Trend -- More Collegians Seeking Job Security Are Choosing Healthcare Majors
by Mary Rettig
February 22, 2006
(AgapePress) - - A member of the Board of Trustees for the Christian Medical & Dental Associations (CMDA) reports that growing numbers of college students are enrolling in healthcare programs, and she believes their reasons go beyond just wanting to be doctors and nurses. A recent story in the New York Times profiles several university campuses that have seen exponential growth in their healthcare departments. The schools reported that the trend was not restricted to growth in medical doctor and nursing programs but rather in a broad spectrum of majors like biology and human health.
Dr. Inis Jane Bardella is a CMDA trustee and an associate professor at Indiana University's School of Medicine. She says the steep rise in healthcare program enrollment follows an interesting pattern that suggests a practical motivation behind many students' choice of academic majors.
"I think it probably is spawned by the fact that when graduates are leaving college they'd like to have a job," Bardella notes. "When young people in high school are considering majors and college, I think they are seriously looking at what can prepare them to actually leave college and be employable. The reality is, healthcare will do that."
The medical school faculty member points out that, in addition to programs to train doctors and nurses, the various healthcare majors that many schools are now offering can help students get into such occupations as physical therapists, pharmacists, and physician's assistants.
"When we look at areas that are more technology-oriented," Bardella notes, "often those individuals can enter some area of healthcare directly out of college." That is true of nursing as well, she adds, a field that "has some technical aspects to it but is very patient-care centered." Certainly, she says, "individuals finishing nursing-type programs after four years go directly into a job."
All in all, Bardella believes the increasing numbers of students choosing healthcare fields will emerge well equipped to enter an area where skilled practitioners will most likely continue to be in demand. For one thing, she notes, the aging Baby Boomer generation will help fuel the need for more workers in healthcare professions in the U.S. over the next few years.
Mary Rettig, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
