|
You drag your body out of bed each morning, dreading another day
spent staring at the lifeless green screen. The human element is
definitely missing from your job. our only consolation?
Crashing on the couch to catch the latest saves on ER and
Scrubs.
Veg no more -- in more than 469,000 health care establishments
across the country, workers fuse human compassion with advanced
medical technology to tend to the needs of real people. From
cleansing a child's scraped knee to caring for the terminally
ill, dedicated professionals like you work hard to improve the
lives of those around them.
You Should Know
• There's a tremendous amount of rewarding work available in
the health services field, particularly in hospitals. Even
though they account for less than two percent of all health care
facilities, they employ almost 45 percent of all industry
workers, including government-run hospitals.
• Health care positions employ over 11 million people
nationwide, including the self-employed.
• Approximately 13 percent of all jobs created between 2000 and
2010 will be in the health services field. Nine out of the 20
occupations expected to grow the fastest in coming years are in
the health care industry.
• The health care industry includes establishments ranging from
small private practices, which may only have one or two
employees, to large, highly active inner-city hospitals that
employ thousands of people in a wide variety of capacities. Over
half of all non-hospital establishments employ fewer than five
workers, and conversely, nearly two-thirds of hospital employees
work in establishments with more than 1,000 employees.
Break It Down
So what is this career going to cost you, timewise? In 2000,
nonsupervisory workers averaged 33.1 hours per week, compared
with 34.5 for all private industry workers. Home health care
workers put in 29.5 hours per week on average, and employees of
nursing and personal care facilities worked 32.6 hours. Finally,
hospital workers averaged 35 hours, so any way you slice it,
you’re clocking below the average 40-hour work week.
|