**Please Give Me Allied Health Program Advice**

[TampaBayFlorida]

Please give me any advice you think would be beneficial to augmenting my student/professional record as well as directing me towards a particular Allied Health field. What will make me a better candidate?


What I’m doing now:
Taking prerequisites (at a community college) for Allied Health programs (e.g. Human Nutrition, A&P, Medical Terminology, Healthcare Ethics, etc.). I have been thinking about doing an accelerated BSN program, but I am not entirely sure yet. I am considering becoming a CNA next semester to get more experience around nurses to see if I really should apply to an accelerated BSN program or look at an Allied Health field (e.g. occupational therapy).


Problem:
I’m unsure what program to apply to and what programs I will be competitive for, mostly because of my GPA and experience. It seems that most programs, A-BSN or Allied Health programs, require at least a 3.0 GPA to get looked at, but overall I’m just above that (see specifics below). I’m not looking to get into the best school, just get into a school that will provide me with a good, accredited, education that will help me enter a career that I will find personally and professionally satisfying. Furthermore, in the last couple of years I developed an autoimmune disease so I am less comfortable with constantly working around infectious/communicable people since I take an immunosuppressant (although I am not worried about working with the infectious diseases in a laboratory setting because I have more control over being aseptic, sterile, etc.). Also, because of the autoimmune disease, I find it is now harder to work a long day (10+ hours) without needing a full day (that feels wasted) of rest to regain my energy. I also recently read a couple of research articles that listed nursing as one of the top professions where people in that career die of autoimmune diseases at a higher rate than other professions. I really like healthcare and biological sciences. The experiences I’ve had within various parts of those fields have really helped me figure out what I find fulfilling within them, leading me to Nursing or Allied Health. Now I just need to find what particular Allied Health career will fit with my background and needs. The good news is while I am in my 30s now, I can take my time getting to where I need to be because my spouse and I don’t have children to support.


Degrees:
University of California (Double major, a little over 10 years ago.)
-B.S. Biology with thesis honors (Molecular/Cellular focus.)
-B.A. Psychology with honors
Social Service Award at Graduation


GPAs:
-UC Overall GPA: 3.13
-UC Science GPA: 2.81
-UC Non-Science GPA: 3.58
I had a couple of major personal crises that caused me to go from As & Bs to Bs and Cs (with 1 F), which is why my science GPA took a hit. I think I would have to take 8 science classes and get 8 As to raise the Science GPA to 3.0…
-Community College GPA: All As so far.


Publications:
-1 in a science journal
-1 in a public health magazine


Experience:
-Chiropractic Assistant (70% patient care, 30% office work, under this chiropractor the CA duties tended to be more like assistant PT work, helping with a lot of patient active/passive therapies – this is where I learned that I really like working with patients, as well as doing patient education.)
-Retail Management
-Drug Rehab Behavioral/Mental Health Research Assistant
-Microbiology Lab Research Assistant (I like lab work, but I want to know that the lab work I’m doing will be tangibly helpful to someone and I do not want to be grant dependent.)
-College Sport Coach
-Public Health Organization Intern
-Teaching Assistant during undergrad (I learned I really enjoy teaching people science-related topics.)
-In high school I did a nursing volunteer/internship (I learned I feel very comfortable in a hospital-environment.)

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[wholeheartedly]

Since you like lab and have the autoimmune issues and want to minimize exposure to pt bugs, you should look to see if clinical lab science (performing diagnostic testing) would be a good fit. You'll get paid way better than a research lab tech and be involved in stuff that directly helps patients. You can be a generalist, doing a little bit of everything, or work at a larger facility in a focused area in something like blood banking, micro, hematology, chemistry, molecular, etc. At academic places you could be involved in a bit of research if you wanted. At my shop we also had tracks for people to move up in quality improvement, assay development, or education. Options for two or for year degrees, need to keep your grades up. Patient interaction is more limited at bigger places usually (smaller ones you might have some phlebotomy duties), but I got to teach students, techs, residents, and fellows which was fun.

Related fields would be histotech (2 yr) or cytotechnologist (4 yr.)

Public health could be a good option for you as well. Depending on what you've been doing since your first stint in college, you could try for an (accredited) MPH.

Then just going to throw out some other things for anyone looking for less publicized allied health options:

patient educator

cardiovascular sonographer
cardiovascular perfusionist
athletic trainer
physical therapist
audiologist
clinical neurophysiology tech
chaplain
Child Life specialist
Dosimetrist
medical physicist
social worker
respiratory therapist
pathologist assistant
medical illustrator
genetic counselor
occupational therapist
and many more

 

[TampaBayFlorida]

Thank you so much for the advice and feedback, I really appreciate it!