Top 5 Careers in Healthcare That Save Lives & Heal Communities

Many careers in healthcare save lives and heal communities. From nurses to surgeons and other specialist workers, healthcare professionals are significant to people’s health and the community. Let’s dive into the top five careers in healthcare that save lives and heal communities, but usually might not get enough credit.

5. Dietician

A dietician is a healthcare professional who will focus on cases relating to food and nutrition. They can offer advice, supply information, and encourage food or nutrition-based lifestyle changes and better wellbeing. 

Based in hospitals and aged care facilities, within the food industry for quality control, as well as for nutritional research and teaching, dieticians play a pivotal role in the food we consume. They can also work closely with athletes and with situations that require sports nutrition.

One important point to note is the difference between a dietician and a nutritionist. Many people might confuse these two careers or use the labels interchangeably. But the distinction is quite important. Both can be experts in food and nutrition. However, a dietician requires educational degrees and levels of qualification, whereas a nutritionist does not. Essentially, all dieticians are nutritionists, but not all nutritionists are dieticians.

Dieticians can save people’s lives by addressing certain symptoms or specific health conditions, or by helping to improve the lives of people who may have food-based or nutritional restrictions. Dieticians can help people who have health conditions such as diabetes, allergies, and heart disease, or they might work with people who struggle with eating disorders or obesity.

The research and skills provided by dieticians can be used to improve the health and well-being of a community. Dieticians will frequently provide knowledge for government or state regulations regarding food policy and nutrition, especially in public schools or public health centers. 

4. Midwife

A midwife is a healthcare professional who specializes in services relating to pregnancy, childbirth, and the caring of newborn babies. Pregnancy and labor can be very complicated, with many potential challenges or risks, so a midwife must usually be quite versatile. A midwife can potentially save lives by monitoring a woman’s pregnancy and catching early warning signs, or by assisting in situations where there could be complications with birth.

The role and services of the midwife can vary, depending on the midwife, or the needs or desires of the patient. For example, a midwife can work with women and couples to offer advice or consult, but other services might also be ultrasounds, education on feeding and nutrition, family planning, administering the actual labor, getting bloodwork, and more. 

Some midwives might work within a hospital, or with gynecologists or as nurses.

The credentials and qualifications required to be a midwife can depend quite a lot, depending on the state the midwife is practising, the services they are providing, or where they are working (such as a hospital, clinic, private practice, etc.). This is why it is important to ask a midwife about their qualifications or check their references.

3. Clinical social worker

Clinical social workers are specialized social workers that focus on meeting people’s psychological, behavioral, and mental health needs. They are different from regular social workers, though many people might put them into the same category. Clinical social work requires much more knowledge and education than other types of social work. Many people might question the impact of a clinical social work degree, but the unique expertise of this education cannot be overstated.

Clinical social workers are more similar in their roles to psychologists than to other social workers. These types of social workers are healthcare professionals and are considered part of the healthcare system in the US. A clinical social worker can work with individuals, with couples, or with families or groups. They can provide treatments, assessments, or evaluations that combine social and psychological perspectives.

Clinical social workers are expected to be much more adaptive in their field, as they must combine the knowledge of social work and clinical psychological theories. Such experts can be useful in medical facilities such as hospitals, care facilities, rehabilitation centers, etc. But because of their uniquely combined knowledge, they can also work in social environments such as schools, legal courts, social services, and much more.

2. Physical Therapist

A physical therapist is a licensed healthcare professional who specializes in treating disorders or injuries that affect the human body. They pay close attention to the way the human body moves, the way it is supposed to function, and the way the body is structured. Their expertise in this field assists in people’s rehabilitation and preventative care. 

A physical therapist can work with a patient to record and analyze a patient’s recovery or progress after an injury, during other treatments, or after surgery. Such disorders or injuries might include sports injuries, muscular or ligament issues, symptoms from cancer, elderly health, cardiovascular concerns, and more. 

Physical therapists play a critical role in helping people recover or maintain a better quality of life. As you might expect, it takes a lot of study and education to become a physical therapist. To be a physical therapist you must have a medical degree and be licensed as a doctor.

1. Pharmacist

A Pharmacist is a registered healthcare practitioner who is an expert in all matters of medications and medicines. This includes preparing medications, dispensing them, managing prescriptions, administering medicine, etc. To work as a pharmacist you need the skills and training, like a Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) program, to become qualified.

Many people might just think that a Pharmacist will work with pills or tablets, but a Pharmacist will know about all other kinds of drugs, ointments, and medicines, including how these different treatments might affect each other, the side effects of these drugs or medicines, or what symptoms each one is supposed to treat. Pharmacists are also usually the members of a community responsible for administering or providing information about immunisations and vaccinations. 

It should be fairly obvious how this career saves lives. A pharmacist will give people the medications or medicines they need to treat health conditions, alleviate symptoms, or maintain mental or physical well-being.

The role of a pharmacist can also support communities in wider ways. For example, pharmacists can provide advice about matters relating to health and medicine. Pharmacists might also perform reviews or offer professional knowledge, as well as provide research.

This article has listed five careers in healthcare that save lives and heal communities. As mentioned in the beginning, there are still many other careers in healthcare that save just as many lives or will also do just as much good to help the community.