Are there healthcare careers that are not "safe"?

[TheBiologist]

career wise, that is

to my knowledge, if you have an MD/DO from the US, you can have a 6 figure salary for life as a doctor. pretty much every graduate, unless you fail the USMLE, gets this opportunity. this is opposed from say, academics or law, where if you went to a top 50 school and were top third of your class you might be making 180K+ but the bottom half of the class is waiting tables until they can find a job as a professor/lawyer, maybe unless you went to Yale. if you didn't go to a top 50 grad/law school it's probably going to be rough for every graduate

does this same career security apply to PAs, dentists, nurses, PT/OT? what about, say, audiologists, speech pathologist etc. are all of these degrees pretty useful i.e. nearly 100% of graduates can expect a stable job with a certain salary? i know the medical degree is probably at the top of the list, but

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[SM25]

All healthcare fields are good.

 

[The Knife & Gun Club]

There’s good money to be made in almost all healthcare fields, however one must always balance with length of training and price of training with income potential.

For example it’s very easy to make $100k/yr as an employed dentist. But that only makes sense if the price of the degree is low, and the opportunity cost is manageable. For example don’t walk away from a job making $80k/yr doing marketing to make 100k as a dentist if it takes you 4 years of school and $500,000 to get the degree.

 

[seanm028]

does this same career security apply to PAs, dentists, nurses, PT/OT? what about, say, audiologists, speech pathologist etc. are all of these degrees pretty useful i.e. nearly 100% of graduates can expect a stable job with a certain salary? i know the medical degree is probably at the top of the list, but

It might be different for some of those specialties because the educational backgrounds are so varied. Take nursing, for example. During the peak of the nursing shortage, anyone with a heartbeat could get into an associates program and then get a job making at least $80k just about anywhere in the country. Then the supply of nurses finally started to approach demand, and the hospitals started getting pickier. The requirement became a BSN instead of an associates. Charge nurses had to have a masters degree. NPs had to have a doctorate. And I think that could all change again if/when there's another shortage.

 

[Angus Avagadro]

It might be different for some of those specialties because the educational backgrounds are so varied. Take nursing, for example. During the peak of the nursing shortage, anyone with a heartbeat could get into an associates program and then get a job making at least $80k just about anywhere in the country. Then the supply of nurses finally started to approach demand, and the hospitals started getting pickier. The requirement became a BSN instead of an associates. Charge nurses had to have a masters degree. NPs had to have a doctorate. And I think that could all change again if/when there's another shortage.

Same will happen to PAs and NPs as more doctors get into the market. Also doctors salaries will drop as CMS,(the Govt) , adds more draconian and so called Value Based reimbursement regs where they hold back 20% of the amount they pay you, and if you meet their restrictive outcome metrics, will give you YOUR money back . Sadly, things will get worse before they get better. We nearly have single payer now as all the private carriers adopt the policies of CMS, aka medicaire. The natural history as seen overseas is to develop a single payer for those who cant pay or are willing to wait in line, then people who can pay will purchase private ins as in the UK.

 

[Goro]

career wise, that is

to my knowledge, if you have an MD/DO from the US, you can have a 6 figure salary for life as a doctor. pretty much every graduate, unless you fail the USMLE, gets this opportunity. this is opposed from say, academics or law, where if you went to a top 50 school and were top third of your class you might be making 180K+ but the bottom half of the class is waiting tables until they can find a job as a professor/lawyer, maybe unless you went to Yale. if you didn't go to a top 50 grad/law school it's probably going to be rough for every graduate

does this same career security apply to PAs, dentists, nurses, PT/OT? what about, say, audiologists, speech pathologist etc. are all of these degrees pretty useful i.e. nearly 100% of graduates can expect a stable job with a certain salary? i know the medical degree is probably at the top of the list, but

Pharmacy seems to be glutting out

 

[907914]

Pharmacy seems to be glutting out

Same with most associates degree level positions (MLT, LPN, X-ray tech, pharmacy tech). Those Positions will still be available, and They’ll just require more education.

 

[Planes2Doc]

Some are in demand but very underpaid, such as medical assistants.