Health Career Planning

• Career requires special training
• Health careers familiarize students with careers in the medical profession and allied health services
• Health career planning refers to an individual's plan to make a career choice

Steps and Components in Making a Health Career Plan

• Self-assessment involves discovering strengths through values, interests, personality, and testing
• Career exploration involves exploring careers and work environments through career fairs, online research, meetings, internships, alumni, connections, or professional resources
• Decision making involves evaluating and narrowing down options by listing pros and cons, comparing strengths and interests, and deciding which career fulfills current and future goals
• Plan of action involves planning achievable goals, developing strategies, organizing goals into smaller steps, identifying actions, utilizing helpful people and resources, reviewing and adapting the plan

Health Career Pathways

• Career pathways are clusters of occupations grouped because of shared skills

• Career pathways include different levels of education, skills, and training

• Selecting a career pathway provides an area of focus with flexibility and a variety of ideas to pursue personal development

• Community Healthcare focuses on the maintenance, protection, and improvement of the health of all community members

  • Includes Barangay/Community Health Worker and Public Health Aide

• Dental Health deals with various oral conditions

  • Includes Dentist, Dental Hygienist, and Dental Nurse

• Disease and Prevention Control focuses on communicable and non-communicable diseases

  • Includes Epidemiologist

• Drug Prevention Control seeks to reduce community and individual problems related to alcohol and drug abuse through evidence-based programs and policy advocacy.

  • Includes Drug Enforcer, and Addiction Counselor

• Emergency Medical Services specializes in out-of-hospital medical care

  • Includes Emergency Medical Aid, and Emergency Medical Responder

• Environmental Healthcare Management tries to establish the correlation between physical, chemical, biological, social, and psychosocial factors

  • Includes Air Pollution Analyst, Soil science analyst, Hazardous and solid waste manager, and Environmental Health Inspector

• Health Education tasked with the promotion of healthcare and training of health workers on managing change in healthcare

  • Includes Health Education Specialist, Community Health Educator, and Social Worker

• Maternal and Healthcare deals with complex public health issues that affect women, children, and their families

  • Includes Midwife, Community Health Educator, and Pediatrician

• Mental Healthcare deals with interpersonal and intrapersonal relationships and life skills

  • Includes Clinical Social Worker, Clinical Psychologist, Psychiatrist, and Guidance Counselor

• Nutrition finds ways to balance individuals' food and nutrition and their impact on patients' health

  • Includes Nutritionist, and Dietitian

• Occupational Safety relates to the safety, health, and welfare of people engaged in work or employment

  • Includes Occupational Health and Safety Technician, Health Inspector, and Industrial Hygienist