Depending on who you ask, both the best and the worst part of working in the healthcare sector is interacting with patients.
Some healthcare practitioners are incredibly people-oriented, whereas others are more enthralled by the science or data behind any given case.
As is the case with any workplace or industry, however, it takes different strokes to get all the work done anyway. All this is to say that even if you don’t foresee yourself having good bedside manner, it doesn’t disqualify you from having the right aptitude for a successful career in healthcare.
In truth, healthcare career pathways are a lot broader than many people think, with two major distinctions available for students looking to chart their way today: clinical and non-clinical. Clinical roles are more likely to be patient-facing, focusing on patient care across clinics, hospitals and other facilities. Contrastingly, non-clinical roles can be more research-based, or even see professionals contributing to public policy (such as in public health departments at a Federal, State or local level through LGAs).
Understanding what non-clinical career pathway is right for you starts with knowing what exactly is out there. So let’s get into it. Here are seven non-clinical career pathways that are most in-demand for healthcare students today.
1. Healthcare Administrator
Managing a hospital or even a GP clinic demands top-level business skills, ranging from administrative and leadership responsibilities to financial planning, supplier relationship management, compliance management and a variety of other dynamic day-to-day tasks.
You can qualify for healthcare administrator roles by completing practice management qualifications or other specialised qualifications like a healthcare project management graduate certificate, which is an ideal certification for healthcare professionals with graduate qualifications who are looking to upskill while on the job.
In these courses, you can expect to engage with some of the core responsibilities of healthcare administrator roles, including:
- Managing care teams and other facility staff
- Overseeing and optimising facility or clinic operations
- Implementing new policies and initiatives for patient care and industry compliance
- Participating ethically in research programs and industry studies
2. Clinical Research Roles
Speaking of research programs and studies, some of the most rewarding non-clinical career pathways can be found at your local hospital or medical college. We are of course, talking about clinical research roles.
There are a range of different roles available in most limited run clinical trials and research programs, spanning from Clinical Research Associate (CRA) positions that are well-suited for early career researchers, and then more advanced research coordinator roles where professionals are tasked with planning, managing and reporting on clinical trials with the support of medical report writers and healthcare communications specialists.
Clinical research roles can often operate on a contract basis, allowing for greater job flexibility and opportunities to contribute to a range of different studies throughout a calendar year. For healthcare professionals who are keen to keep learning and contributing to essential research that improves patient care outcomes across a variety of treatment programs (i.e. prenatal, chronic pain, cancer treatments, geriatric healthcare and aged care, and so on), clinical research roles provide ample opportunities to do just that.
3. Health Information Technician
Australia’s healthcare sector is growing increasingly digital which means one thing: we need industry workers with advanced technical skills. We’re talking database management, cybersecurity, and a variety of other essential competencies for organising and securing digital patient records, facility files, and all the other sensitive data that’s part and parcel of modern hospitals, clinics and facilities.
Professionals working in health IT roles predominantly come from ICT academic backgrounds, maintaining qualifications in ICT, systems engineering, or computer science, with additional accreditations in electronic health record (EHR) systems management and other healthcare industry-related data management certifications.
4. Analyst and Informatics Specialist
Alongside compiling healthcare data, Australia’s healthcare sector also benefits greatly from healthcare data analyses and analytics projects. These projects are often overseen by dedicated healthcare data analysts and informatics specialists.
As their name would suggest, healthcare data analysts are tasked with analysing healthcare data (such as from clinics, hospitals, research institutions and so on) with the purpose of identifying trends that may then help to inform care frameworks or even public health policies.
A good example here is identifying specific population demographics in particular areas that have a higher risk of developing asthmatic symptoms over other regions, pointing to a harmful environmental factor that could be addressed at a governance level. In this way, healthcare data analysts can play a major role in informing public policies, with their data reports often being referenced in local council meetings and State or even Federal parliamentary proceedings relating to public health initiatives.
Contrastingly, informatics specialists are less concerned with data on a macro level, focusing instead of managing and overseeing data within a single clinic or multi-facility healthcare enterprise. These tech-savvy specialists contribute to system optimisation projects, ensuring tech systems better bridge gaps between clinicians or frontline staff and their management teams.
Informatics specialists also perform basic troubleshooting duties on a daily basis within their workplaces, helping ensure clinics stay connected and online and clinicians always maintain access to the information they need.
5. Medical Billing and Coding Specialist
Another non-clinical role that’s emerged from the digital evolution of healthcare, medical billing and coding specialists play a central role in digitising health records using universal coding and languages. This not only helps to standardise digital record-keeping for the healthcare industry, but also helps simplify how clinicians and facilities work with insurance providers.
The logic here is simple: each diagnosis, test and treatment provided to a patient aligns with standardised numeric codes recognised by hospital billing teams and insurance providers. This coding system helps make sure that clinical billings and insurance logs always add up, safeguarding patient data and empowering healthcare enterprises and insurance teams in facilitating fair, equitable and fully compliant insurance systems.
6. Industry Compliance Officer
The ongoing technological transformation of Australia’s healthcare industry means that facilities, clinics and even research institutions are consistently subjected to evolving regulatory requirements. Keeping up with all the compliance changes demands extensive resources for healthcare teams, with some facilities maintaining in-house compliance departments purely for monitoring and staying aligned with industry standards.
Like medical billing and coding roles, healthcare compliance specialists need to be highly detail-oriented, with a passion for standardisation and quality assurance. Unlike medical billing and other ICT-heavy roles, however, healthcare compliance offers more accessible career pathways, with options to complete compliance officer training with a healthcare industry specialisation. You can even pursue a Certificate IV in Compliance and Risk Management or a Diploma in Quality Auditing, allowing you to not only work in healthcare compliance but business compliance and other industries that pique your interest throughout your career.
As demand for regulatory compliance specialists grows across various different industries, the sky really is the limit for healthcare graduates with a strong working knowledge of industry compliance requirements.
7. Medical Science Liaison (MSL)
Earlier, we spoke about clinical research roles, and touched on how clinical research transforms into articles for medical journals, policy reports and a myriad of other healthcare communications assets. But how do these academic and governance assets translate into for-profit pharmaceutical development schemes? This is where Medical Science Liaisons (MSLs) come into the picture.
Acting as a bridge between clinical researchers and pharmaceutical enterprises, MSLs help ensure the development of medication and therapeutic goods (as defined by the Therapeutic Goods Administration or TGA), stays aligned with the science backing that product and the needs of patients or consumers who will ultimately use that product. In other words, MSLs are the ‘medical experts’ responsible for consulting on pharmaceutical and wellness product projects and operate with an overarching responsibility to the patient as a consumer.
MSL roles are multidisciplinary by nature and are thus, consistently in high demand. It takes a unique combination of skills to thrive in these dynamic roles, but career outcomes can be lucrative as MSLs live both across healthcare and business spaces.
What’s the right healthcare career pathway for you?
There’s more to a career in healthcare than just patient care. Whether you’re currently employed in a clinical role and are looking for alternative career paths, or whether you’re still completing your qualifications and placements and are yet to formally enter the workforce as a healthcare professional, understanding what opportunities are available to you can help get you in the right direction, where your passion, experience and education will maintain the highest impact.
