Researching Health Careers

In an effort to explore good "helping" careers (by which I mean direct helping; obviously there are many ways to help people), I've been trying to read up on various health careers.

The past couple of weeks, I've gone bookstore cruising, hanging out in the health reference sections. Of course, one of the downsides of this approach is that 98% of the books are aimed at current/prospective nurses and physicians. I have yet to see a book entitled "So, You Want to Be an Occupational Therapist!" or "Thinking About Health Administration?" alongside the test prep books and the Physician's Desk Reference.

I figured that my hometown library would have a bit more diversity, and it did, sort of. The book I picked up titled "Careers in Medicine" turned out to be a guide on getting into medical school (it's hard). Also got a book detailing every incarnation of therapist in health care, which did a good job of providing a neat summary of each job's day-to-day expectations and education requirements, and a collection of nurses' stories of memorable experiences in areas ranging from a nursing home to a refugee camp.

On the other hand, a lot of the health career books were written in a rather… how should I put it… light style of prose. One was actually entitled "Cool Careers for Girls in Health" as though there was a counterpart entitled "Cool Careers for Boys in Health." It was clearly written for middle school-age girls; there were entire pages with quotes from health professionals in large print surrounded by big zigzag lines.

The other health profession-focused books tended to be test prep books and (very old) textbooks on specific health topics. So, I've decided that the next place to try should probably be my school's pre-health resources. From looking at their website and mission statement, the university pre-health society mainly focuses on medicine, dentistry, public health, and veterinary medicine. It wasn't clear what resources are available for other health careers.