The wonders of medicine are not to be credited solely to doctors or nurses. It takes an entire team of dedicated individuals to make health care delivery possible and without these hard working teams of people supporting the diagnosis and management of the physicians, health care would be impossible.
Health care technicians are among the unsung heroes of medical work. They do not have the glamorous front man job of the doctors; they are the people who do patient care under the direction of the professional nursing staff.
If you’d like to become a healthcare technician here are a few points to consider:
- What is a health care technician? This is a true caring profession. You will be taking care of the daily personal needs of the patient. This includes helping them with personal grooming activities such as bathing, brushing their teeth, washing and combing hair, and dressing. Any activity that the patient would normally do but might need help with at this stage in their life is part of the job description. Health care technicians may work in the hospital or extended care facilities and their duties might include ambulating patients and dressing changes. Health care technicians may also work for companies that do home care for patients. Here the job may include all of the above items plus driving the client to and from doctor’s appointments, light housekeeping duties such as washing bed linens and clothing, shopping and meal preparation. Patient safety is also an important aspect of the job. You will be expected to keep an eye out for any dangers to the patient such as loose floor rugs, wet spots, unsafe equipment, medications that are not being taken on time, deteriorating mental or physical status.
- Will I make a good health care technician? Some of the qualities that will be expected of you will be the ability to listen and follow orders accurately. You will be responsible to make sure the patient is maintaining or improving on a daily basis, and if not you will need to report your findings to your supervisor. You will need to have patience and be both physically strong and gentle at the same time.
- How much education do I need? This varies from job to job. All will require a minimum of a high school diploma or GED. Excellent reading and writing skills are a must for the job. Some employers choose to do in house training. Most however, like to hire those with some Allied Health education. These classes can be obtained online or by going to a technical school. Length of education varies from a few weeks to a few months. The beauty of doing the online classes is the flexibility it offers, especially for those with a family. Some programs will have alternative classes for health care technicians to take if they plan to continue on into a nursing or lab job at a later time, so if that is a possible career goal, be sure to talk to your advisor to get more details.
- Do I need any certification? For those that complete the Health Care Technician program, certification is awarded upon graduation. This will greatly improve your chances of being hired.
- How much will I get paid? The salary range varies depending upon whether you are working for a private company or an institution, your level of completed education and years of experience. The bottom end of the range is $10,000 and the upper end is $36,000.
- What is the job outlook? These jobs are entry level positions and often people will start here just to get a foot in the door or to see if a job in health care is really their passion. Because of that, the turnover is usually fairly high. This means that the job growth will remain high at about 20% over the next 10 years.
Becoming a health care technician will be challenging and rewarding. You will be able to become part of the healing team for the patient or patients in your care. It is a privilege to be able to help a person as they recover, adapt or relearn skills after an illness or injury. In some cases you will be there to help the patient and family as they deal with end of life issues. No matter what stage of a patient’s life you are providing care for, you can make a big difference if you choose to participate in these careers.