How to Tell If a Career Working in Healthcare Is for You

Working in healthcare isn’t a career for everyone. It takes a special kind of person to provide the healthcare needed when a patient, in some cases, literally puts their life in a stranger’s hands.

If you’re unsure whether or not you’re cut out for a healthcare career, then it’s perhaps time to carry out a
self-inventory to discover if you have what it takes to excel in one of the most rewarding, yet demanding, professions.

While not an exhaustive list of qualities possessed by today’s top healthcare workers, how many of the following qualities do you see yourself as possessing?

10 Qualities You’ll Need for Working in Healthcare

Communication Skills

The ability to communicate in a way that’s understandable is an essential quality for a healthcare worker.  Both patient and their family will have questions about the particular medical condition, treatment, and time line for recovery. Additionally, a healthcare worker will have to communicate just as well with their colleagues, clearly expressing what needs to be done, or confirming directions that need to be followed.

Empathy

Patients want to be heard and understood in what are difficult and trying times.  A healthcare worker should show enough empathy that patients feel as though they are being treated in a personalized and not a generic way.

Problem Solving Skills

While training and experience will improve a healthcare worker’s problem solving skills, it’s often the case that they will still have to think on their feet, providing solutions to new and challenging problems that can arise without warning.

Emotional Stability

A healthcare worker will see at close quarters the gamut of people’s emotions, from pain and suffering to joy and happiness. Through it all though, the well-trained healthcare worker should be able to keep their emotions in check so they’re able to perform their job without distraction and disabling stress.

Quality #5: Ability to Work Under Pressure

When you’re working in healthcare, working under pressure comes with the territory. There’s no time for panicking. Maintaining an even keel in a busy emergency room, or performing a simple medical procedure on an overwrought patient, is essential.

Passion

A passion for the work you do is a desirable quality in any profession, but never more so than when working in healthcare. A healthcare worker will soon be pulled aside if they’re seen to be just going through the motions, while someone demonstrating passion in the way they perform their duties will be a person with which everybody wants to work.

Respectfulness

Think about your best experiences within the healthcare system. Were you or your family treated courteously? Were feelings acknowledged? Good manners shown? A healthcare worker exhibiting respectfulness is remembered favorably by patients and their families, and is much sought after by healthcare employers.

Care for the community

Of course, a healthcare worker interacts with people who are part of the community in which you live. People from different walks of life, with diverse opinions, views, and beliefs. A commitment to providing equal and accessible healthcare to ensure a healthy and thriving community is perhaps one of the healthcare worker’s most valuable traits.

Integrity

Without integrity a healthcare worker can command no respect or trust from their colleagues or the patients they see. Being truthful, honest, and reliable will quickly define a healthcare worker’s career and position them for success.

Excellence

A healthcare worker will keep current with their certifications and licensures proving the excellence of their knowledge and expertise, while also looking to improve their services through continually educating themselves on advancements in medical treatment and care.

In Conclusion…

The more of these qualities you can recognize as being possessed by you, or can work on developing, the more likely you’ll be a healthcare worker who’ll be able to provide the kind of exceptional care and treatment you’d expect to receive on a visit to a doctor’s office or hospital. In fact,  if you’re thinking about going back to school as an adult learner to train for a healthcare career, your previous working experiences may have prepared you for working on a hospital ward or in a treatment room more than you may have known.

BAMA is proud to partner with Walgreens to provide students with a 240-hour, on-the-job
clinical pharmacy technician externship at one of the largest drugstore chains in the US.