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, in 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

Registered nurse

The ideal candidate

Aside from formal qualifications, nurses have the following attributes:

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 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 are 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

The Ideal Candidate

People who thrive in the aged and disability support sectors have the following qualities:

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

Occupational therapy assistant

The Ideal Candidate

Occupational therapists are:

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

Speech pathology assistant

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.