Medical Careers Are On The Rise!

Sat, 13 Nov 2010 18:31:44 EST

Withthe country obsessed as it is with medical research and informationtechnology, one shouldn’t be surprised that there are people who havemanaged to combine these disciplines to everyone’s advantage. Thisstill developing field is known as Health or Medical Informatics, andthe Bureau of Labor Statistics projects its growth rate its growth rateis one of the fastest in the country.

Someoneworking in medical informatics analyzes and disseminates health datathrough with computers. Usually one specializes depending on the branchor medicine they are working in, whether it’s geriatrics to genesplicing, nursing to pharmaceuticals. They must also be on top on thelatest communications tech, software and research rules andregulations.

Whilethe career path to become one of these analysts is not as intense asgetting an MD, it’s not that far behind. It involves learning both themedical and IT professions at the same time. As such, it’s a good ideafor a high school student to talk to a career counselor when makingone’s first steps. Fortunately, there are a number of institutes ofhigher learning, both brick and mortar and online, that offer properundergraduate course loads. They usually focus on medical-relatedcourses with some computer science and IT classes.

Fromthere, most go on to obtain employment as assistants to establishedinformatics pros while continuing their post-grad studies. The usualway to do this is work by day and then take courses online off workhours. This is also where one picks up and balances one’s IT knowledge.

Whengoing for one’s Master’s and beyond, the subjects will get quiteintense. Not only will one learn about cutting edge technology, butapplying it for research in such arenas in cancer, genealogy and otheradvance areas of medicine.

Becauseof the extreme need for these people, there are more than the usualfederal and state avenues for financial aid. For starters, when goingfor one’s post-grad degree, one should be able to negotiate awork-study program with one’s job. There are also a number ofscholarships, fellowships and grants from private or publicorganizations as well as the federal government.

Compensationfor people with 4-year degrees can be as low as $26,000 to $42,000depending on where one works. After getting one’s post-grad work, theyaverage $85,000. According to the Bureau of one gets promoted they canearn over $95,000 to over $100,000. As one can imagine, it also comeswith benefits including insurance, retirement and compensation forfurther education, as this is a profession where innovations andbreakthroughs are coming at an incredible pace. The Bureau also statesthat there will be a need for 20% more informatics specialists by theend of the decade.

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Medical Careers Are On The Rise!