The first step in getting the right education is to choose a medical assisting school that is accredited by either the ABHES or the CAAHEP. From there, you will need to decide if you want to become an RMA (Registered Medical Assistant) or CMA (Certified Medical Assistant)…or possibly both.

For a health care job that has more to do with administration and less to do with hands-on patient care, you may want to consider a medical secretary career.

If you’ve always wanted to work in a health care setting and aren’t squeamish around blood, here are a few opportunities to consider.

If you want a medical career with a shorter training period, anesthesia technician work is a good choice. Because you only have to be in school for a few years, you can get started working in your field right away.

While many people seek full-time employment or traditional work hours, others take a less common route: temping. Offering flexibility in scheduling, great rates of pay, and quite a bit of variety to the everyday tasks you face, temporary health care staffing agencies are a growing trend in the medical field.

Medical assisting is a great career choice for those who want to work in the healthcare field, but don’t want the responsibility (or extensive training period) of a nurse or doctor.

With so many different crime dramas on television and in the movies, one of the hottest new careers in the health care field is forensic science. Bridging the gap between the legal system and the medical system, the field of forensics offers professionals a chance to enjoy a stable career helping people prosecute murders and other crimes.

These degrees typically take two to six years of training, and require certification through the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists in order to find employment in most states.

One of the areas that is constantly growing is the field of research pharmacy, or the distribution of medication in accordance with drug trials and research studies. Pharmaceutical companies, government agencies, and university research departments are constantly developing new treatments, and there is a very strict protocol they have to go through in order to see those treatments become mainstream.

One of the best things about the health care field is that there are many different careers and career paths you can choose from. Most health care jobs are based on a “tier” system, in which the amount of education (and the type of degree) you have directly correlates to the job level you are qualified to fulfill.