4 Healthcare Careers Where You Can Help People Live Fulfilling Lives
Some people naturally want to help others. Caring-types are naturally empathetic and practical; want to make a difference; and ensure the maximum safety, comfort, and wellness of those around them.
The health services industry has some of the most meaningful job options available for people who want to help maximise the health of clients.
The demand for health professionals is high. As the population ages and the National Disability Insurance Scheme continues to be rolled out, there’s an increasing number of healthcare jobs for workers who can perform key roles in keeping people well. This makes medical recruitment a lively area, including for people with qualifications in:
- Nursing
- Aged and disability support
- Occupational therapy
- Speech pathology assistance
Many jobs within these professions offer stable full and part-time employment opportunities. They involve working with a wide variety of people with a range of issues and needs where no two days are the same.
Nursing
Nurses provide valuable care and advice for patients in hospitals, aged care facilities, clinics, and in the community such as through home visits.
Roles in nursing can vary, but some of the key responsibilities of the job include:
- Preparing patients for procedures and administering after-care.
- Assessing and managing patient health concerns, and setting up treatment plans.
- Observing patients’ vital signs such as pulse, blood pressure, temperature, and blood sugar levels.
- Making sure patients are comfortable.
- Providing first aid and assisting in emergency treatment.
- Administering medication.
Getting qualified
There are different courses and career paths to the nursing profession depending on the kind of work you’d like to do, the level of responsibility you want to have, and how long you’d like to study.
Becoming an Enrolled Nurse involves completing either a Diploma in Nursing – a qualification that will take around 18 months to 2 years. Enrolled Nurses are guided and supervised by a Registered Nurse
Registered Nurses have greater responsibilities and generally higher pay, and will hold a bachelor’s degree, such as a Bachelor of Nursing qualification, which takes 3 years of full-time study to attain.
Beyond that, nurses can undertake further study such as master’s degrees in specialisations that interest them, although this isn’t necessary to gain employment. Specialisations include acute care nursing, aged care nursing, anesthesiologist nursing, cardiac nursing, nursing alongside general practitioners, mental health nursing, public health nursing, and many more.
Industry statistics
Enrolled nurse
projected job growth in the next five years
median full-time non-managerial salary in australia
Registered nurse
projected job growth in the next five years
median full-time non-managerial salary in australia
The ideal candidate
Aside from formal qualifications, nurses have the following attributes:
Nurses are scrupulous when it comes to hygiene, making sure medication dosages are correct, keeping patient records accurate and updated, and offering high-quality care at all times.
Nurses encounter a huge range of medical issues and reassure patients when they respond to them non-judgmentally and calmly, focusing on the facts with a practical, problem-solving approach.
Nurses who work in emergency settings will also need to respond to emergency calls quickly and constructively, and all nurses are able to administer first aid if the need arises.
Locum nurses – who receive temporary assignments – need to be able to quickly learn how each clinical setting works and what their role is. Nurses may also have to deal with a range of bodily fluids like vomit and blood without getting grossed out.
Nurses treat everyone with dignity and respect and clearly communicate with patients and other staff. They need to get along with a variety of people – often acting as a friendly face, and doling out humour where appropriate – and don’t take the words or behaviours of difficult patients personally.
Nurses provide comfort and compassion to patients under their care, understanding their health issues, and reassuring them about concerns they may have.
Some nursing jobs require you to work long shifts late into the night and often be on your feet the entire time. Nurses have the energy to stay engaged, diligent, and empathetic through these exhausting conditions.
A trusted, and rewarding profession
Surveys have found that nursing is the most trusted profession in Australia. This is because they build rapport with patients and offer them helpful care, advice, and treatment. They’re seen as knowledgeable and competent, as well as friendly and compassionate.
They often provide reassurance for patients and their loved ones at some of the most challenging times in their lives. For these reasons, there are many satisfying nursing job opportunities across Australia’s health care system.
Aged and disability support
Aged care workers and disability support workers look after clients who live in either for-profit or non-profit residential care facilities such as nursing homes or help clients living in their own homes to maintain their independence. Key responsibilities include:
- Understanding clients’ individual needs, and assisting them with daily living tasks such as grooming or shopping.
- Developing treatment plans for clients. Often these are designed in conjunction with other members of their medical team such as medical doctors, community service and social workers, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, dietitians, and others.
- Offering clients support and company, supporting their mental health and emotional wellbeing.
Getting qualified
There is a range of vocational courses in both aged and disability support which take around 6 to 18 months to complete, depending on the qualification.
Industry statistics
projected job growth in the next five years
Median full-time non-managerial salary in australia
The Ideal Candidate
People who thrive in the aged and disability support sectors have the following qualities:
Understanding your clients’ specific needs and being flexible in your approach to them. This may involve creative problem-solving to address idiosyncratic needs.
Clients may take time to build their skills and daily tasks may take a long time, but care workers will be consistently encouraging.
Care workers communicate clearly and sensitively with their clients as well as with the clients’ loved ones, other members of their treating team, and their employers and colleagues.
High job satisfaction and work/life balance
People who work in these sectors report high job satisfaction, although payscale satisfaction is much lower. The reasons for high satisfaction include:
- The work is rewarding. You help people in significant ways.
- Good job security. As the population ages, increasingly more people require disability and aged care support. There are jobs available for qualified workers and strong growth in the sector in line with changing public health needs.
- Good work/life balance. Many employers offer flexible working arrangements, casual jobs, or permanent part-time contracts which allow you to fit this rewarding job around family commitments and leisure time.
- Opportunity to use your skills. Workers generally draw on their training, knowledge, and skills in their daily work, supporting people’s lives.
- Autonomy. Workers tend to enjoy the freedom of being able to decide how to help their clients.
Occupational therapy
Occupational therapists help clients perform their daily tasks and roles that are important to them. They can be employed in a range of settings, including hospitals, schools, community health centres, and residential care facilities.
They offer advice and guidance on how clients can work with their health conditions, disabilities, injuries, or impairments to:
- Take care of themselves: such as showering, brushing their teeth, or preparing food.
- Manage their household: like going grocery shopping, cleaning, and budgeting.
- Be fully involved in education and workplace settings.
- Participate in leisure activities.
The work involves:
- Helping clients identify their goals and use their strengths to reach them.
- Introducing clients to adaptive technologies such as prosthetics and environmental modifications like ergonomic workspaces.
- Helping clients develop their skills and confidence in a wide range of tasks like time management, household management, and navigation.
Getting Qualified
Occupational therapists generally require a 4-year bachelor qualification in Occupational Therapy.
Another pathway to the profession is a 12-month vocational degree in Allied Health Assistance which enables you to work as an Occupational Therapy Assistant – which is a similar role that allows you to have a hands-on approach helping clients – and explore the career further.
Industry statistics
Occupational therapist
projected job growth in the next five years
median full-time non-managerial salary in australia
Occupational therapy assistant
projected job growth in the next five years
median full-time non-managerial salary in australia
The Ideal Candidate
Occupational therapists are:
OTs respond to the unique needs of each client – remembering that no two people will be exactly the same.
Some treatment plans will require you to be creative as you work with idiosyncratic challenges. OTs also have a wide range of therapies and techniques available to them such as manual therapies, exercises, adaptive devices, and others.
Drawn to the field to help people gain independence and find confidence through their everyday tasks.
Sometimes improvements are made gradually, and often there’ll be trial and error in figuring out what works for the person. Sometimes the client will be frustrated, and OTs will be able to reassure them that they’re on the right track.
OTs understand their clients and their challenges, and consistently encourage them.
Strong job growth, variety, and satisfaction
There is increasing demand for OTs as there’s greater recognition of the role: the healthcare system has realised that the holistic skills of OTs can help people stay independent for longer, prevent health issues from deteriorating, and even lower hospital admission rates as recovering patients are less likely to seriously injure themselves. OTs help people increase their quality of life.
The role is also satisfying for a number of reasons. Because each client is so different, OTs also benefit from lots of variety, and the exciting challenge of helping people through creative problem-solving. As well, there are lots of opportunities for expanding your knowledge and skillset through professional development.
Finally, you get to watch people gain independence or successfully go through difficult transitions such as coming home from hospital, or recovering from major injuries or strokes, knowing that you played a big role.
Speech pathology
Within this extraordinary field, speech pathology assistants support speech pathologists in diagnosing and treating clients who experience issues with verbal communication.
Speech pathologists deliver services such as:
- Administering hearing tests and analysing the results.
- Providing advice and counselling to clients.
- Recommending adaptive devices including hearing aids.
- Showing clients speech exercises.
Speech pathology assistants provide valuable support in delivering these services.
Getting qualified
Vocational training in allied health assistance takes a year. After that, you also have the option to do further training in speech pathology.
Industry statistics
Speech pathologist
projected job growth in the next five years
median full-time non-managerial salary in australia
Speech pathology assistant
projected job growth in the next five years
median hourly non-managerial salary in australia
The Ideal Candidate
Speech pathology is a related field to occupational therapy, although with a distinct focus on speech and/or swallowing. As such, speech pathologist assistants similarly require:
- Flexibility
- Empathy
- Patience
- Great problem-solving skills.
Each client will have different needs and different conditions, and your job will be to use your training to address their unique situation.
Helping people speak
Speech pathology has some incredibly satisfying moments. You can choose your own caseload, for instance working with paediatric or adult clients, or working with specific conditions; or you can have a variety of clients. You could be involved with helping a child say their first words, or helping clients recover their speech after a stroke.
Speech pathology is an important job because everyone needs to communicate to be understood and to understand the world around them.
The sheer scope of how speech pathology can make a positive impact on people’s daily lives is enormous. From saying a loved one’s name, or ordering a coffee, to delivering a conference presentation – our ability to communicate allows us to express ourselves, get what we need, and advance in our careers.
Want to join one of the most rewarding fields of work?
Healthcare workers are highly skilled, compassionate, and patient people who improve the health and life outcomes of their patients and clients. These are satisfying, meaningful jobs.
Although each role has real challenges, they are also rewarding careers that are increasingly important as Australian age demographics shift and healthcare needs grow.
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