’ll be able to handle it when it does.
If you think carefully about those 5 questions and their answers, you’ll learn whether or not you’re suited for the medical field. High Desert Medical College staff can help you make the right decision about your healthcare career path. Contact us today or stop by anytime. We love walk-ins and no appointment is ever necessary to meet with our staff. Click HERE to check out the programs offered at High Desert Medical College.