There are a variety of healthcare occupations available for those considering alternative employment opportunities. Here are several areas to explore:
Mental Health and Counseling
Is helping others become active in the community important to you? Are you a supportive person? Do you work well both individually and as a part of a team and are you interested in providing an opportunity for people to work towards living more satisfyingly and resourcefully? Mental health professionals are healthcare practitioners or community-based workers who provide services for the purpose of improving an individual’s mental health or to treat mental disorders. Counselling is a relational process based upon the ethical use of specific professional competencies to facilitate human change. It is the provision of assistance and guidance in resolving personal, social, or psychological problems and difficulties.
Community Health
Are you a supportive person and enjoy working with people to promote wellness? Are you interested in working with individuals and groups on education and disease prevention? Community health professionals provide services for individuals, families, communities and groups in a variety of settings.
Emergency Services
Are you a calm person in emergencies? Do you make good decisions in stressful situations? Are you interested in assisting patients by administering pre-hospital emergency care? Emergency medical professional provide pre-hospital medical care. They respond to emergency calls to provide efficient and immediate care to the critically ill and injured, and determine the nature and extent of illness or injury to establish priority for required emergency care. Click here to watch a video of an IMG from India who is working as a paramedic in Calgary.
Management and Health Policy
Are you organized and efficient? Can you ensure the smooth running of a hospital, clinic or an organization? Do you have administrative, business planning and management skills to lead healthcare institutions? A career in management and health policy is ideal for those who want to influence individuals’ lives through developing health programs and policies and analyzing them to ensure they are beneficial for health system users. Much of this work also involves working with communities.
Research
Are you interested in conducting studies, research and improve or develop concepts, theories and operational methods to advance evidence-based healthcare? Medical research professionals provide all of the necessary resources for clinical research trials. Usually they study diseases and other physical conditions that affect humans in order to improve treatment options or lessen the incidence of diseases.
Teaching
Teaching is a practice option that involves instructing medical students, residents, fellows, students in other health profession. Activities may include teaching basic science courses to medical students, teaching clinical skills, supervising medical student research projects and providing continuing medical education courses for practicing physicians.
Healthcare Related Industries
Did you know that healthcare industries are the one of the largest industries in Canada? It is the 4th largest among all Canadian industries (behind real estate, manufacturing and petroleum production, according government datas).
Indigenous Health
Did you know that Alberta is home to the third largest Indigenous population in Canada with 220,700 Albertans self-identifying as Indigenous? Alberta Health Services has a specific program called The Indigenous Health Program that works in partnership with Indigenous peoples, communities and key stakeholders to provide accessible, culturally appropriate health services for First Nations, Métis and Inuit people in Alberta.
Technical Skills
Are you empathetic person? Are you good at solving problems and thinking critically? Can you work as part of a healthcare team? Do you have the ability to work under pressure? Do you like help people when they are sick? The essence of these careers is provide care and a broad range of specific medical services, usually under the supervision of other registered professional, like for example a physician.