Top Medical Careers in the Healthcare Industry

There are thousands of different medical careers in the job market today. The healthcare industry is our nations largest and is the fastest growing out of any field. According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, in 2006 over 14 million people were employed with another 3 million expected to go into the industry by 2016.

This is just what is considered the top medical careers. They are the careers that will have the most benefits with the highest need but also the best compensation, life and work quality. These top career ether have the highest amount possible of one of these benefits are balanced combination. They are all highly demanded careers that will have major growth due to the population aging and healthcare advances.

Nurses are the biggest part of the medical workers. They make up over 15% of the workforce and are over 2.5 million strong nationwide. The career of registered nurse alone is predicted to have 25% growth by 2016. The fact that there are so many kinds of nurses, at a variety of places, makes nursing the top medical job. Some of these careers can be started right out of high school, but most take a college degree and preferably and advance degree. You level of education is going to determine your level of compensation and responsibilities.

Doctors have the potential to make the most money of all the medical careers, even with the financial hit that managed care and insurance companies have caused. It may take a harder work and more patients to be seen than before but doctors can still easily make yearly income in the hundreds of thousands of dollar ranges. The doctors that earn the most are surgeons and specialist whose yearly incomes reach well over half a million dollars. It is predicted that the physician profession will see a 17% growth by 2016.

Allied health careers are going to require less formal training but are still very well paid careers. Just having and associates or a four year degree will open up over 100 allied health career options that include medical technicians and assistants. Medical assistants are predicted to have the highest growth by 2016 at over 36%. This very high growth is coupled with added versatility and flexibility that makes being a medical assistant very appealing to many wishing to have a career in healthcare. Also it is a career that can be started with less education than most but still pays very well.

Then there are the staff that support the actual medical workers. These type of administrative careers are 18% of the total job that the healthcare industry has to offer which secures their place in the top careers. The fact that a majority of these careers do not require college degrees is an additional bonus. While they may pay less than other healthcare careers they are just as in demand. Also they have less stress, overtime and the most flexibility. Medical transcriptionist will have the greatest flexibility because it is something that can be done from home. While this career is not growing the fastest they are expected to see over a 10% growth by 2016 which is still pretty high.

The highest growing healthcare field is growing to be home healthcare careers. They are predicted to see more than a 50% growth rate by 2016. This includes hospice care workers that go to the home and home health aides the assist the elderly or disabled. Because this field is growing to have the highest growth rate it is considered one of the top healthcare careers.