The telehealth industry has been growing strongly for a number of years now. Since the turn of the millennium, technological advances have made remote doctor appointments a viable option. The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic has also made these technologies even more significant to many people’s lives.
If you would like to pursue a career in this exciting field for the future of medicine, here are three degrees that will open the doors for you.
Medical Degrees
- What does it involve? The term medical degree is sufficiently broad to include just about every degree relating to diagnosing and treating patients. Naturally, if you are looking to begin a career in any healthcare-related field, then having a medical qualification is going to open a lot of doors for you. In order to work as a doctor in a telehealth environment, you will need to meet the same requirements as regular doctors in your state.
The demand for telehealth doctors has been on the rise for some time, but the Covid-19 pandemic has given the transition a new urgency. Telemedicine promises to offer much cheaper and more accessible medical consultations for people who need them when compared with a regular visit to a doctor or a hospital. Some medical courses are now available that emphasize how to apply what students learn in a telemedicine context.
- How is it used within telemedicine? For the most part, qualified medical professionals will apply their skills and knowledge to telemedicine in much the same way that they would to the medical field normally. Many doctors today are choosing to work full-time while making money on the side by offering telemedicine services remotely.
Nursing Degrees
- What does it involve? Nurses are essential workers within any healthcare organization. Without them, the work of a doctor would be difficult, if not impossible. Within a telemedicine setting, the role of a nurse is slightly different but follows the same principles and regular nursing work. Nurses are there to provide support to doctors and to handle many of the more mundane day to day tasks so that doctors are free to sink their teeth into meatier issues.
In order to work as a nurse in telehealth, you will usually need to have your registered nurse qualification first. However, the exact requirements for working as a nurse vary from state to state. Just like working as a telehealth doctor, the requirements are the same for telehealth and regular nurses.
- How is it used within telemedicine? Nurses in telemedicine will still be helping their doctors with triage and diagnostics. They will often be able to solve most basic issues with patients without having to escalate the problem to the doctor they work with.
Data and Statistics Degrees
- What does it involve? There are a multitude of degree courses available today that are focused on applying statistics and data analytics to a range of real-world scenarios. If you are looking to work in a supporting role in telemedicine, rather than working directly as a medical or healthcare professional, a good grounding in data and statistics is a valuable set of skills to possess.
Over the course of a statistics degree, you will gain insight into how statistics are gathered, cataloged, and stored in order to enable them to be utilized at a later date, as well as how the ultimate analyses are performed. Depending on the specific degree that you pursue, you might find that a statistics course is focused entirely on abstract theory. On the other hand, there are statistics courses aimed at people looking to work in specific industries. For example, courses like this applied statistics masters online will teach you to apply the theory that you learn to specific circumstances.
- How is it used within telemedicine? Behind the scenes of a telemedicine operation, things work just like they do with regular healthcare institutions. There are people on hand who specialize in data analytics and statistics and use these skills to help steer the direction of the organization as a whole. If you are hoping to lead a telemedicine business, you will need to use statistics in a variety of ways to formulate a business plan and accurately evaluate the performance of your business.
The telemedicine industry looks set to play a key role in the future of healthcare throughout the developed world. As well as enabling patients to access medical care more easily and more affordably, telemedicine could also provide an invaluable technology to have as we navigate the coronavirus pandemic. Studying for any of the degrees outlined above is a great place to start if you want to work in this industry.
