Are you thinking about changing careers within health care but don't know where to begin? Perhaps you're interested in advancing within your specialty or broadening your work experience.
A good place to start is a free publication that provides the latest information about health care careers, including average starting salaries and educational requirements. The seventh edition of "Health Careers in Georgia," published in 2006, is an invaluable resource for health care professionals, hospitals, physician practices and other providers.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, 33 percent of the new jobs created in the next 10 years in the United States will be in health care.
"Even those [already] in health care may not know about the extent of the jobs available," said Nealey Stapleton, MS, program manager for the Southwest Georgia Area Health Education Center in Albany. "In publishing this book, our goal is to be a resource for those in health care, to help them learn about the wide range of careers and to connect them with institutions and professional associations."
The 150-page book covers trends in health care, gives the outlook for jobs in various fields and has detailed information about 71 health care jobs organized into 16 categories. The information for each career includes a job description, average starting salaries, areas of specialization, work environment, licensure/certification and registration, professional organizations, educational programs and the traits needed for success.
The book also has information about the 17 fastest-growing jobs in health care. The top five, according to research, are medical assistants, dental hygienists, dental assistants, mental health and substance-abuse social workers, and medical records/health information technicians.
There's also a section with Web links to all of Georgia's hospitals, which makes it easy to connect with institutions across the state.
Nearly 13,000 copies of the book have been printed. The book has been mailed to nearly 4,000 hospitals, career centers, high schools, middle schools, and public libraries.
"As the demand grows for people to work in health care, we want to make it easy to reach out and educate people about the career opportunities available," Stapleton said. "We encourage professionals to use the information to make presentations about careers in health care to schools, civic groups and the like."
Stapleton said she hopes that the book will spread the word about health care careers to areas all over Georgia.
"This is a good way for people to know exactly what jobs are out there and where the needs are the greatest, especially in rural areas, where shortages are critical," she said. "Research shows that the public generally thinks of health care as physicians and nurses, but rarely do they know about the wealth of other careers -- from lab sciences to information technologists. We encourage health professionals to be fully prepared when they make presentations to community or student groups. Part of filling the growing needs is getting the word out."
"Health Careers in Georgia" was produced through a partnership of the Georgia Area Health Education Centers (AHEC), a network of six centers that provide community-based education for health care professionals. AHEC's mission is to meet the health needs of Georgians by improving the supply, distribution and quality of health care providers.
The book is available online at www.sowega-ahec.org.