Health Career Plan: Components and Steps

• Choosing a career is challenging
• A career choice should consider interests and passions that may lead to other paths
• Healthcare has numerous professions and a high demand for workers locally and globally
• Health careers provide lucrative job options worldwide due to aging populations and medical advancements
• Health careers offer good salaries, job security, advancement opportunities, and contribute to others' lives
• Health career planning involves an individual's plan to make a career choice, grow in or shift careers including self-assessment
• Self-assessment helps to understand capabilities and drawbacks, it also explore career options

Health Career Plan Components and Steps

• Self-assessment helps discover personal strengths, values, interests, personality, testing, skills etc.
• Career exploration involves exploring careers and work environments through career fairs, online research, meetings, and connections
• Decision-making includes evaluating options, listing pros and cons, comparing personal strengths/interests, and choosing a fulfilling career.
• Plan of Action involves setting achievable goals, developing strategies, organizing steps, utilizing resources, and regular review

Why Pursue a Health Career?

• A health career offers good salary, job security, allows you to do work you enjoy, fitting it to your personal plans, and provides a clear path for advancement

Medical and Allied Health Professions

• Hundreds of allied health professions work with medical professions to provide whole-person care to patients
• The medical profession is a group of individuals qualified to practice medicine
• Allied health professions deal with healthcare but are distinct from medicine

Allied Health Professionals

• Allied health professionals are healthcare practitioners with formal education, clinical training, and credentials through certification
• They collaborate with physicians and other healthcare team members to deliver high-quality patient care services
• These services include the identification, prevention, and treatment of diseases, disabilities, and disorders

Key Definitions

• Health Care Provider: Someone who helps identify, prevent, or treat an illness or disability
• Health Care Practitioner/Provider: An independent healthcare provider licensed to practice and provide general/specialized care
• Allied Health Professionals: Trained providers practicing under a physician or healthcare practitioner, including pharmacists, dental hygienists, physical therapists, and nurses

Allied Health Professions in the Philippines

• Audiologist: Identifies and rehabilitates hearing impairments/disorders.
• Chiropractor: Diagnoses and treats neuromuscular disorders, emphasizing manual adjustment/manipulation of the spine.
• Clinical Psychologist: Assesses, diagnoses, treats, and helps prevent mental disorders.
• Dietitian/Nutritionist: Promotes good health through proper diet and treatment of diseases.
• Emergency Medical Technician: Responds quickly to emergencies and treats serious injuries/trauma.
• Guidance Counselor: Assists students with personal, family, education, and career concerns.
• Health Educator: Specializes in health education, promoting health knowledge, skills, and positive attitudes.
• Massage Therapist: Performs scientific manipulation of soft tissues using manual techniques.
• Medical Assistant: Performs routine administrative and nontechnical clinical tasks under a physician's direction.
• Medical Technologist: Performs tasks on body fluids to uncover abnormalities and underlying causes of illnesses.
• Midwife: Helps women maintain healthy pregnancies, assists in childbirth, and supports postpartum recovery.
• Nurse: Provides care for sick/injured, monitors health, assists physicians, and administers medications.
• Occupational Therapist: Uses activity and interventions to maximize independence for those with physical/cognitive impairments.
• Orthotist/Prosthetist: Makes and fits prosthetics or artificial body parts.
• Paramedic: Gives emergency medical treatment and assists medical professionals during emergencies.
• Phlebotomist: Professionals with special training in phlebotomy or drawing blood from patients
• Physical Therapist: Examines, evaluates, and treats physical impairments with exercise and modalities.
• Radiographer: Performs imaging procedures like X-rays and scans.
• Speech Language Pathologist: Diagnoses and treats patients with speech defects and disorders
• Pharmacist: Prepares and dispenses medications, providing information on drugs.
• Respiratory Therapist: Specializes in cardiopulmonary function and treats chronic respiratory diseases.
• Social Worker: Investigates/treats social problems, aiding those with mental illness, abuse, etc.
• Radiation Therapist: Administers radiation therapy, observes patients, and maintains records.

Health Career Pathways

• Career pathways are clusters of occupations grouped by shared skills
• Understanding health career pathways makes identifying health career professions easier
• Understanding health career pathways assists in choosing a health career
• Understanding health career pathways helps to develop a plan on how to prepare for your chosen health career

Disease Prevention and Control

• These careers focus on communicable and non-communicable diseases, also includes immunization, screening of newborns, promotion of breastfeeding, infant diseases prevention, adolescent healthcare, and life skills.
• Examples include: Community Health Work and Education and Research

Personal Healthcare

• These professionals perform healthcare-related tasks like monitoring patients, hygiene assistance, housekeeping, and advising on infant care, hygiene and nutrition

Maternal and Child Care

• These health workers deal with complex public health issues that affect women, children, and families, they also provide information on reproductive health, family planning, healthcare of pregnant women and their children; improve health delivery through advocacy and research.
• Examples includes: Community Health Educator, Outreach Specialist, Midwifery

Mental Healthcare

• Mental healthcare professionals specialize in interpersonal and intrapersonal relationships, they also deal with psychosocial development, healthy self-esteem, and anger management, and identify warning signs of learning disorders such as ADHD, anxiety, and bullying.
• Examples include: Psychiatry, Guidance Counseling, Clinical Psychology, Social Work

Community Healthcare

• Community healthcare specialists focus on maintaining, protecting, and improving the health of community members
• Examples include: Barangay or Community Health Work and Rural Sanitary Inspection

Environment Healthcare Management

• Environment healthcare management professionals establish connections between physical, chemical, biological, social, and psychosocial factors in the environment.
• This management includes impact of human activities on ecosystems and the development of strategies for restoring ecosystems.
• Examples: Air Quality Monitoring, Social Science Analysis, Radiological Assessment, Noise Control, Solid Waste Management

Drug Prevention and Control

• People reduce drug/alcohol abuse in communities through evidence-based programs and policy advocacy
• Examples include: Drug Enforcement, Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation

Nutrition

• Nutrition specialists balance individuals' food and nutrition for their health like clinical dietetics
• These specialists deal with meal planning, food preparation and how it impacts economics, clinical dietetics, public health relation, food and nutrition management, and education and research

Health Education

• Health education professionals deal with promoting healthcare and training health workers to manage change and assess needs, they implement health programs, which promote healthy behaviors, they also coordinates health education services
• Examples include: Community Health Work and Education and Research

Dental Health

• Dental health workers address oral conditions, also they address risk factors like poor diet and hygiene
• Examples include: Dental Hygiene, Dental Nursing and Dental Support

Occupational Safety

• Occupational safety professionals protect worker's health and safety from hazards
• Examples include: Occupational Health and Safety Technician, Health Inspector and Industrial Hygienist

Emergency Medical Services

• Emergency medical services people specialize in out-of-hospital medical care
• They are skilled in first aid and medical transport
• Examples include: Emergency Medical Aid and Paramedic