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Health care question...what career matches up with these interests?
I have always been very interested in health care, and I'm currently working as a hospital social worker in an inpatient unit. There are two areas of health care that I'm passionately interested in. The first is medical ethics. For example, my hospital will sometimes have cases where we need to have team consultations where we discuss a complicated case from multiple perspectives (e.g. legal, medical, familial, etc.). I find these types of cases fascinating, but don't know if there's a good career match for this interest apart from law (which I don't want to pursue). My second interest is working to make health care delivery more efficient. I am fascinated by the inefficiency of the current system in many areas (reimbursement, documentation, pricing structure, etc.). Once again, I'm not sure what type of job or training one would need to have to focus on these issues.
Public Comments
- You could become a certified case manager http://www.ccmcertification.org Alternatively, you could go for an administrative position, such as Administrative Director, Clinical Director with degrees such as a Master of Health Care Administration.
- Kung has hit on some good ideas, I'm not sure if case manager is in the line you would like to pursue. AsI read your details, I thought you should get a degree in hospital or health care administration. There are some very good programs now that offer dual majors with Hospital Administration/MBA degrees. This is a very strong educational background for a person who wants to be able to effect change in a health care setting. It would allow you to work through the administrative avenues, but there are frequently positions, especially in large health care organizations, as ethics coordinators, or process improvement managers, improving the hospital service product lines (such as the maternal/child service) Good luck with your future.
- The other avenue open to you which you may not have considered, focusing on the efficiency angle is to become a consultant from an external perspective. In which case a management consulting focused course or the health care management degree followed by a career in management consulting may do it for you. I believe they pay well to, as a bonus. James
