If you’re wondering who has the highest paying job in medicine, then it’s going to be surgeons and anaesthetists. They are also voted as some of the happiest, and despite dentistry being considered the best career overall in the medicine, if happiness is important to you, then it’s not the career for you. So what are the fun, exciting jobs in medicine?
Are you itching to be a doctor? Would you consider going back to school to retrain? There are so many ways a doctor can work today – it doesn’t just have to be in a hospital. You can work in a local clinic to have more regular hours. You could choose to work in one of the many offshore medic jobs out there for an adventure. You could even choose to attend Doctors Without Borders and give back with your career. Medicine is an interesting field, and so many doctors find their calling with regular doctor positions, but there are others that crave the adventure of offshore jobs or jobs abroad for a year to give back to families elsewhere. Medicine can offer you so much, but it’s all about finding something that will really hold your interest for the years to come!
If becoming an anesthesiologist or dentist, isn’t classed as a fun career in medicine which ones are? Well, you have athletic trainers, fun job, Biomechanical engineers and travel nurses and doctors to name a few. Let’s have a look at some of the exciting careers there are in a bit more detail.
Medical Science
It’s no secret that medical scientists are the backbone of any medical discovery, and they are what stands out about our medicine. Anything you can think about medically originally stems from them. You know the people working on new cures and better medical practices well, that’s these guys! Medical science is all about researching and developing ways to improve our health, and many will specialize in specific areas such as fertility or DNA studies where they will use specialized equipment like a 96 deep well plate. They are highly innovative and will process high volumes of data, study and develop methods of vaccination and treatments daily.
Forensic Scientist
Forensic scientists are scientists who translate crime scenes and evidence to help criminal and civil investigations just like they do on the popular television programs about crime drama, Although it may not be as glamourized the work and effort they put in is by no means any less significant. They are the pinnacle over getting a guilty sentence over not guilty when it comes to being able to discover what really happened or who was there. If you’re looking to go into this type of career, please don’t base it on the television programmes, in reality, although exciting and different every day, this job role is very much based in a lab and not much field work takes place. Forensic scientists also photograph, sketch and reconstruct crime scenes. Very often, you will be called to stand up in court and testify as a witness and will have to explain evidence that has been found.
Biostatistician
You may be wondering what this job role is, and it’s not something that is commonly known. A biostatistician applies maths and stats to models to translate and interpret a high number of medical data all about outbreaks of diseases. They will look at things such as how many people in a population are affected, how quickly it’s spreading and how quickly people are being cured. Then, they work to translate the information into usable data such as emerging public health trend reports; the risks and effectiveness of new medications, how well medical treatments and procedures are performing; and analysis of clinical studies.
Biomedical Engineer
Ever wondered who’s behind all the creations that involve things such as mechanical arms and legs? That would be these talented people. Some engineers design automotive solutions and others specialize in utilities such as gas and electrics or computer sciences. When it comes to these guys, they use their technical skills and their medical and biological expertise to analyze problems and seek out opportunities, coming up with solutions for health care technology. And when they’re not designing groundbreaking artificial lymph nodes or researching how you can build a mechanical working eye that sends signals to your brain they can be seen busy with creating computer models and developing diagnostic and therapeutic devices and software.
Animal Therapist
Even though most homes now have some pet or furry animal residing with them, people are highly unaware of the benefits this has on their health and wellbeing. Your pet is much more than just a furry best friend. Pets have been proven to help reduce your stress levels, lower blood pressure and help with depression. Florence Nightingale was the first person to notice and practice the benefits of animal-assisted therapy (AAT), noting the interest that pets help lower anxiety levels. This is precisely why therapists today use AAT to improve their patient. They use them to not only reduce their anxiety, depression and stress levels but also to provide some emotional, physical and social benefits for people living with conditions such as autism, blindness, deafness, chronic pain and dementia. Animal therapists use all sorts of animals from dogs and horses to dolphins and llamas in therapeutic settings such as hospitals, mental health centres and nursing homes.
Photo by Juan Pablo Arenas from Pexels
Music therapist
Music therapy is a relatively new thing to see on the medical treatment scene; however, it is undoubtedly making an impact. It started after musicians played for hospitalized World War I and World War II veterans (ok so not that new), and it’s now an established form of therapy that is beneficial to our emotional, cognitive and physical health in more ways than you think. Music therapists are often educated in music and sound theory, in addition to psychology and medicine. They will use singing, creating music and listening to music as methods to help people. It has been proven to help with a persons wellbeing, stress and anxiety levels and they also open doors to verbal communication. Listening to music is something that is very well known in medical areas such as the treatment of babies who are cared for in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs). When listening to music, it has been proven that they experience better feeding and weight gain than those without the therapeutic benefit of music.
Nutritionist
Most people can hold their hands up and admit that they don’t look at enough fruit and veg and find it all too natural to reach for processed, high in sugar fatty foods. This is what nutritionists aim to help people with. They’re not here to point fingers they’re here to help us to eat better foods that are needed. Dieticians and nutritionists specialize in areas that involve designing and implementing nutrition programs to help us meet our weight or lifestyle goals. They are also there to play a supportive role while we go through these changes. They also assist in meal planning for people with special dietary needs, including food allergies or sensitivities. They will play a substantial role in the nutritional requirements of patients in hospitals as well as those who are considered obese.
These are exciting roles within the medical career, some of which involve a lot of studying, time and patients but are also extremely rewarding. Do you know of any other medical professions that are interesting and fun? Please share them in the comments section below.
