As a social worker, you don’t shy away from tough jobs. That’s an important quality in healthcare work as well. If you are interested in making the pivot, you already have a foundational skill that will help you, and your future patients.
But that’s just one of many common traits that social workers and healthcare professionals share. In this article, we take a look at why social workers make great doctors and nurses, and we examine why now is the perfect time to make the leap.
Accelerated Program
One of the nice things about pivoting into a healthcare career as an established professional is that you won’t have to slug through four more years of undergraduate studies. As a social worker, you already have at least a four-year degree. That means that you should be eligible to enroll in any accelerated nursing degree program that would allow you to get certified within two years or less.
Accelerated programs not only save you time but typically cost significantly less money. Granted, they won’t be for everyone. The coursework is naturally very intensive, making this program a good fit only for people who can devote their full attention to their studies.
Intersection of Skills
Social workers and healthcare professionals have a significant intersection of skills. Below, we take a look at some common qualities that will help make it easy for social workers to pivot seamlessly into a healthcare career.
You’re Bright
Getting certified as a social worker isn’t easy. You’ve gone through college to get to where you are at. You are familiar with passing state and federal testing and licensing requirements. In short, you understand what it takes to qualify for challenging and heavily regulated jobs.
That experience will be very helpful as you start jumping through all of the hoops that the healthcare system will ask of you.
You’re Good Under Pressure
While few careers experience emergencies that are quite as immediate as those encountered in the hospital setting, social workers do understand what it takes to handle a crisis. You deal with people during dark times. Sometimes the situations are life and death— even if not in the same way that an ER nurse might be used to.
The ability to stay calm when the stakes are at their highest is the hallmark of a good healthcare worker. It’s the sort of thing you can’t learn in school, but as a social worker, it’s also a skill you already have.
You’re Compassionate
Healthcare is about more than just treating symptoms. It’s about working with a human in need. Patients have been shown to experience better outcomes when they are treated with compassion and kindness.
As a social worker, this is something you are naturally talented at.
You’re Good at Communication
Communication is a core healthcare skill. You need to be able to speak directly with patients and get information as quickly as possible. You need to be able to effectively communicate that information to doctors and other professionals on staff.
You also need to be able to break down complicated healthcare-related facts to the patients and their families.
Communication is an enormous part of being an effective social worker as well. Your experience working with people on your caseload will help when it comes to interacting with patients.
You Know How to Advocate
Finally, healthcare workers and social workers are both advocates. As a social worker, you stand up for people impacted by injustice and inequity. As a healthcare worker, you make efforts to ensure that your patients have a voice during the moments when they are at their most vulnerable.
Without strong advocates, it is very easy for patients to slip through the cracks, or simply not understand all of their options. As a powerful advocate, you can inform them of their options and make them feel comfortable throughout the entire process.
Now is a Great Time
It’s worth pointing out that now is a great time to pivot into a healthcare career. While hospitals all over the country are desperately on the lookout for qualified doctors and nurses, incoming healthcare professionals have more leverage than ever before.
Not only can they find work quickly and at hospitals in their communities, but they are also often being met with enticing offers. Favorable hours, improved quality of life considerations, and better compensation. Bottom line? It’s a great time to start a career in healthcare.
Conclusion
It is true that people have been leaving the healthcare profession in droves for years now. The reason is pretty simple. It’s hard to be a doctor or a nurse. You see people at their darkest moments, and then you’re expected to go home at the end of the day— or the beginning of the day if you worked the night shift— and live a basically normal life. Sit down to a meal with people who will never know what it is like to tell someone that they have a terminal illness, or comfort the family of someone who has recently lost a loved one.
That’s a lot to live with, and it takes a special person to navigate that emotionally fraught landscape.
As a social worker, that’s part of the job that you already have down pat. You know how to handle the hard stuff. You’re attracted to it because you know that things only get better when the right people step up.
All of the other factors— the knowledge, the training, the tests— those can be managed with hard work. Perseverance in the face of tragedy is an unlearnable soft skill that you already have. Use it to make a major difference in the lives of others by pivoting into a healthcare career.
Photo Credits
Photo by TopSphere Media on Unsplash
Guest Author Bio
Sarah Daren
With a Bachelor’s in Health Science along with an MBA, Sarah Daren has a wealth of knowledge within both the health and business sectors. Her expertise in scaling and identifying ways tech can improve the lives of others has led Sarah to be a consultant for a number of startup businesses, most prominently in the wellness industry, wearable technology and health education. She implements her health knowledge into every aspect of her life with a focus on making America a healthier and safer place for future generations to come.
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