What Are the Different Types of Medical Career Opportunities?

Medical career opportunities are plentiful and range from positions providing direct patient care to those performing critical roles behind the scenes. Positions filled by doctors, surgeons and opticians make up many of the medical field jobs. A variety of nursing careers are available, as are dental career roles and radiology positions. From record-keeping and medical testing to rehabilitation therapy, medical career opportunities are many and varied.

There are a wealth of medical career opportunities in the nursing field, with nurses working in such areas as addictions, forensics and geriatrics. They also work in emergency rooms, trauma areas and surgical settings. In addition to positions in hospitals and doctor's offices, nurses also offer home care and transport nursing services for patients. Other medical career opportunities for nurses include holistic nursing, diabetes management and school nursing. Teaching and instructional opportunities are also available in the nursing field, including opportunities in hospitals, colleges and public health.

Pharmacy medical jobs include drug therapy monitoring, oncology and antibiotic surveillance. Patient counseling and education, along with asthma monitoring, are other pharmacy-related job positions. Additional positions focus on pediatrics, geriatrics and neonatal intensive care.

Conducting tests and interpreting and relaying their results are all an important aspect of the medical field, and many medical career opportunities in publicly- and privately-operated laboratories are available worldwide. Medical laboratory specialty areas include endocrinology, immunology and toxicology. Jobs are also available in transfusion services, serology and urinalysis.

Several medical career opportunities focus on blood, including those working in blood chemistry, coagulation and blood banks. Blood donor collection services require several medical professionals, from personnel in scheduling and technicians who actually draw the blood to laboratory technicians who type and process it.

Radiology and imaging also offer medical career opportunities, including general radiography, mammography and angiography. Other positions include those in nuclear medicine, ultrasound and radiation therapy. Food service and nutritional medical career opportunities include chefs and dieticians. Medical careers are also available in auditing and medical coding.

Rehabilitation services play an important role in patient care, and medical career opportunities in this field include hand therapy, sports medicine and orthopedics. Rehab jobs are also available in speech pathology, neurosurgery and spine care. Some rehab positions focus on specific populations, such as women's health, pediatrics and neonatal care. The mental health field offers several medical career opportunities, including addiction medicine, chronic pain management and hospice services. Other positions include home health, palliative care and psychiatry.