Non-Clinical Careers – Want to work in healthcare but realized early on that working directly with patients just isn’t for you? Good news! Not only are there many exciting non-medical healthcare careers, but many are also well-paid and have great opportunities from career progression to even job outlook.
You don’t have to be a nurse or a doctor to work in healthcare. There are so many roles involved that are just as important and make the entire system tick, with these five options coming in at the top:
Healthcare Salesperson
Some people are natural sales professionals, and if you want to increase the challenge and the reward, you’ll want to look to medical device sales as your goal. To become a healthcare salesperson, you will need to complete a short and affordable 8 to 12-week program so that you have the clinical knowledge, hands-on experience, and sales training you’ll need for the role. Program providers like Medical Sales Institute prep you so that you clearly understand different devices and how to sell products to medical professionals.
Health Services Manager
Another excellent non-medical career option in healthcare is management. These managers or administrators work to coordinate and organize medical departments or even the entire hospital or clinic that they work in, depending on their seniority. These professionals are usually experienced in business skills and have knowledge of healthcare laws. While you need, at minimum, a bachelor’s degree to get started, know that there are administration degrees with a healthcare focus that you can earn to direct your career in this field.
Medical Transcriptionist
Taking accurate, concise notes is crucial in healthcare and a great career option for those looking for a non-medical career that they could even do from home. What you will do is listen to audio recordings that doctors and other healthcare professionals make and transcribe them into written notes.
Patient Advocate
Patient advocates work with patients and help them schedule treatment plans and patient appointments, help them with paperwork, and more. As healthcare professionals have a tendency to rely on technical terms and commonly work with advanced treatments and even conditions, it is the job of the patient advocate to make sure that their clients understand everything fully so that patients can make the best decisions for themselves.
Medical Secretary
This role is very much so in demand. The role of the medical secretary is to handle administrative and clerical tasks at clinics or hospitals. Part of this involves acting as a correspondent between physicians and their patients. You will also often need to manage vendors, chase down payments, or handle insurance documentation.
Health Information Manager
Non-Clinical Careers – Hospitals are flush with records, and who processes and manages them? The Health Information Manager. Their full role title is Medical Records and Health Information Technician, which is abbreviated to MR/HIT. They organize, process, and maintain patient records. This role is ideal for those who are highly organized, adaptable, and good at attention to detail. You will, in many ways, be working as a hospital librarian. Only instead of medical texts, you are in charge of patient records.