Hey all,
Just curious to know your thoughts on this.
All healthcare fields are very niche and so I'm wondering how long do healthcare workers usually stay in the field and where do people go afterwards?
Looking to hear from pharmacists, physiotherapists, radiographers, audiologists, optometrists, etc :)
You definitely need to have an interest in the relevant field to mitigate burnout, or where you can branch out into management or teaching as hmac said.
All healthcare fields are very niche and so I'm wondering how long do healthcare workers usually stay in the field and where do people go afterwards?
I disagree. Some healthcare fields are very niche whilst others are very broad.
I'm in psychology and have quite a wide range of work opportunities e.g hospitals (acute mental health, psych wards, outpatient, community centres), clinics, NDIS, HR, defence, EAPs, education etc. Once you find a field that you enjoy, it's possible to stay there for the long term.
I know speech pathologists and OT's who transitioned from working with children to adults who experienced head and body injuries. Doctors and nurses can also work in a wide range of settings and specialties.
Healthcare Worker Burnout?
pharmacists, physiotherapists, radiographers, audiologists, optometrists
I thought you mean paramedics, ICU, emergency doctors, nurses, public hospital care staff… they are most likely to be burnout.
Those roles you listed, I don’t ever recall seeing them looked stressed out… some even have free time, clock in and out 9-5 job, doesn’t need to do shifts or be on call, many drive a High yield vehicle too…
They are not what I call Health Care workers. Nurses, Doctors, Ambos, Paramedics etc have the stressful jobs and are more likely to suffer burnout.
Public ED radiographer here.
It can be a very stressful job, very high staff turnover.
It's a really good place to gain large amounts of experience in a short time but the amount of staff that stay for over 6 years is very low.
I have become more senior over the years, and am more in charge of shifts and more complex patients.
A little better work/life balance but still do not see my family as much as I would like.
But its the place where I feel I can help the most in need.
Hope that helps :)
Public ED
Would it be as stressful in private sector and non ED dept?
My experience and observations are that health workers in the public sector tend to do the following:
- leave and start a private practice
- leave and do something completely different eg real estate, open a bakery etc (this isn’t super common but I have seen it)
- go into research, some just for a bit, others go into full time academia and teaching
- go into management of their own profession
- go into management/exec within the health sector, some in quite related areas, some quite different eg I know of some who have retrained in law or got an MBA and worked in legal or finance within health
- get into health project management, quality and safety or ‘health innovation’ which is the buzz word for it now.
Source - I’m a healthcare worker and still do some clinical work but have also done some management, research and project work over the years. For me it’s not so much burn out but interest, liking variety and the extra pay.
I'd second this, it is pretty common in Allied health
I think most 'jobs' can have some level of burnout when doing the same thing for a long period of time.
A lot of people in healthcare 'try to' get into the limited public management positions otherwise there is always the private sector - but usually that requires a little bit of post graduate education and a fair bit of luck as positions are few and far between.
Like anyone else we have bills, mortgages and families to pay for so regardless of if you still have 'passion' for the job or not you need to work to make money.
I am in Health Care do a mix of private and public work, i certainly dont 'love my job' but i dont 'hate' it either - if I won enough money tomorrow i wouldnt be doing what im doing but i dont dislike what im doing enough to change. - i also have a really good work life balance plenty of time for my family etc
The money is well over 100k and even though i do ~50hours a week (no weekends) across my different rolls i actually find the job quite easy and almost second nature (been doing this for almost 8 years) - My issues are mainly with poor management and the rising level of ungrateful patients who think turning up late all the time, are abusive etc
I cant speak for everyone but most other clinical staff i know feel the same way, there is a % that just love the job as there is a % that hate it - but id say the most of us are just comfortable - with the salary and the benefits of the position
TL: we all need to make money
curious to know what you work as if you've been doing it for 8 years? :)
Depends on what type of stress you're capable of handling.
For example, Nursing involves high stress in terms of physical demands. They always have something needing doing, often dirty work, and lots of manual handling which can be very tiresome depending on the population. Conversely, outside of few exceptions, Nurses do not experience the stress associated with accuracy of diagnostics and establishing courses of treatment.
So, in this example, if lots of physical work would burn you out, then Nursing would not be ideal. If you find physical labour to be easy, however, and find the concept of making tricky decisions with potentially harmful outcomes to be daunting, then becoming a practitioner of some variety would not be recommended.
Depends on the hospital and area, lot of public hospitals now, RN act like kings while EN have to do all the dirty work. Which is ironic as RN always make a bug fuss every few years that surgeons and top doctors act like they are superior and bring in the sexist card
we stay and progress to more advanced roles, and later into management