Recommend me a non-hospital health profession.

[cm7sus4]

I'm doing uneventful overtime; ie manning my post until it's time to leave.

Was ready to take the MCAT then realized I don't want to be a medical provider...or work in a hospital for that matter. Been thinking about where to go from here, but I had the pre-med blinders on during college and now no longer have access to crowd source ideas from others actively searching/pursuing health careers.

I'm an accepted applicant to a local state U MPH, and the coursework interests me, but I am unsure about what in the world I would actually be doing as a...whatever (public health analyst is the most common posting I see on USA Jobs). I'm currently in medical admin and moving up but I have no desire to build a career out of it so MHA is a no.

Medical anthropology sounds very interesting...at least what little, generic descriptions I can find sound interesting. Epidemiology sounds interesting as well. Honestly I'm bit lost as it pertains to healthcare outside of being a medical provider, and just trying to get thinking in the right direction, so to speak.

What are other former pre-med/PA/etc students pursuing these days?

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[Goro]

Pharmacy
Clinical Lab tech
Phlebotomy
Research tech
Lab mgr

 

[cm7sus4]

Annnnd it's a wash. As exciting as the prospect of a career as a phleb or research mokey is, I already make enough money with benefits to retire off of, given another 15-20 years.

As noted above, I was thinking more along the lines of population level health, not lab or pharm work.

 

[GreenDuck12]

It sounds like you have some very specific criteria and need to do research on your own. A response from someone on a blog is not going to be the spark that gives you a new career direction. Start by reading about areas and fields in public health. Search public health organizations (every major city, state, and country has them) and read about the careers within the organization and the minimum education required. You most likely are looking at a combination of MPA, MPP, MPH, and/or a PhD. You will have more success on the forums when you have a more specific question. Good luck!

Annnnd it's a wash. As exciting as the prospect of a career as a phleb or research mokey is, I already make enough money with benefits to retire off of, given another 15-20 years.

As noted above, I was thinking more along the lines of population level health, not lab or pharm work.

 

[TheZaLord]

Therapies?

Physical, Occupational, and Speech-Language Pathology

Can work in schools, outpatient centers, clinics, nursing homes and schools.

I'm a therapist in a school and it's not without its challenges but enjoyable and rewarding.
Less pay than a nursing home, but more rewarding and still improving health, well-being and ability to learn.

 

[TallPreMed]

I work as a liaison for a hospice agency. I go around to nursing homes, hospitals, doctors offices, assisted livings, personal care homes etc and try to get them to use our services as opposed to the dozens of other agencies in the area. It's what actually confirmed my decision to pursue med school. I also get a butt load of clinical hours because I interact with our hospice patients on a daily basis (but I don't provide care for them).

My major was health communication and I focused on health policy. I love what I do, but I've realized that I need to pursue a medical degree. Good money too- I make $60k+ and I'm 2.5 years out of college. You are typically by yourself most days and set your own schedule, you are beholden to getting certain numbers for starts of care for hospice. But you also have access to your interdisciplinary hospice team which I really like.

It's not hard sales like pharma and med device. It's about relationship building and understanding the different facets of healthcare and how hospice works into it.