Six Types of Non-clinical Healthcare Careers
A career in the healthcare field can often be rewarding with reputable wages and high demand for employees. Although many people think a career in the healthcare field involves patient care, such as with doctors and traditional nurses, the healthcare industry is extremely diverse. Non-clinical healthcare careers do not involve direct patient care, but these careers do rely on medical or health education and training. It is possible to have a dependable career in the healthcare industry without heavy patient interaction. These are six types of non-clinical healthcare careers that still pay well.
Six Types of Non-clinical Healthcare Careers
Healthcare Risk Manager
Healthcare risk managers have diverse careers but focus on identifying and eliminating risk to patients and medical practices. This can involve risk assessments for patient care protocols, financial policies, research, labor practices, data management, and more. Healthcare risk managers typically have a specific area of focus from these possibilities, but some managers can provide a range of risk assessments. After determining the level of risk, managers make recommendations to improve policies and protocols. Due to the diverse possibilities in this career, educational and training requirements vary. People in this position can work for hospitals, risk management companies, or consulting firms. The average salary for a healthcare risk manager is about $74,000.
Medical Writer
A career as a medical writer involves taking complicated information laypeople have difficulty understanding and putting it into pellucid language. These technical writers can work independently and submit news and informational pieces to magazines and blogs or work for a company in the medical field that needs popular articles or translations of technical handbooks. Since the target audience can vary widely, the exact educational background a medical writer need depends on the position. Medical writers can use the technical information and jargon they learn in any suitable medical-related degree or certification program to inform their writing. Technical writers, the category for medical writers, earn about $71,000 a year.
Clinical Educator
A clinical educator uses knowledge of nursing and healthcare to provide professional development and training for nurses and other healthcare professionals. Clinical educators find deficits in care application and develop and institute specific training to help staff achieve a range of goals, including engaging with patients, handling confidential information, or even work together to provide an atmosphere more conducive for patient care. Personally mentoring someone or developing a mentoring program can also be a part of the job for a clinical educator. Those in this position should have at least some form of nursing education, a certification in training, excellent communication skills, and the ability to decipher needs and develop human resource procedures. The median salary for a clinical educator is about $75,000 a year.
Health Informatics Technician
A career as a health informatics technician leverages patient care with technology. In this field, health informatics technicians are responsible for inputting patient data into a database, translating patient charts into data for health insurance companies, retrieving patient data for doctors, patients, and legal experts, and maintaining the confidentiality of patient records, according to Rasmussen College. Education for this position can involve just a certification along with or high school diploma, but many employers prefer an employee with certification and an associate or bachelor’s degree. Health informatics technicians are typically technologically savvy with meticulous attention to detail. Informatics technicians make a median salary of about $40,000 per year.
Occupational Health and Safety Specialist
Occupational health and safety allows people to combine their knowledge of the medical field by creating healthier environments for workers. A career as a specialist in occupational health and safety involves examining procedures and evaluating workplace conditions to determine if a risk to worker health or safety exists. An occupational health and safety specialist works with many different companies and industries to help them improve their lives and lower risks for their employees. Some employers require a certification process or associate degree. People in this profession need excellent analytical and problem-solving abilities to find and solve health risks in the workplace. Occupational health and safety specialists can make a median salary of almost $70,000, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics.
Medical Transcriptionist
Medical transcriptionists prepare typed documents from recordings by healthcare professionals, ensure proper conversion from audio to written format, input data from documents into databases, and update patient records. This career provides administrative aid for doctors, clinics, hospitals, and insurance companies within the healthcare field. To qualify for a position as a medical transcriptionist, employers typically require some form of postsecondary education or certification. The median pay for a medical transcriptionist is around $35,000 a year, according to Truity.
There are many jobs in the healthcare field that do not have to involve direct patient care. Nonclinical careers provide a way to be an important part of the healthcare industry that helps those who provide direct patient care do so more efficiently.
