Medical career training can be pursued in a number of places. Where people go for training depends very much on what they would like to do in the medical field. Even after narrowing down selection, there may be still be lots of places to find training.
Some medical careers don’t require a significant amount of training. Certain home health aides or lower level careers in places like psychiatric institutions or convalescent homes might simply have on the job training as a requirement. Alternately, some people could need to take a class of medical career training or two to take low-level positions. This could be true for nurses’ aides, medical assistants, and many others. Many technician and technology jobs will require additional classes, and people might need to study up to associate arts level or bachelor’s degree level to earn certification in certain fields.
For most AA level work, people might have two different options for medical career training. They could train at local community colleges or they might attend trade or vocational schools. Some vocational schools are specifically tailored to medical career training only and others have a much wider group of skills they may teach. The one thing people should consider when evaluating vocational schools is whether units will transfer. A lot of people start out in one medical career and determine they’d like to learn more; transferable units make it easier to earn degrees later.
At the BA level, where people might train to be nurses or technologists with certain expertise, some of these programs might still be offered at medical vocational schools. Others are available through four-year or greater universities, and a few community colleges also have programs for registered nursing. The best way to find those medical career training programs that are most of interest is by checking local school catalogs for information.
There are many advanced medical career training opportunities. Nurses may go on to master’s degree specialty or doctorate programs and specialize in one area of medicine or become nurse practitioners. Doctors also have to get a BA before they can get into medical schools, which are located in lots of places. For the doctor, specializing in the sciences or majoring in pre-med is one of the best preparations for getting into medical school. Nurses seeking advanced degrees usually have to have a few years of experience, and then they might take a degree at a local school or take one online.
Given the vast differences in where people could receive medical career training, it makes sense to start doing some research about this field. It doesn’t hurt to research more than the subject of training locations. One place in the US that is helpful to visit is the Bureau of Labor Statistics website. It has much information on the types of medical careers possible, the outlook for these careers in the future, and the potential for earning. Such information can be used to help make choices about the best career options.
