Chapter 7: Health Career Planning

• In 2018, health care provided 18 million jobs for wage and salary workers
• Health care is projected to generate 2.4 million jobs between 2019 and 2029
• The demand for healthcare personnel is expected to increase by 15 percent between 2019 and 2029
• What is one of the fastest growing health professions?

  Home health and personal care aides
• What are desirable traits for healthcare workers?

  Patience, empathy, and the ability to work with people form diverse backgrounds in stressful situations
• What is the high demand for healthcare workers related to?

  Longevity and the aging of the population who require management of chronic diseases and assistance with ADLs
• How many home health and personal care aides were there in May 2020?

  approx. 3 million
• How many RNs were there in May 2020?

  approx. 2.5 million
• How many nursing assistants were there in May 2020?

  approx. 1.25 million
• How many medical assistants were there in May 2020?

  approx. 500,000
• How many LPNs and LVNs were there in May 2020?

  approx. 500,000
• Offices of health professionals are the 2nd most common employer of health professionals
• Hospitals employ the largest number of health professionals
• By 2019, there were approx. 1.2 million residents in nearly 15,000 nursing homes
• By 2019, approx 800,000 additionally lived in 28,900 assisted-living facilities
• Activities of daily living: Set of key capabilities used to evaluate need for personal care assistance for older adults or disabled persons; includes bathing, dressing, toileting, and self-feeding:
• Bureau of labor statistics (BLS): Source of the Occupational Outlook Handbook that provides information about broad range of occupations with details about educational requirements, projected need, places of employment, and salaries
• Certification: The process of action of providing an individual with an official document attesting to their status or level of achievement
• Community and social service occupations: Professionals who work with individuals to assist them in obtaining needed care or services
• Healthcare practitioners and technical occupations: Professionals who work directly with patients or with patient laboratory samples to identify health status
• Health professional shortage areas (HPSAs): Regions or zones identified by the Health Resources and Services Administration Shortage Designation branch of the HHS as medically underserved; lack of access to primary care, dental, or mental health providers; and groups who face economic, cultural, or linguistic barriers to health care
• Health resources and services administration (HRSA): Agency of HHS with responsibility for improving access to healthcare for people who are geographically isolated or economically or medically vulnerable
• Healthcare support occupations: Occupation with lower educational requirements and shorter training periods
• Indian health service (IHS): Agency within HHS that provides healthcare services for Native Americans and Alaskan Natives
• Licensure: The granting of a license by official or legal authority to perform medical acts and procedures not permitted by persons without such a license
• Loan repayment program (LRP): The National health Service Corps (NHSC) offers primary care medical, dental, and mental and behavioral healthcare providers the opportunity to have their student loans repaid while earning a competitive salary, in exchange for providing healthcare in urban, rural, or tribal communities with limited access to care
• Maldistribution of health personnel: A situation in which new health workers find it difficult to obtain jobs in their community, while other communities cannot find enough workers to fill the same type of healthcare jobs
• National health service corps (NHSC): An organization that negotiates agreements with primary care medical, dental, and mental health professionals to work in underserved areas with limited healthcare access in exchange for college loan repayments and scholarships
• Professional certification: Granted by health professionals’ national organizations to ensure health professionals meet established levels of competency
• Professional registration: The listing of certified health professionals on an official roster kept by a state agency or health professionals’ organization
• State loan repayment program: Available in 30 states for students in a variety of healthcare training programs
• Student to service loan repayment program: For students in the last year of school training as a physician, dentist, nurse practitioner, or certified nurse-midwife
• Loan repayment is in exchange for serving three years in a designated health professional shortage area
• government’s principal agency for protecting the health of all Americans and providing essential human services, especially for those who are least able to help themselves
• Orthotists and prosthetists design medical supportive devices including artificial limbs, braces, and other medical devices
• Healthcare workers in blood banks draw, process, store, and distribute human whole blood and its derivatives
• Dental laboratories provide services to dentists by making and repairing artificial teeth and other dental appliances
• Family planning services provide physical examinations, laboratory tests, consultations, education, and medications in relation to reproductive health and pregnancy care
• Health education and promotion departments in large corporations and factories conduct group classes, exercise programs, and health screenings for employees
• Public health departments at the city, county, and state level work with medical scientists at the CDC at the federal level to track outbreaks of foodborne illness or influenza