With the U.S. healthcare industry constantly evolving, it’s challenging to keep pace with the latest developments. With the overwhelming amount of information available, deciphering what is important can be a challenge.
That’s where someone who has a bachelor’s in health studies can make a big difference. This degree is an excellent choice if you’re pursuing a career in health journalism, new media, public relations, or allied health. A focus on health science can help you become qualified to decode, demystify, and disseminate health-related messages to both professional and non-professional audiences alike.
As a practitioner in this profession, you’ll employ your communication skills to shape public opinion and influence healthy behavior. From policymakers and the press to industry professionals and the public at large, you’ll be the main point of contact and information source for an array of critical health education issues.
But what types of enterprises employ health studies specialists? How can you parlay your health services knowledge into a satisfying career? And where can you put those health education skills to action?
Explore Five Top Career Options
To learn more about potential career paths in the field, here are five interesting job settings for health studies practitioners who have a flare for communications:
- Hospital or Physician’s Office: Maybe you’re drawn to a busy hospital environment, where you might field media inquiries, write newsletter articles, and release news to the community. Or you might prefer working in a doctor’s office, where you plan and handle meaningful communications activities on a smaller scale.
- PR/Advertising/Marketing Firm: You’re likely to manage all of the agency’s health-related clients, serving as the liaison between them and the creative team. As your company’s health services knowledge base, you’ll play a pivotal role planning communications matters using an assortment of media tools. .
- Nonprofit Health Agency: As the resident health studies expert, you’ll oversee and implement strategic communications plans. You might also be the go-to pro at community engagements, helping educate local citizens and explaining concepts in layman’s terms. .
- Pharmaceutical Company: Here your bachelor’s in health studies could help you sift through obscure medical terminology and translate it into understandable language for publication on packaging materials, client manuals, and digital communications on the company website. .
- Public Health Department: It’s all too common for a health epidemic like the flu to infect a large swath of a city’s population. That’s when you’d step in to help educate the public and alleviate their fears. Beyond harnessing your risk-management skills, you’d be a valuable health education resource, spearheading community health communications plans and serving as a trusted source for local media representatives. .
How Can You Land a Job Like These?
If these jobs appeal to you, then a BS in Health Studies might be the degree that could get you there. If you’re not sure when, where, or how to start, an online school might be your answer.
Especially if you’re working now, online education makes earning your bachelor’s in health studies by taking online classes a very doable alternative. With an online degree program, you can complete your coursework from home. Instead of attending courses in a traditional classroom setting, you can earn your college degree on your own time from wherever you have internet access.
Don’t Dream It—Do it!
Achieve your health studies goals by attending an online university and earning your bachelor’s in health studies via a convenient format. There’s no driving to and from school, no fighting traffic or searching for parking spots, and no dealing with any of the other dilemmas that arise when you’re navigating to and around campus. Instead, you can focus on your studies and on getting one step closer to working in an interesting setting doing a job you love.
Walden University is an accredited institution offering a BS in Health Studies with a concentration in Health Communications. Expand your career options and earn your degree in a convenient, flexible format that fits your busy life.
Walden University is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission, www.hlcommission.org.