HEALTH 4Q REVIEWER
PLANNING FOR HEALTH CAREER
What is career? - It is an occupation or profession that requires special training.
Why study health career? - These are designed to familiarize with the various careers in the medical
profession and allied health services. To will learn skills necessary for your career path, which in this
case is in healthcare. These include working with others, communication skills, legal and ethical
responsibilities, cultural considerations in healthcare industry, problem solving, decision making,
accepting personal responsibility, and self-management.
Components of a health career plan - Self Assessment, Career Exploration, Decision Making, Plan of
Action
Self Assessment - Discover your personal strengths through self-assessments 'values, interests,
personality, testing, skills, etc.
Career Exploration - You can explore different careers and work environments through career fairs,
online research, meetings, internships, alumni connections, professional resources.
Decision Making - Before you decide on taking a career that works for you, you can evaluate and narrow
down your options through listing the pros and cons, comparing your personal strengths and interests,
and deciding which career fulfills both current and future goals.
Plan of Action - Plan achievable goals and develop strategies to reach your goals into smaller steps,
identify actions for this step, utilize helpful people and resources, review and adapt your plan regularly.
HEALTH CAREEER PATHWAYS
What is career pathways? – These are clusters occupations that are grouped because of shared skills. All
pathways include a variety of occupations that require different levels of education, skills and training.
Selecting a career pathway provides you with an area of focus along with flexibility and a variety of ideas
to pursue for personal development.
HEALTHCARE PATHWAYS
A. Disease prevention and control – People who specialize in this career path focus in communicable
and non-communicable diseases. Their work includes immunization, screening of newborns, promotion
of breastfeeding, infant diseases prevention, adolescent healthcare and life skills.
B. Personal healthcare – Professionals in this field perform healthcare related tasks in a personal care
level. These include monitoring patients, administering and assisting in personal care and hygiene,
performing housekeeping duties, and advising clients on related healthcare issues life infant care,
hygiene and nutrition.
C. Maternal and child care – These health workers deal with complex public health issues that affect
women, children and their families. These include providing information on reproductive health, family
planning, healthcare of pregnant women and their children, and improvement of health delivery system
through advocacy, education and research.
D. Mental health care – These medical professionals specialize in dealing with interpersonal and
intrapersonal relationships and life skills. These include cognitive and psychosocial development,
promotion of healthy self-esteem through feelings and anger management and identifying warning signs
or red flags of learning disorders, such as ADHD, anxiety, mood disorders, stress and bullying
E. Community healthcare – Specialists in this area focus on the maintenance, protection and
improvement of the health of all community members. Sample careers: Barangay/Community Health
Work, Rural Sanitary Inspection
F. Environmental healthcare management – These health workers try to establish the correlation
between and among the physical, chemical and biological, social and psychosocial factors in the
surrounding environment. These include monitoring the quality of environment and impact of human
activities on ecosystems, and developing strategies for restoring ecosystems.
Drug prevention and control – People whose careers revolve around this area seek to reduce
community and individual problems related to alcohol and drug abuse through evidence-based
programs and policy advocacy. Sample Careers: Drug Enforcement, Drug And Alcohol Rehabilitation
H. Nutrition – Specialists in this area find ways to balance individuals" food and nutrition and their
impact on patients" health. These include meal planning, food preparation and economics. Sample
Careers: Clinical Dietetics, Food and Nutrition Management, Public Health Nutrition, Education and
Research
I. Health education – Those who work in this field are tasked with promotion of healthcare and training
of health workers on managing change in healthcare. Their work involves assessing individual and
community needs, planning, implementing and evaluating health programs, promoting the
understanding of various health related behaviors plus coordinating health education services.
J. Dental health – deals with various oral conditions which include chronic mouth and facial pain, oral
sores, periodontal 'gum; disease, tooth decay and tooth loss, other diseases and disorders that affect
the oral cavity, and risk factors for oral diseases which include unhealthy diet, tobacco use, harmful
alcohol use, and poor oral hygiene.
K. Emergency medical services – People assigned in this work specialize in out of hospital medical care.
Their skills include first aid procedures, emergency medical treatment and transport of patients, rapid
emergency medical response and immediate medical attention.
