Maybe you’ve always dreamed of stitching up wounds, setting bones, and saving lives, but the thought of spending 11 years in medical school makes your head swim. Or maybe you want to have a hands on role in treating patients, but you don’t want the responsibility (or the headaches or the hours or the schedule) of being a doctor. Have no fear-below are some great medical careers that will allow you to help people and practice medicine without devoting a decade of your life to school.
Physician Assistant
Education Requirements: A Bachelor’s degree plus 2 years at an accredited physician program (6 years total)
This is the one the fastest-growing fields in health care, with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projected 39% growth through 2018. Working under the direction of a physician, physician assistants provide a wide range or primary care services, from examining patients to casting broken bones to prescribing medications. Internal medicine, pediatrics, family medicine and emergency medicine are just a few of the fields they work in.
Registered Nurse
Education Requirements: A two-year Associate’s degree, three-year nursing diploma, or four-year Bachelor’s degree
Registered nurses are in demand, so if you’re looking for a career in the medical field, this is a great option. Nurses work directly with doctors to admit patients, diagnose diseases, provide treatment, and formulate follow-up and aftercare plans. Best of all, there are many ways to start this career path depending on your personal, financial and educational goals.
Paramedic
Education Requirements: a high school diploma and a diploma/certification from a formal emergency medical technician training program
Paramedic careers are the stuff that TV dramas are made of. They’re the first ones to respond to a 911 call, a natural disaster, or any other trauma situation. Paramedics provide life-saving diagnoses and treatment on the way to the hospital, ranging from endotracheal intubations to emergency childbirths.
For more information, visit this career profiles page.
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Posts Tagged ‘Broken Bones’
The injuries we pick up when playing sports fall into two main classes. In contact sports, there are serious risks of broken bones, torn tendons or ligaments, or strains. The other less physical sports leave it to the players to damage themselves by repeating the same muscle movements excessively. So tennis, badminton and squash players find repetitive strain injury to their elbows. Runners damage their knees. Focussing on the muscle injuries, strains and tears always have the same pattern. You damage the tissue in the muscles or ligaments, and this produces inflammation. Pain, swelling and loss of function follow.
For a professional athlete, being unable to turn out for the team or to play the next big tournament can have serious financial implications. Doctors who specialize in sports injuries are therefore employed by all the top teams in football, baseball and soccer. The plan is always to get the stars back on the field again as quickly as possible. Except this can be controversial because, sometimes, treatment is accelerated for a particular match rather than for the benefit of the player’s long-term career. Many top players have had their careers cut short by knee injuries when their teams owner’s were too ambitious for success.
The inflammation is actually the first stage in the healing process. It encourages the growth of scar tissue that binds the torn tissue back together again. Doctors interfere in this natural cycle. The problem is simple. The average cycle of inflammation lasts about five days but, sometimes, it can go on too long and this delays the resumption of training. Thus, the first response is rest during the one or two days following injury. Therapies vary. Pick from heat, cold, compression, elevation and, where money is no object, the use of expensive technology like hyperbaric chambers. Drugs can be used to dull the pain, reduce the inflammation and so speed up the healing process. If the player is finding the affected muscles tensing up, skelaxin is the standard response the relax the affected muscles.
It’s important to understand that painkillers, anti-inflammatories and muscle relaxants do not treat the injury itself. Their only effect is to make you more comfortable during the initial phase of the healing process. Assuming surgery is not indicated for a more serious injury, say to the knee, your body will (slowly) heal itself. Except, of course, where money, status or pride is involved, people will spend the money and invest the time to improve on the natural process. Although everyone should always wait before resuming training, the passion and commitment that makes good players into the best also drives them to take shortcuts.
So, with the help of skelaxin during the resting phase, the player can slowly move on to stretching exercises and, initially, gentle exercise to regain mobility in the affected area. It’s best if no painkillers are used. Pain is a very useful warning you are trying too hard. There’s a serious risk you will aggravate the injury if you resume full training too early. Unless there’s a particular reason why you have to play, you should only move through the training regime at a safe pace. The risk of long-term damage and even longer layoffs is waiting to overtake you. In all this, you should be guided by your doctor and physical therapist. Assuming they are offering independent advice, they should guide you back to a long and successful playing career (whether as a professional or an amateur).
As we age, some of our capacities become diminished. Eyesight can fail, reflexes become slower, hearing may be less acute, and judgment may become impaired. As such, some people may believe that senior citizens in Cope Coral and Lee County, Florida are more likely to cause auto accidents than are younger drivers. However, statics show that those over 65 are actually less likely to cause an accident than those under 25, but run a much higher risk of fatalities and personal injury.
Some states have considered stricter driving regulations and increased screening for senior citizen drivers. While this might decrease the instances of accidents caused by seniors, it would do nothing to protect senior citizens involved in accidents where they were passengers, or not the responsible party.
Potential Dangers for Senior Drivers
Senior citizens involved in auto accidents have an increased risk for injury due to increasing frailty as we age. Injuries that are not debilitating to younger drivers can make life for seniors much more difficult. Included in these injures are:
Injuries to the back and neck Concussions Broken bones Traumatic brain injury Internal bleeding and organ damage
When you are involved in a car accident, it is important to have a medical professional thoroughly examine you to determine if the injuries you sustained are serious. Some injuries may seem inconsequential at first, but upon further investigation may turn out to be severe and even life threatening. No matter the extent of your damages, you have a right to seek compensation for your injuries. An experienced personal injury attorney can help you get the full amount you deserve.
Senior Drivers Increased Risk of Causing Auto Accidents
Studies show that senior drivers are most often given citations for driving in the same manner as a distracted driver. Failure to stop, erratic lane changes, improper turns, and failure to yield the right of way are among the most common mistakes. In some cases, accidents can be avoided by other drivers using their reflexes and driving defensively; but accidents cannot always be avoided. When an accident occurs, not only are senior citizens at an increased risk of injury, but everyone involved shares that potential.