Overview

Alma, 35, is considering going back to school for a new career. She enjoys working with people and is interested in healthcare, but she is not sure she wants to commit to a lengthy program until her children are older, and she has some concerns about being involved in direct patient care. Alma works full time and is raising a family, so she is looking for options outside traditional medical careers to suit her needs and fulfill her desire to help others.

Alma has an appointment with a career counselor to take aptitude tests and discuss careers in public health that do not involve direct patient care. She hopes to find a program close to home where she can enroll in evening and weekend classes.

Alma is interested in learning more about the administrative side of medicine. She will speak to her career counselor about different college programs that support medical care without direct patient interaction, such as medical billing and coding, health information technology and management, and patient advocacy. The counselor will guide her in understanding the differences between these fields, the prerequisites for each program, and the career options available after completion.

In this chapter, we will discuss medically related careers that indirectly affect patients but do not require a clinical degree. We will examine ways in which you can support patients, doctors, and nurses through a job in healthcare administration. Specifically, we will explore the fields of medical billing and coding, healthcare information technology and management, and patient advocacy. For each field, we will review the tasks involved, the education required, and the professional opportunities available.

Attributions

1. Chapter opening image: 30478819 by Marco Verch is released under CC BY 2.0