To get a high-paying position in the medical industry, you don’t have to attend medical school, get a doctorate, finish a residency in a different part of the country, or accrue thousands of dollars in student loan debt.
While doctors and surgeons continue to command some of the best wages in the country and make up the majority of employees at hospitals, many other jobs require less schooling and have annual earnings as high as $167,000 available.
CNBC Make It examined occupational data from the Bureau of Labour Statistics to identify the highest-paying non-doctoral healthcare positions. The fourteen jobs that resulted cover everything from treating communication difficulties to creating artificial limbs and some of them can be obtained with just an associate’s degree.
What’s best? Not only do all of these jobs pay a median salary of at least $69,000 but they are all expected to have rapid growth over the next seven years, with some jobs seeing the growth of as high as 37%. This indicates that employees in these in-demand healthcare sectors can count on having their good jobs for a very long time to come, and they can probably anticipate a handsome compensation raise as their abilities grow more in demand.
If you want to help people but don’t like the thought of becoming a doctor, here are 14 high-paying careers you might think about:
Anaesthetist nurses
Average annual salary: $167,950
Job increases anticipated through 2026: 16%
During surgical, therapeutic, diagnostic, and obstetric procedures, these nurses administer anaesthesia and other related care. To ensure that anaesthesia can be provided properly, they are in charge of assessing a patient’s current medications as well as any allergies or illnesses they could have before surgery starts. The patient is subsequently given anaesthesia, or a local anaesthetic is used to numb a specific part of the body. Throughout a procedure, they will stay with the patient to monitor their well-being and make any required adjustments to the anaesthetic.
According to health and social care level 3 book workers must graduate from a recognised medical programme with at least a master’s degree to work as one of these advanced practise registered nurses. Before pursuing such schooling, individuals must be licenced as registered nurses to be eligible. To be admitted to a nurse anaesthetist school that is accredited, prospective students must also have one year of clinical experience. In acute care or critical care setting, candidates often have previous experience working as registered nurses.
health care assistants
Average yearly salary: $108,610
The job increase anticipated through 2026: is 37%
These individuals, often known as PAs, support doctors and surgeons as they evaluate, diagnose, and treat patients. They can be asked to assess a patient’s medical history, examine them, order and interpret diagnostic tests, determine whether they have an injury or sickness, treat them, prescribe drugs, and offer them health advice. State-by-state, the level of physician or surgeon oversight required of a PA varies, but in rural and medically underserved areas, PAs sometimes act as primary care providers at clinics where a doctor is only present one or two days per week.
You must obtain a master’s degree from a recognised programme to work as a PA. Full-time study normally lasts two years to complete. You can even hire services like nursing and finance paper writing service to pass your courses with good grades. Physician assistants must pass the Physician Assistant National Certifying Examination to be credentialed in all states. Additionally, as a collaboration between physicians and physician assistants is necessary for practice, state licencing rules require that a medical assistant retain a contract with a supervising physician.
Nursing professionals
Average yearly salary: $107,030
Job increases anticipated through 2026: 36%
These nurses provide both primary and specialised care. They frequently work alone or with medical professionals. To choose the appropriate course of action for treating or managing a person’s health concern, they evaluate patients. Many nurse practitioners focus on providing care for particular needs, such as those of the elderly, children, or people with mental or psychiatric conditions.
Workers must graduate from a recognised medical programme with at least a master’s degree to work as one of this advanced practice registered nurses. Before pursuing study for one of these advanced practice professions, such as nurse practitioner, they must also possess a registered nursing licence.
Technologist in nuclear medicine
Average yearly pay: $76,820
Job increases anticipated through 2026: 10%
These medical professionals create radioactive medications for patients to support imaging or therapeutic goals. They run the imaging machinery that doctors use to diagnose and treat patients. They might also aid medical professionals in their study of radioactive medication applications.
The standard educational requirement for nuclear medicine technologists is an associate’s degree from an authorised programme. However, if a worker has a degree in a comparable health profession and completes a 12-month certificate programme, they may qualify. A licence to practise may be needed in some areas, and they frequently need to be certified in their particular speciality.
Therapists of speech and language
Average yearly salary: $77,510
Job increases anticipated through 2026: 18%
These professionals, who are also known as speech therapists, identify and treat children’s and adults’ communication and swallowing issues.
Today’s speech-language pathologists tend to have master’s degrees from recognised universities. Most states regulate this position and all of them demand a licence. Pathologists must have at least a master’s degree from an authorised programme, supervised clinical practice, and pass an exam in jurisdictions that do require licensure.