The healthcare system is going through a nearly constant state of change. New technologies are constantly pushing and informing research topics, methodology, and practice; policies are being reconsidered based upon social movements and political atmospheres. Population swings are shifting the needs within medical offices to keep up with the demands of various generations.
Regardless of how the industry shifts, there will always be a need for properly informed and trained professionals to care for the public and the career outlook for nurses reflects that change. This is where the role of institutions and the educators that make up those courses come into play. The efficacy and preparedness of the new generation of medical professionals falls to the responsibility of those teachers that commit themselves to such a meaningful and necessary pursuit.
The complexities and nuances of the medical world demand a well-informed perspective about clinical, research, administrative, and policy based actions that, when combined, make up the day to day routines, and life or death decisions inherent in medical care.
For anyone that may be thinking about pursuing a career in health education, one of the best ways to prepare for that role is to earn an advanced degree, a Doctor of Education. The path, though somewhat uncommon, has an important role in shaping the future of healthcare careers.
Leadership Through Health Education
Programs that offer an EdD, or a Doctorate in Education, are meant to prepare students through specialized programs as educators. These EdD degrees maintain a focus on leadership, research, and educational topics which are informed by and meant to inform future medical professionals. Whether that role is in clinical work, research, or medical administration, EdD programs work hard to maintain a curriculum that equips students with the knowledge, experience, and emerging methodologies that will be most useful in the professional world.
While physicians and nurses in leadership have a more straightforward and predictable path from student to employment that goes from medical school training, to clinical work, specialization, and finally employment, clinician educators have many more options to choose from. There are plenty of various graduate degrees, and eventual medical fellowships that can be combined to prepare educators.
How Pursuing and EdD Helps to Inform Healthcare Practices
There are a variety of benefits to pursuing a career in medical education, the sheer number of new opportunities that open up are alone enough to consider, but there are even more reasons.
Impacting the Future of Medicine
Medicine is a complex art, not just for the work that needs to be done, but in the ways and systems which undergird the processes that maintain a healthy medical office of a hospital. Being that there is a high and growing demand for educators and leaders within the administrative, clinical and research capacities of medical staffing, individuals who have their degree in education can take their clinical experience and combine it to help shape future medical policies.
Professionals with plenty of clinical experience have lived and worked through years’ worth of instances that have gradually refined and honed the skills needed to operate with keen skill and effectiveness in tough, demanding situations. While there is plenty of coursework that can be applied, books to be read, and exams to verify the knowledge memorized in classroom settings, the information that past clinicians have ruminated on provides insights that are invaluable to the progression of medical care.
As with any role or industry, there is a hunger within younger generations for knowledge that refines and affirms to support that decisions made and actions taken in real life scenarios are what will prove fruitful day in and day out. The stress that comes from uncertainty is common enough in human experience, but for those professionals that actually hold others’ lives in their hands, uncertainty and indecision in timely situations can mean life or death for patients.
The pressure of those situations is enough to wear on anyone’s psyche, but for medical professionals that must do that continuously the strain of uncertainty can, ironically, lead to further mistakes. As such, one of the best ways to help the future of medical care is to better equip and encourage the students who will eventually become the medical professionals that need to make those decisions.
For any clinician that has made the leap from practitioner to educator, they now have much greater availability to enhance and encourage future curriculum by supplementing real world experience into lessons and programs that may be lacking. Not only will doctors and nurses be grateful, but administrators, and the patients served will have richer lives for such contributions. Career Opportunities
There comes a time in many people’s lives in which the career that they have so long invested in just feels stale, out-grown. Feelings like that are a clear indicator that it is a good time for a change. That may not be calling for something as drastic as changing industries altogether, it could just mean that there is a want to learn more about the skills and abilities that have yet to be tested. In this case a career pivot or transition is more likely in order.
The time, talent, and skills developed over years of study and work have become a collection of knowledge that can be presented as part of a living resume. The reference and relationships developed over time can open up doors to new opportunities in new places, with different people, and unexpected challenges which can stimulate and awaken even more of the latent, yet discovered talent that others need in their lives.
When combining these factors and feelings with the ever present facts that there is a steadily growing need for well-trained educators that opens up plenty of new career opportunities. There is a whole generation of medical professionals in nearly every sector that are planning to retire in the coming years and with those retirements come not just openings but genuine need within cities and communities. That shift in the professional workforce is creating a gap, a growing need for medical professionals.
Without the proper backing created by educational positions, the medical community, and the public that they serve may be in for a rude awakening. The need for educational leaders is present and growing. Those who step up will be welcomed and celebrated.
The post From Clinician to Educator: How an Ed.D. Transforms Healthcare Careers appeared first on Healtholine.
