Three Jobs In The Health Care Industry That Don't Require Medical School

If you are interested in working in the health care industry, but you don't want to have to go to medical school, or you don't necessarily want to become a nurse, there are other options. Here are three jobs in the healthcare industry that don't require you to go through medical school:

Medical Coder

If you thoroughly enjoy learning medical jargon and you are pretty good with computers, you might want to consider becoming a medical coder. This type of career falls in the category of Medical Records and Health Information Technicians and according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the job outlook for this type of job is expected to grow 15%, which is considered much faster than average.

Some of the duties of a medical coder include:

• Apply standardized codes to patient records
• Examine operative reports to apply the correct procedure codes
• Communicate with health care professionals to determine the category of services provided to the patient

If you're serious about becoming a medical coder, you will want to enroll in an AAPC curriculum.

Medical Assistants

If you think you would enjoy working directly with doctors and other healthcare professionals, you may want to consider becoming a medical assistant. According to the American Association of Medical Assistants, the job outlook for this particular career is growing much more quickly than average due to advances in technology and the increased numbers of healthcare settings.

Some of the duties of a medical assistant include:

• Administrative duties such as answering the phone and greeting patients
• Clinical duties such as explaining procedures to patients and doing electrocardiograms
• Act as a patient liaison

Many colleges and technical schools offer medical assistant training programs.

Diagnostic Medical Sonographer

If you're someone who would like to be a little more hands-on in the healthcare profession, but you don't want to have to deal with blood or doing lab work, you may want to consider a career as a diagnostic medical sonographer. The projected growth for this type of job is 46%, which is considered much higher than average.

Some of the duties of a diagnostic medical sonographer include:

• Perform accurate ultrasound tests on a specific part of the patient's body
• Analyzes test results using calculations and measurements
• Keeps a daily log of the patients they have seen and performs routine maintenance of ultrasound machines

In order to become a diagnostic medical sonographer, you will need to enroll in a sonography program at an accredited college or university. 

Contact a program that offers an aapc curriculum for more information and assistance.