Ways to Advance in Your Healthcare Career

Ways to Advance in Your Healthcare Career

Healthcare can be a rewarding industry to enter and offers a variety of roles to suit all personalities and backgrounds. To enjoy great success in the sector, you must wake up every day with a passion and commitment to improving the health of others and supporting patient standards.

It doesn’t matter if you are a doctor, nurse, surgeon, porter or administrative assistant, your small or large actions will make a big difference to a hospital or medical practice.

However, the industry can be competitive and you might be unsure how you could quickly progress in the sector. If you want to stand out from your colleagues and secure a promotion or a brand-new role, you should read the below eighteen ways to advance in your healthcare career.

1. Define a Clear and Realistic Career Path
If you want to quickly advance in your career, so you can enjoy a greater salary and job satisfaction, you must define your career goals to provide yourself with a clear path to success.
While it will undoubtedly take a great deal of patience and hard work to climb the healthcare ladder, a rock-solid focus and perseverance could one day make your dream a reality. So, identify the additional education or experience you might need to secure to reach your goals.

2. Ignore Industry Stereotypes
Many medical professionals have preconceptions of various professions or public and private healthcare sectors when entering a role. Yet, holding onto these stereotypes could hold you back in your career. Most of the time, the perception will be based on a myth or a misunderstanding.
Rather than believing everything you hear, you should put the stereotypes to one side to enhance in your career. For example, you could work in both the public and private sector to increase your salary, network with many professionals and gain additional experience.

3. Consider a Sideways Step
While you might be eager to climb the healthcare ladder, you shouldn’t be afraid to take a sideways step should the right opportunity become available. For example, you could leave the public sector for the same or a similar role in a private medical practice.
While it might not seem like a progressive step, it could provide you with greater experience in the industry, boost your skill-set and allow to form influential connections in your career. So, the move could open the door to many future opportunities, which could help you to advance in your career at a faster rate.

4. Improve Your Communication Skills
Communication is key in any healthcare setting, as patients’ health and safety will be a primary importance. To impress your supervisors and colleagues, you must improve your communication skills, as it will allow others to excel in their roles and can support a hospital or medical practice’s internal standards.
For example, you must clearly communicate a topic or task to others and demonstrate emotional stability, as a supervisor will only consider advancing employees who can remain calm in every event and thrive under pressure.

5. Gain Additional Training
If you want to enjoy greater job satisfaction and a larger annual income, you always have the option to embark on additional training. For example, if you are currently an RN or BSN-prepared nurse, you could train to become a family nurse practitioner, who will typically earn a bigger base salary and can enjoy productivity bonuses and incentive payments.

You also could secure training in your spare time by enrolling in an online degree, which has been designed to enhance your nursing skills and can help you to advance in your career. Find out more about a BSN to MSN-FNP program.

6. Discuss Your Ambition
Most medical settings will promote employee development and they might even be willing to provide continuing training to ambitious, capable staff. For this reason, you should communicate your career goals with members of management, who could offer valuable advice and support to help you secure a promotion.

7. Continually Boost Your Knowledge
It is important to never stop learning when you work in the healthcare sector. In addition to embarking on additional training, you should regularly read various medical reports and publications, which will allow you to learn more about emerging health issues, medical advancements and innovative technologies.
You also could attend seminars, shadow supervisors and take classes to expand your professional skillset. After all, the healthcare industry is constantly evolving, so your knowledge and expertise could support patient care and impress members of management.

8. Embrace Your Current Position
While you might have tunnel vision when it comes to your career, you should avoid becoming too focused on your goals or you could miss out on potential opportunities in your current role. While it is wise to look to the future, you should embrace the existing experience to build on your skill set, form connections and learn vital lessons.

9. Learn from Your Supervisors
If you want to follow in your supervisors’ footsteps, you must aim to learn from their example. For instance, you could attempt to embody their work ethic, demeanor, academic experience and knowledge level, which could help you to flourish in your career. By using a member of management’s experience as a professional guide, you could quickly impress your supervisor and reach your goals at a faster rate.

10. Don’t Be Won Over by Appearances
Before embarking on additional training to rise through the ranks, you should thoroughly research your desired career. While a position might look glamorous from the outside, it could come with a great amount of pressure and responsibilities, which might not be an ideal fit for your personality. Never choose a career path based on appearances and always make an informed decision by talking to professionals in the role, which will ensure you don’t come to regret your choice down the road.

11. Take Your Responsibilities Seriously
Every medical professional must take their responsibilities seriously each day, as a patient’s health and wellbeing can be determined by their actions. If you are assigned a task by a member of management, you must approach it with maturity and professionalism.
If, however, you fail at the task, you must avoid passing blame, take accountability for your actions and sincerely apologise. It will prove to a supervisor that you have a good character and are willing to shoulder responsibility, which could paint you in a better light.

12. Build a Strong Network
Networking isn’t just for entrepreneurs and sales representatives. If you want to climb the healthcare ladder with ease, you should aim to build a strong network. By gaining many contacts in your industry, you will be able to learn from their successes, request their career advice and potentially receive a recommendation for an upcoming position, which could help you to secure your dream role in a public or private hospital or clinic.

13. Stop Procrastinating
Many people are guilty of procrastinating in the workplace, but it can prevent them from advancing in their career. To prove you deserve a promotion or pay raise, you must show management that you can remain on top of various tasks.
For example, you will need to:
• Organise tasks by priority
• Avoid multitasking to improve attention to detail
• Complete a job in a timely manner and to a high standard
So, whenever you feel the urge to procrastinate, remind yourself that it could slow you down in your career. Instead, you must aim to work through every task on your to-do list to highlight to management that you can tackle small and large responsibilities with ease.

14. Maintain Your Motivation
No-one can deny that the healthcare industry can be demanding. It doesn’t matter if you are a phlebologist, a doctor, nurse or receptionist, you can expect to work long hours and experience multiple challenges each working day. As a result, it can be easy to feel drained of passion for your role and tired once your shift is complete.
Rather than allowing a hard working day to dull your ambition, you must maintain your focus and motivation. Remind yourself why you entered the medical sector in the first place, which was more than likely to improve the lives of others and support patient care. It can prevent a bad day from detracting from your focus and will ensure you remain on the right path.

15. Improve Your Soft Skills
While medical degrees and experience might be essential in your chosen career, you also shouldn’t underestimate the importance of growing your soft skills.
If you want to stand out among your colleagues, receive glowing feedback from patients and impress your supervisors throughout the years, you must develop:
• Empathy – it will allow you to embrace situations with sensitivity and understanding.
• Adaptability – the ability to thrive under pressure and adapt to unique challenges.
• A positive mental attitude – the right outlook can create an optimistic atmosphere for both patients and staff.
• Time management – an essential skill as lives could depend on your timekeeping skills.
• Self-confidence – projecting an air of confidence can make patients feel confident in your ability and experience.
• An ability to accept criticism – the healthcare industry is constantly changing and you must be willing to embrace constructive criticism to learn and grow.

16. Find a Mentor
A mentor can provide informative advice on the next best steps to take in your career, such as the best training opportunities to embrace, the experience you should aim to acquire, and the industry events you should attend to grow your skillset.
What’s more, they could introduce you to key people within your chosen field, who could prove integral to your career. Plus, you will have an opportunity to pick their brains to learn from their experience and mistakes.

17. Be a Team Player
Despite being eager to rise through the ranks in the healthcare sector, you must learn to work well with your colleagues. Collaboration is an essential factor in the medical industry, as patients’ lives depend on clear communication and teamwork.
To enjoy a promising career, you must become a joy to work with and strive to help others resolve problems, rather than creating them or complaining each day. Also, by becoming a team player, your co-workers will be more likely to support you throughout your career and lend a helping hand as and when you need it.

18. Care for Your Own Health
As mentioned, the sector can be exceptionally demanding, as you could experience long shifts, tough tasks, and difficult patients each day. As a result, you might be tempted to reach for junk food at the end of a working day or might even stay up late to make the most of your spare time.
However, this can be a big mistake, as it could lead to poor energy levels, a low mood and poor concentration once you return to the workplace. It is, therefore, beneficial to care for your health and wellbeing each day.
For example, you must enjoy:
• A healthy, balanced diet (such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low-fat dairy products, lean meats and limited trans and saturated fats)
• A minimum of seven hours of sleep per night
• Drink plenty of water
The above tips will allow you to recover quickly from a gruelling shift, so you can return to work filled with passion and energy. It will also ensure you provide patients with the highest standard of care.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are a number of factors you should consider when attempting to climb the healthcare career ladder. In addition to obtaining additional training to secure a promotion, you also might need to work on your soft skills and should aim to build a strong network within the sector.
It’s important to be aware that your actions in the workplace can also determine whether you qualify for a promotion. For example, you must strive to become a team player, communicate clearly with your peers and patients, avoid procrastination, and learn from your supervisors’ example.

By following the above tips, you could soon make your professional dreams a reality, which can lead to greater job satisfaction, a larger income and increased self-confidence in your ability.