Why healthcare could be the perfect career change for you

The idea of changing careers halfway through one’s working life used to be anathema. People chose a pathway in their teens or early twenties and then stuck to it — but how many of us really know what we want out of life at that age? In today’s world, there’s a growing recognition that after getting to know themselves better, learning more about the world and their specific sectors, and discovering their true talents, many people conclude that they could be happier or more productive in an alternate field. If you’re thinking about changing careers, it’s worth noting that switching to healthcare is one of the most popular and rewarding choices.

Job satisfaction

There are very few careers associated with higher rates of job satisfaction than healthcare. Although some roles require long hours and a lot of hard work, studies have shown that the awareness that you’re helping other people makes a huge positive difference, as does the fact that in many roles you can see the beneficial effects of your work straight away.

Combine this with a cross-sector approach whereby workers are encouraged to support one another and develop strong social bonds, and you have a really positive working environment. You’ll also often enjoy respect from the public at large and gratitude from patients. You’ll get to fight back against the diseases and infirmities which, one way or another, trouble us all. If you spend the rest of your working life in healthcare, when you retire, you’ll be able to look back on a life well spent and feel satisfied by all the good you’ve done.

Great opportunities

Due to our aging population, there is increasing demand for healthcare services and the sector is rapidly expanding. Loss of personnel caused by the COVID pandemic has also led to vacancies, and there is particular demand for people with management level skills who are able to train quickly and rise through the ranks to help workplaces restructure. Taken together, these factors mean that there has never been an easier time to transfer into healthcare, and newly qualified healthcare workers have never had more options regarding where they work. Salaries are rising and working conditions improving as employers compete to attract the best candidates.New licensing arrangements are making it easier for nurses to move between states without having to take additional exams.

An ethical career

One of the most common reasons given for wanting to change careers is a desire to give something back to the world. Healthcare gives you the chance to do that, but its roots in ethics go much deeper. If you choose a nursing career, you will be required to sign an ethical code of conduct which will mean you will need to think carefully about what you do.

Training in this area will help you to develop much more sophisticated ways of thinking about ethics than most professions utilize, which will also help you in other areas of life. In addition, when you work in healthcare you can be confident that you’re not producing products which are damaging to the world, and that you are part of a sector which is conscious about its carbon footprint and potential to cause pollution, seeking to minimize these harms wherever possible.

A people-focused career

In many careers, the focus of what you’re doing day to day is quite abstract. In others, you may be focused on delivering a product or service which doesn’t have a great deal of personal meaning for you. By bringing the focus back to people, healthcare puts you in a position to see the direct benefit of your actions, as well as offering much more satisfying social experiences.

When you join a healthcare team you are joining a community where you will always be valued and supported. The sector’s focus on cooperation means that others will see you as a colleague rather than a competitor, so you’ll never experience the sense of isolation which exists in the upper levels of many other industries. Most roles involve dealing with the public on a day-to-day basis, and although patients will often be going through a lot of stress when you meet them, you will be one of the people in a position to turn that around.

Multiple career paths

If you transition to a healthcare career after the age of 25, you will not be able to train as a doctor, because most course providers agree that it’s necessary to be young to take in the intensive education required, plus the course of study is lengthy. You will, however, have several other great career paths available to you. It’s relatively easy to transfer into administrative positions from many other sectors, with little or no decrease in salary.

f nursing appeals to you, initial training can be undertaken very quickly, and the option of online study means that you can complete a lot of it before having to leave your current position. You could explore the field of mental health, which offers lots of different opportunities such as counseling or addiction support. You could enter a specialist field, becoming a  dietitian, a podiatrist, a dental technician, or any number of other specialties. You could also consider more unusual areas which might allow you to draw on existing skills or experience, such as art therapy or animal therapy.

Team and solo options

Many people enjoy working in healthcare because of the great opportunities there are to become part of a mutually supportive team, such as working alongside fellow nurses on a ward or joining a first responder unit. Solo options are also available, however. You could become a community outreach worker or health educator or become embedded in a non-medical institution such as a sports club or a school. Some health professionals even work from home as both telemedicine and online counseling are booming areas. There are also intermediate ways of working, such as joining a team of local health professionals who support each other and deal with many of the same patients but focus on delivering different types of care.

A range of workplaces

When most people hear the word ‘healthcare’, they immediately think of hospitals, but there are lots of other environments in which skilled individuals are needed. You could find yourself working in the heart of a community you love, spending time with a small number of patients in their homes or going to exciting places by getting involved in an area such as marine or mountain rescue. There are an increasing number of nursing jobs not in a hospital, as one of the consequences of the COVID pandemic has been to expand the range of services delivered at home or in small clinics, especially for patients with compromised immunity. By enrolling in one of the many nursing courses offered by Elmhurst University, you’ll be well prepared for a variety of roles of this sort, including consultancy positions which enable you to move around and work in different environments week by week. Many of the courses offered by Elmhurst University are delivered online, allowing students to continue to work or care for family as they learn.

A strong support system

Whether or not you work within a team, healthcare is a field in which you will always have the benefit of a strong support system. It’s backed up by a range of highly active professional bodies which take care of their members and will work with you to ensure that you have the insurance and advocacy you need in case anything goes wrong. They provide a lot of free advice, and you’ll also find that this is easy to get from colleagues in a sector which encourages mentoring and, more broadly, the sharing of useful information. Clear hierarchies mean that you’ll always know who to turn to when you need assistance or clarification, and there are also straightforward means of reaching out if you need additional help. Peer to peer emotional support is also a big part of the culture of healthcare and supports good mental health even in difficult circumstances.

Transfer your skills

Whichever branch of healthcare you decide to move into, it’s probable that there will be quite a few skills you already have that will prove useful.Although you will likely have to start low down on the ladder in highly skilled areas such as nursing, having management skills can be a big advantage and can help you to advance quickly. So, within a short time you could move into a senior position.

Leadership skills are needed in many areas of healthcare and administration skills are needed practically everywhere, as the system is founded on collaboration and facilitating that requires accurate, timely report writing and good organization. In addition to these skills, you will be able to draw on the skills you have developed by working with people, and even things you have learned in your personal life. Active listening, negotiation and the ability to simplify complex ideas without losing their meaning are all highly valuable in healthcare.

New skills you will need

Depending on the area of healthcare which you choose to go into, you may have a lot of new skills to learn, but the good news is that even in nursing, basic training rarely takes more than two and a half years, and you can often do part of that online in your own hours. In addition, because the sector encourages working while you learn, you won’t need to have a lot of money saved up before you begin.

Professional organizations in the sector offer a wide range of online resources and can also recommend books so that you can do a lot of reading before taking the plunge, making it easier to be sure that this is what you want and easier to get good results once you begin formal study.

In most healthcare professions, you will need to work an agreed number of clinical hours, which is essentially supervised work experience, before qualifying for registration. However, there is a degree of flexibility over how you arrange these and, if you have the energy, you will have the option of completing an evening shift after working during the day in your existing job.

Ongoing education

One of the really great things about working in healthcare is that it’s full of opportunities to continue learning. Some of them are obligatory, but in those instances, you won’t have to pay for them and will have support to fit them into your working life. You’ll be expected to keep on developing your skills throughout your career.Becoming more skilled is associated with pay increases and may also open the door to new opportunities.

In nursing, many people explore a number of different specialties, ultimately allowing them to become experts in one or two or to focus on intersectional issues. The vast scope of the sector means that there’s room to take a similar approach in other areas, and no matter how niche your work ends up becoming, there will be people who will benefit from it. You will also have the option of going into the academic side of the sector and producing new knowledge yourself.

Personal development

In addition to developing new skills, healthcare encourages all its workers to develop as people. This includes improving your ability to empathize, learning how to set boundaries and protect your mental health and becoming a better communicator. As a consequence, healthcare workers tend to see benefits in their personal relationships, becoming better able to support their friends and loved ones on both an emotional and practical level. You can also expect to become better at looking after your own general health and that of your family. No matter how long you spend in your new career, there will always be something new to learn and new ways in which you can improve. You’ll find that you like yourself more and find it easier to achieve fulfilment in every aspect of your life.

Final thoughts

With so many benefits available and such a fascinating range of possibilities to explore, healthcare is a fantastic choice for a second career. If you’re willing to put in the work to make it possible, the only thing you’ll be left wondering about is why you didn’t do it years ago.