14 Types of Healthcare Degrees to Consider
Often the first step towards a healthcare career is getting an associate degree in healthcare. If you are interested in having a career in healthcare, you have clicked on the right article! We are here to introduce 14 types of healthcare degrees to choose from. From public health, nursing, and dental hygiene to medical informatics and radiology—you can go for more accessible medical jobs, or you can go for harder ones; the choice is yours.
14 Types of Healthcare Degrees to Consider
Below we present 14 types of healthcare degrees for you to consider. Read on to find out more about each one of them.
1. Public health
If you are interested in helping others and improving the community where you live, then a job in public health would be perfect for you! Working in public health means preventing people from diseases, injuries, and getting sick. This includes conducting scientific research, creating nutrition plans, educating and informing people about health, tracking disease outbreaks, vaccinating people, and so on.
Getting a degree in public health will enable you to have a job in different fields. Below we listed some of those jobs:
Scientist and researcher
Restaurant inspector
Nutritionist
Health educator
First responder
Epidemiologist
Sanitarian
Public health physician
Public health nurse
Job outlook and salary
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) predicts a 17% employment growth from 2020 to 2030, a higher job growth rate than other occupations. During this decade, BLS predicts that over 16,100 job positions will open each year.
Meanwhile, the average salary of a public health worker ranges from $19.95 to $39.42 per hour. The lowest that public health workers are paid goes as low as $9.86 per hour, while those with more experience and living in metropolitan areas can earn up to $62.74.
2. Nursing
If you enjoy taking care of people, think about getting a degree in nursing. Your duties as a nurse include taking care of patients and assisting them, administering medicine, checking patients’ vitals, communicating with doctors, keeping records, providing emotional support, and so on.
Below you can find some types of nursing specialties to consider:
Registered Nurse (RN)
Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN)
Labor and Delivery Nurse
Clinical Nurse Supervisor
Emergency Room Registered Nurse
Critical Care Registered Nurse (CCRN)
Job outlook and salary
According to BLS, the employment of registered nurses is projected to grow 9% from 2020 to 2030. In this case, 276,800 new positions are predicted to be open each year until 2030.
Furthermore, the average hourly pay for a registered nurse is $30.57, while the average annual salary is $66,786. The base salary can go up to $93,000 for experienced nurses.
3. Dental hygiene
A job in dental hygiene would enable you to help patients preserve good oral health. When studying dental hygiene, expect to deal with science courses like chemistry or anatomy, dental courses like dental anatomy, and dental hygiene courses like oral health education.
When you graduate and become a dental hygienist, your job will include:
teaching and educating patients on good oral hygiene,
advising patients concerning nutrition and its impact on oral hygiene,
performing screening procedures to the patient,
applying preventive materials (such as fluoride and sealants) to the teeth,
removing calculus and plaque from the teeth,
sterilizing dental instruments,
maintaining documentation on patients.
Job outlook and salary
Employment for dental hygienists is projected to grow 11% from 2020 to 2030. That is faster than the average job growth rate.
The average hourly salary for a dental hygienist is $35.36. An entry-level dental hygienist (with less than one year of experience) can earn an average of $56,000 per year. In their late-career, experienced employees can earn up to $94,000 per year. Meanwhile, the average salary for a dental hygienist is $62,000 per year.
4. Occupational therapy
Consider pursuing a degree in occupational therapy if you have the ability to make people around you comfortable. Occupational therapy helps people do everyday things they may have difficulty doing due to different reasons such as disability, aging, disease, injury, and much more.
As an occupational therapist, your job may include teaching and helping someone eat, get dressed, move around, go to school, do laundry, and so on. You will work with people of all ages, and you will have to deal with different everyday problems.
After getting your degree, you have the chance to get more training and advance your career so you can focus on a particular type of treatment or age group.
Job outlook and salary
Employment for occupational therapists is predicted to grow much faster than the average occupation growth in the USA. BLS predicts a 17% employment growth from 2020 to 2030.
Moreover, the average annual salary of an occupational therapist is $78.183. Based on the level of experience, the lowest salary can be $61,000 annually, while the highest one can go up to $100,000 per year.
5. Health services administration
Health services administration relates to the management and administration of healthcare facilities. By studying health services administration, you will gain an understanding of public health organization and management, health system planning, human resources management, finance, business and operation management, and more.
The program will prepare you to function as a health services administrator and manager and to ensure proper patient care. As a health service administrator, your job will include managing finances, training staff members, communicating with patients, and more.
Job outlook and salary
Health services administration is the profession with the highest employment growth on this list. According to BLS, employment in health services administration is projected to grow 32% from 2020 to 2030.
Moreover, the average salary of a health services administrator is $74,191 per year, and it can go up to approximately $133,000 per year.
6. Community health and preventative medicine
If you decide to get a degree in community health and preventive medicine, you can expect to study courses like disease prevention, research methodologies, healthcare ethics, and public policy. This program will enable you to design and manage healthcare services within your community. When you graduate, you can find a job in community health, government-based companies, or healthcare institutions.
Job outlook and salary
According to the Bureau of Labour Statistics, employment for community health workers is projected to grow 17% from 2020 to 2030. This growth is much faster than the average employment growth in the USA.
Meanwhile, a job in community health and preventative medicine comes with a very high salary. The average salary of a preventive medicine physician is the highest on this list, with around $184,031 per year.
7. Pharmaceutical marketing and management
For a combination of science and business, choose a degree in pharmaceutical marketing and management. By studying healthcare systems, biology, chemistry, pharmacology, pharmaceutical marketing, management, and more, you will be prepared for a pharmaceutical marketing and management career. Your job will mainly include promoting new pharmaceutical products through different marketing strategies.
Job outlook and salary
The overall job outlook for advertising, promotions, and marketing managers is projected to grow by 10% from 2020 to 2030, as fast as the average job growth. It means that around 31,800 new positions are expected to open every year during this decade.
Meanwhile, jobs in pharmaceutical marketing and management are considered to be well paid, with the average salary of a pharmaceutical manager being $144,010 per year.
8. Health information technology
Next, for a combination of medicine and computers, consider a degree in health information technology. With different course studies like medical terminology, medical coding, data security, and more, you become prepared for managing records in healthcare facilities.
By studying health information technology, you can become a medical computer specialist. Your job may include reviewing and organizing medical records, creating reports, dealing with data security, as well as installing computer hardware and software, solving network problems, and so on.
Job outlook and salary
Working in health information technology prepares you for a job with a relatively good outlook, as BLS predicts a 9% employment growth for medical records and health information specialists from 2020 to 2030. It is expected that 37,100 positions will open each year until 2030.
Meanwhile, the average salary in healthcare information technology is $75,775 per year or $36 per hour, with top earners making up to $122,000 per year.
9. Clinical research coordinator
A degree in clinical research would help you become a clinical research coordinator. Clinical research is essential for today's medicine. Through clinical research, we get to understand more about different diseases, medications, and medical devices. As a clinical research coordinator, your job includes managing the administrative work, obtaining consent from the study participants, administering questionnaires, screening study participants, documenting and reporting the study process, and so on.
Job outlook and salary
When it comes to the job outlook, it is expected to grow much faster than average, with BLS predicting a 17% employment growth from 2020 to 2030.
Moreover, the average salary of a clinical research coordinator is $49,875 per year. But, it can change depending on experience. The average annual salary of an entry-level clinical research coordinator is $44,000, meanwhile experienced clinical research coordinators can make up to around $62,000 per year.
10. Physical therapy
When studying to become a physical therapist, the list of courses you have to deal with may include:
Human anatomy
Fundamentals of movement
Research methods
Clinical practice
Kinesiology and biomechanics
Exercise physiology
As a physical therapist, you help people who are ill or injured move and manage their pain. Your job includes diagnosing the movement dysfunction and coming up with a treatment plan, massaging patients to promote healing, teaching and helping patients use different exercising techniques and equipment, and more.
Job outlook and salary
According to BLS, physical therapists are high in demand. Employment for physical therapists is estimated to grow 21% from 2020 to 2030.
In addition, the average annual salary for a physical therapist is $72,334, which is equal to $39.43 per hour. Furthermore, a physical therapist with less than one year of experience can earn an average of $67,532 per year. On the other hand, an experienced physical therapist can expect to learn around $84,081 annually.
11. Dietetics and clinical nutrition services
If you decide to get a degree in dietetics and clinical nutrition services, you will get to work with patients to evaluate their health and diet needs, design nutrition plans, and help them reach their diet goals.
When studying dietetics and clinical nutrition services, you will focus on courses like chemistry, biology, physiology, and nutrition. You will learn about human nutrition, metabolism, the role of foods and nutrition to promote health and prevent diseases, diet planning, food storage and preparation, educating patients, and so on.
Job outlook and salary
According to BLS, the employment of dietitians and nutritionists is projected to grow faster than the average for all occupations. A growth of 11% is predicted from 2020 to 2030.
The average salary for a clinical dietitian is $26.07 per hour, making the average annual salary $53,148. An entry-level clinical dietitian can make around $49,000 per year, while an experienced clinical dietitian is expected to make about $67,000 annually.
12. Maternal and child health
Maternal and child health focuses on health care and health education for women, babies, and children. When studying maternal and child health, you learn about women and children’s developmental, mental, and social health. In addition, you learn how to work towards improving it. If you decide to have a career in maternal and child health, your job may include providing quality health care, education, and basic necessities (proper nutrition, adequate sanitation, and clean water) to women and children. Furthermore, you may work on creating policy changes or providing community public health education.
Job outlook and salary
When considering the job outlook for community health workers, employment for workers in the field of maternal and child health is expected to grow much faster than the average occupation growth. The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts a 17% employment growth from 2020 to 2030.
Furthermore, the average annual salary for a maternal child health specialist in the United States is $93,397 per year, equal to $44.90 per hour. Meanwhile, the highest paying job in the maternal and child health field is the Maternal Fetal Medicine Physician. This position earns an hourly wage of $70.87, meaning that the average annual salary is $147,414.
13. Medical informatics
If you like technology, study medical informatics! You will learn how to design and create new applications and develop new technologies to improve healthcare.
As a medical informatics professional, your job will include responsibilities such as creating new ways for healthcare facilities to keep electronic health records; improving communication between doctors and healthcare facilities; and storing, managing, and analyzing data for research.
Job outlook and salary
In general, employment in medical informatics is expected to grow as fast as average; the Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts a 9% growth from 2020 to 2030. According to that, 37,100 new positions will open every year during this decade.
Moreover, a person working in medical informatics makes an average of $99,699 per year, which equals $48 per hour. Meanwhile, top earners in the job make $142,000 annually.
14. Radiology technology
Are you interested in human anatomy? Last on this list, but definitely not least—radiology technology! Radiologic technologists perform X-ray examinations, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and computed tomography (CT) scans. As a radiologic technologist, you are responsible for carefully and precisely positioning patients to produce a quality diagnostic image.
Job outlook and salary
The employment of radiologic technologists is projected to grow 9% from 2020 to 2030, which is as fast as the average growth for all occupations.
Moreover, the average salary of a radiologic technologist is $61,119 per year, $29 per hour. However, if you're interested in making more money in the radiology technology field, consider becoming an Oral Radiologist ($158,584 per year), Senior Diagnostic Radiologist ($215,654 per year), or a Physician Radiologist ($263,418 per year).
Final Thoughts
Now that you reached the end of our list of 14 types of healthcare degrees, we hope that you have already made your choice. Pursuing a degree in healthcare is the first step towards a prosperous career. It offers a wide range of paths, and the salary is above average. And more importantly, there is always the chance to advance in your career. If you're interested in a career in one of the most fast-growing industries, take your pick!