Find your health care niche p1 - Military Transition - Military Times EDGE

Army Reserve Spc. David Flees knew he wanted to go into health care when he left active duty. That part was easy.

“Health care always has steady jobs, and there’s a hospital anywhere you go in the world,” he said.

The harder part lay in discovering his personal corner of the health care world.

“Most people, when they think about health care, really only pick the three main categories of nurse, doctor or dentist,” said Patti DeiTos, clinical director of the Military to Medicine program at Inova Health System in Falls Church, Va., which helps service members make the transition to civilian medical careers. But there are more than 100 career choices in the field — tapping different skills, requiring different credentials and paying different salaries.

Even within a single field, the possible job opportunities can be extensive. “A nurse can take care of somebody in their home, or you might teach people health awareness, or a nurse can take care of an adult or a baby or a child,” DeiTos said.

Flees, 23, who joined the Army Reserve in 2007 after three years on active duty, made his decision with his military career in mind: He looked at the health care positions available in the Reserve and set his career path accordingly.

“I saw what openings the Army Reserve had in the medical field. I got a printout of all those jobs from a recruiter, and then I went on Google to look at job descriptions and requirements,” he explained. He looked for the jobs that paid the most and required the least amount of training. This spring, he’ll get his associate degree as a respiratory therapist.

Some factors to consider as you look for your niche in the health care field:

• Interests: Experts say the first consideration in the search for the right health care career should be your personality. “What do you enjoy doing? Somebody may really like helping people, so the next question might be, do you like to talk to them, or do you like to do things more with your hands?” DeiTos said.

• Skills: The next big step is to look at skill sets. Some jobs, for example, demand communications skills; others are more technically demanding. With a little research, it is often possible to line up specific military responsibilities with jobs in the medical field, even if you aren’t directly involved in military medicine, DeiTos said.

• Training: Training requirements are another litmus test. “Are you looking at an immediate job, or are you willing to go to school? That can be a big decision point,” DeiTos said. Flees knew he wanted to hit the ground running, so training was a deciding factor for him.

An aspiring physician may spend 15 years in school and training. Nursing programs run two to four years. A dental hygienist can go to work in less than two years. Some technical jobs may require years of experience, while other roles may need only certification.

• Growth opportunities: Another way to choose a career path is to look for one that has ease of entry but also offers room to grow.

“Most training programs for a certified nursing assistant are 120 to 180 hours, and maybe I can’t do that right now,” DeiTos said. “But maybe I can become a home health aid, which is mostly on-the-job training and can get you employed in the next month.” From there one might work up to the nursing assistant job in one’s spare time, while gaining valuable practical experience. Other careers offer similar opportunities.

A radiology technician aid, for instance, can become a radiology technician after earning an associate’s degree, and then pursue advanced certification to move into some specialty within radiology.

Then there is the money, of course. But DeiTos cautions against making this a top-line consideration.“You need to ask, what can you envision doing 40 hours a week? That’s your starting point.”

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Head start

Quite a few military occupations align with jobs in the medical field, DeiTos said. You likely will need further training or certification, but you won’t be starting from scratch.

• Maintenance, repair: Biomedical technology

• Information systems: Medical information technology

• Aviation: Medical evacuation

• Logistics: Hospital material management

• Administration: Medical records, medical finance

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Related links

Check out these Web sites for job descriptions, training requirements, employment prospects and salaries for health care careers and many others:

• CareerOneStop: www.careeronestop.org

• Occupational Information Network: www.onetcenter.org

• Bureau of Labor Statistics: www.bls.gov/oco/cg/cgs035.htm