5 Fast Track Healthcare Careers

Healthcare doesn’t end with doctors and nurses.

Every year thousands of Americans graduate from high school with the hopes of becoming a medical professional. Young adults dream to save or change lives for the better, be able to support themselves comfortably, and add some prestigious letters to the end of their name.

However, the road to medicine in many cases is long and arduous, often requiring hundreds of thousands of dollars in loans to get started. Many healthcare pathways involve dedicating a huge portion of your life to training and subjecting yourself to extreme pressure and stress for quite a few years.

Not to mention, many healthcare careers are stressful in themselves, and sometimes do not have the best debt to income ratio.

I have immense respect and admiration for physicians and others who spend over a decade training their craft, and I myself choose a career path requiring seven years of education.

Although I believe if you feel something is your calling, you should do it, regardless of what it takes to get there, I do believe it is important to show young people the healthcare career opportunities that offer more flexibility.

As I’ve gone along on my educational journey I have realized there are some “hidden” healthcare careers that involve only 4 years of education or less. For some reason, these careers aren’t as well known, yet many of them can be extremely fulfilling and require a much more reasonable amount of training than becoming an MD. Here are the careers I’ve come across as fitting this category in no particular order.

Respiratory Therapist

One can become a respiratory therapist with a 2-year associate’s degree, although many employers prefer a 4-year bachelor's degree. However, this is a job where you can pass the licensing exam while only holding an associate’s, and work while you obtain your bachelor’s.

RTs, like nurses, have the opportunity to work nights or days and work with a variety of populations. There is also nothing holding you back from deciding at any time to go back to school and further your education.

You may even be able to find tuition reimbursement programs, where your employer will pay for your bachelor’s education while you are working for them.

After becoming an RT you could choose to attend, NP, PA, or medical school provided you complete the required prerequisites.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average RT salary is $61,330 per year. Considering the short amount of time required to obtain licensure, and the opportunity to advance at any time, I think this a great option.

Radiation Therapist

This one is an amazing option if you can hack it. These RTs treat patients with cancer or other conditions in need of radiation treatment.

Education required is an associate’s degree (although bachelor’s is preferred) and the average salary according to the Bureau of Labor statistics is $85, 560 per year!

They do need to pass a national licensing exam to become certified. Although this job will require you to spend time with people during one of the worst points in their life if you are emotionally tough this job has amazing potential.

You will feel like your job is meaningful, be able to support yourself, and get to live out your passion for taking care of patients.

Radiologic Technologist

This is another one where you can start working with just an associate’s degree. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics In 2019, the average salary for radiologic and MRI technologists was $62, 280 per year.

Their job is to perform “diagnostic imaging procedures” of patients such as x-rays. They also work closely with radiologists. One of my favorite YouTubers Julia Kristine vlogged her entire road to becoming a Rad Tech.

Registered Nurse

This is one of the most versatile. What is amazing about this one is that one only needs an associate's degree to sit for the NCLEX, the national board exam.

Once again, many people find tuition reimbursement programs in which their hospital helps pay for their bachelor’s degree once they begin working.

This option is also very flexible, one can work nights, or days and a variety of schedules, and in a wide range of specialties. Although this career requires one to be quite thick-skinned, it has immense benefits.

At any time after obtaining their bachelor's degree, an RN can decide to go back to school to become an NP, a CRNA, etc. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average annual salary for an RN is $73,330.

They also have immense room for growth, as they can become a charge nurse, move to leadership roles within the hospital, become a teacher, or go back to school to swiftly transition to becoming an advanced practice provider.

My own mother chose this career herself. She went to a community college where she was able to become an RN at little cost. Eventually, she got her bachelor’s in nursing and then a master's in health care informatics.

She was able to work the night shift as a nurse while us kids were young. She may not have had this option had she chosen another career.

I have a friend who I went to undergrad with when I was studying exercise physiology. She changed her mind from PT, to OT, to nurse, and she is now in the last semester of her accelerated RN program.

Thus, this option is also great if you didn’t know what you wanted to do right out of high school, but now you do!

PTA/ COTA

Physical Therapy Assistants and Certified Occupational Therapy Assistants provide physical/ occupational therapy care based on the plan of care written by A DPT (doctor of physical therapy), or OT/R (registered occupational therapist) respectively.

According to the Bureau of labor statistics the median salary for a PTA is $58, 520, and for OTAs $60,410. Both of these careers require an associate’s degree.

These are great careers if you want to become a health professional quickly and get to spend a lot more one on one time with patients compared to other health professionals.

Final Thoughts

Many guidance counselors do not seek out career opportunities for their students. In my experience, they simply ask the student what they want to do, and aren’t much help if the student doesn't know the answer to that.

Thus, I wanted to share what I’ve learned so far with future health care professionals at the very beginning of their journies.

It is important to note that salary averages are the average of medical professionals at all levels of experience in their field.

The salaries you find when looking up the average online are the average of both new graduates and those with decades of experience. Thus, salaries are often inflated from what a brand new graduate will make.

Additionally, although most careers I listed only require an associate’s degree, programs typically require you to apply to their program already having completed some basic prerequisite courses.

The great thing about these health care professions is that you can attend a community college, save money, and be done faster than many others who will end up in healthcare.

There you have it, although television shows only depict doctors and nurses in medical dramas, there are many more options out there.