The Biggest Healthcare Sectors
One of the benefits of working in the healthcare field is the ability to choose what type of individuals or what age group you would like to work with. While some individuals want to care for the elderly who are nearing the end of their life, others enjoy working with those just beginning it so they focus on newborns. Here are some of the different populations you can work with as a healthcare practitioner.
For individuals fascinated by newborns and babies and motivated to care for them and make them healthy, healthcare workers can specialize in newborn or neonatal care. Often jobs associated with this age group are located in hospitals, although some may be found in other healthcare facilities as well.
Most healthcare professionals working with newborns help to take care of them for the first few days or weeks after they are born until they are able to leave the hospital and go home. Other professionals specialize in newborns, who are born early or have significant birth defects, and they provide treatment, care and therapy that tries to help the newborn overcome the defects or disabilities.
Children are another age group that many healthcare professionals choose to specialize in. If this is your targeted area, then review our page on pediatrician careers. Doctors who specifically treat children are called pediatrics, and they devote their entire medical career to solely treating kids. Other healthcare professionals interested in kids often work in pediatric offices or hospitals, where they are able to care for children on a daily basis. Working in a school setting as a nurse or counselor is also popular among those interested in providing medical care for children.
A growing population that is in need of more and more care every day is the elderly population. Individuals wanting to work with the elderly population specialize in geriatrics, which examines treatments, therapies and other interventions for common illnesses and ailments elderly individuals face. You could also work with seniors as a home health aide.
Taking care of the critically ill and injured is also a special population for healthcare professionals to consider working with. Most of these individuals are located in hospitals, although some may be found in other healthcare facilities. Healthcare workers must be quick on their feet and make good, accurate decisions when dealing with this special population. However, the rewards of an individual becoming healthy again can be very satisfying.
Specializing in different groups isn't just limited to age and seriousness of illness, but it can also pertain to gender and other factors. A whole specialization has been dedicated to women's health particularly in relation to their reproductive system. Doctors and nurses in this area not only specialize in women's health but also specialize in pregnancy and birth.
Low Socioeconomic Populations (Public Health)
Working with low socioeconomic populations or individuals who are uninsured is also a group healthcare professionals can choose to work for. Often these individuals are receiving care in public health facilities, thus job opportunities to work with this population may be limited.
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