Medical industry & associated career opportunities for students

Medical industry, today, is not only limited to general physicians who offer few medications or some home remedies to treat minor health problems. With the significant advancements in the medical science and technology, newer techniques for providing specialized medical assistance have been invented. All in all, there are specialized health practitioners are available for the treatment of different types of medical issue. This results in increased number of hospitals, clinics, pharmaceutical industries, drug stores, that collaboratively offer solutions for health concerns.

This rise in medical and pharmaceutical industry is a good signal for those who wish to pursue their career in medical field but skipped because of the misinformation “lack-of jobs”. It is important to mention here that medical and pharmaceutical industry is one of the rapidly growing careers that created numerous employment opportunities at good salaries. There is an immense demand of medical assistants, pharmaceutical assistants, and others in the medical industry. Depending upon the size and the location of the medical setting, each of these professionals has their own role in the smooth running of activities in the medical office.

For example, hospitals, clinics, health care institutions, and other medical setting demand medical assistants to handle variety of administrative and clinical tasks. An administrative medical assistant is basically responsible for non-medical jobs of the workplace including greeting patients upon their arrival at hospital, answering phone calls, scheduling appointments, record keeping, handling billing, processing insurance claims etc. clinical tasks performed by a health care assistant include conducting in-office screening tests, taking vital signs, collecting specimens and preparing them to send to laboratories for diagnosis, applying and removing bandages, administering medications, taking electrocardiograms and X-rays, stocking medical equipment, and more.

On the other hand, medical offices also demands for pharmacy technicians in order to distribute right medications as prescribed by the doctor. They work under the supervision of a licensed pharmacist in grocery store pharmacies, drug store pharmacies, hospitals, retail pharmacies, and other medical environments.

No matter what kind of medical assistance one may provide at any medical setting, he/she must have perfection on it which can be achieved only by practicing on this. Because, employers prefer to hire those persons who have specialized skills for the posts they are applying for. These skills can only be obtained by joining some accredited training program. There are number of medical and pharmacy assistant training programs available that are aimed to provide both, classroom and hand-on-experience, to the students.

What are the advantages of becoming a pharmacy assistant?

Individuals who are not interested in becoming doctors or surgeons they have other great options in medical field like becoming of pharmacist or a pharmacy aide.
Basically, they are the ones who dispense medication to the patients. Apart from this they even look after various administrative, as well as support duties. So, if you aspire to take up pharmacy assistant profile then you must have a glance over the advantages of becoming a pharmacy aide:

• Quick schooling: Usually, most of the medical fields have long schooling time period. But pharmacy is one such field that is provides quick schooling to an individual. Thus students need not have to wait for years to start a professional career and earn a good salary. Though there are various colleges that provide degree for this field but nowadays students have another good option besides colleges i.e. training institutes. Such institutes have same curriculum as that of colleges and they make sure to grant classroom, as well as hands on training session to the students.
• Higher wages: Likewise doctors and surgeons earn good salary; pharmacy assistants can also expect the same from their job profile. Thus on the whole, assistants have great opportunities to earn a handsome salary package from their job.
• Greater work opportunities: A pharmacist or a pharmacy aide is not just restricted to work in hospitals, clinics or pharmacy shop; rather they can work in different fields, as well. Let’s have a look on all the fields in, which they can work:

1. Home health care pharmacist: They are the ones who work for the patients who cannot travel to pharmacy shop and get the needful medications
2. Hospital pharmacist: They work under doctors in the hospitals. Their main task is to distribute medications to the patients as prescribed by the doctor.
3. Nuclear pharmacists: They too work in hospitals but under different working conditions. Their prime job is to use radioactive drugs to treat cancer.
4. Veterinary pharmacy aide: Many pharmacist or aide who love animals they gets an opportunity to treat pets, as well. They would have to provide medications to the veterinary doctor.
5. Psychiatric aide: To provide medications to the patients who have mental disorders, pharmacy aides and specialists are too trained in this field.

With the increasing demand for the need for medical care people, many health care centers look for those candidates who are not just qualified in one field, rather have some knowledge regarding other medical fields too. For example, apart from gaining excellence in the field of pharmacy, a pharmacist is expected to have gone through certified nurse training program. This would help them in managing the work flow of the hospital or clinic.

Pursuing EKG technician job profile as a career option

EKG technicians form an integral part of health care industry. Since they are involved in the field of cardiology which involves monitoring patient's heart for detecting problems and diseases, their designation is highly crucial. Regardless of the size of medical unit, be it a large hospital, small medical unit, emergency rooms or a doctor's office; these professionals are required everywhere.

The jobs of these technicians can never fade out of demand, because of the highly specialized tasks they are required to carry out. Undergoing an effective and intensive EKG technician training program is essential to ace this field because, an EKG technician must have in-depth technical knowledge of the complex machinery they handle. Also, since training would help you achieve specialization with better skills than others, you can demand a higher pay.

These experts deal with a machine known as electrocardiograms to monitor the pulse rate and other activities of patient's heart. These machines have electrodes which are connected to the patient's chest. These electrodes release electric waves which induces contractions and relaxation, thus helping these technicians to detect and observe heart related abnormalities. Since it is a very technical job, it takes a lot of practice, skill and experience to fully understand and master it. That is the reason, to succeed in this field, aspiring candidates must go through intensive education and training program.

Once eligible for this profile, the candidates can easily get their hands on a good job. They will always have a lot of options to choose from which includes health care centers of varying sizes. For example, one can choose to work with a cardiac rehabilitation center, public and private hospitals, cardiologist clinics, etc.

One crucial aspect of EKG technician job profile is that this designation demands high level of patience. This is due to the fact that the work environment of this job tends to be quite hectic and pressurizing. Therefore, these experts are required to keep their calm under the most pressurizing conditions. Working hours for these technicians are usually eight hours a day. However, depending on the work environment and size of the medical unit, these hours can be stretched up to twelve hours. Also, EKG technician usually do their work standing or walking across the hospital. So patients who are physically fit and have a good level of physical stamina would have an added advantage in this medical field.

In addition to providing EKG training, many medical schools and institutes provide training programs in various medical fields such as nurse assistant, medical assistant and pharmacy technician training programs. So, candidates looking forward to excel in medical fields should go for a good training school for a promising career.

What is the role of pharmacy technicians in the medical industry?

Due to increase in number of medical facilities, the demand of pharmaceutical technicians is also growing, day by day. Therefore, increase in job opportunists has turned many students towards this profession. If you are interested to make your career in this rapidly growing medical field, this article will help you understanding the various important aspects about the secure and economic pharmacy career.

Pharmacy assistant (PA), sometimes referred to as pharmacy tech, pharmaceutical technician or pharmacy aide, is a person who offer several types of pharmacy related services (we will discuss later in this article) under the direct supervision of licensed pharmacist.

The greater percentage of pharmaceutical assistants provide services in retail pharmacies including department stores, mass retail outlets, chained and independent drugstores. Rest of the professionals works in clinical and hospital pharmacies.

General role: Pharmaceutical technician assist licensed pharmacists in numerous tasks like provide medications and other prescribed products to customers by counting pills, tablets, measuring solutions, and bottling them. Besides this, PAs also handle administrative tasks including answering phone calls, providing information to the patients regarding use of medications as prescribed by the physician.

Prescription Verification: Pharmaceutical technicians receive written prescriptions from customers from medical practitioners through a physical messenger or via telephone. In addition to this, a PA verifies that the received request is accurate and complete.

Prescription Preparation: After verification of prescription, pharmaceutical assistant sort and pack tables and pills, mix and bottle liquid medications, attach labels to prescriptions.

Office Administration: Pharmacy assistants maintain patients’ histories and their prescription records. In addition to this, depending upon the facility they work, pharmacy techs prepare medical claim forms; maintain records of the billing information in the offices’ record keeping system, take care of medication stock requirement and supplies.

Therefore, is you are considering the field of pharmacy assistant as your career; you are definitely on the right track. However, there are numerous job opportunities in this medical field, the most sought after individuals are trained pharmaceutical assistants.

Although PA training is not mandatory, it is huge advantageous. As in any field, trained professionals are preferred over others. Pharmacy assistant training programs prepare students to be a full-fledged pharmaceutical techs having complete knowledge of variety of medications and efficiency to handle different types of administrative and clerical tasks. Students can get training from accredited schools, community colleges, or from vocational colleges that offer formal PA education programs.

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