1. Health Career Pathways
AOHS
Health Careers Exploration
Unit 1, Lesson 3
Health Career Pathways
Copyright © 2012‒2014 National Academy Foundation. All rights reserved.

2. Health careers are divided into categories called pathways
Diagnostic services
Therapeutic services
Health informatics
Support services
Biotechnology research and development
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3. One career pathway is diagnostic services
ECG technician
Radiologic technologist
Phlebotomist
Optometrist
Dentist
Diagnostic medical sonographer
Nuclear medicine technologist
Phlebotomists draw blood
Image retrieved from , courtesy of Richardelainechambers.
What do you think these careers have in common? Discuss your ideas with a partner, and then share your ideas with the class.

4. Workers in diagnostic services diagnose disease and injury
Health care workers in diagnostic services perform tests and evaluations on patients. These tests help detect, diagnose, and treat disease and injury.
People who work in this pathway often use diagnostic image technology, like an ultrasound, X-ray, and MRI.
A patient is diagnosed using a sonograph, or an ultrasound.
Image retrieved from on June 5, Image courtesy of Joseph Caballero, US Navy.
What do you think people might enjoy about working in diagnostic services? What do you think some of the challenges might be?

5. Routine eye exams and nuclear imaging are both diagnostic services
An optometrist performs eye examinations on patients. Optometrists look for problems such as cataracts, nearsightedness, and farsightedness. If a problem is discovered, the optometrist may prescribe a treatment, such as glasses or corrective lenses.
A nuclear medicine technologist gives a patient drugs with a small amount of radioactivity. Then the technologist uses a special machine to take images of the inside of the body. A physician looks at the images to see if there are tumors or problems with the organs.
Image (left) retrieved from on June 5, Courtesy of Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Rialyn Rodrigo. Image (right) retrieved from on June 5, 2013 and reproduced here under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution –Share Alike 3.0 Unported license ( Image courtesy of Brendaicm.
Why do you think these jobs are in the same pathway?

6. Another career pathway is therapeutic services
Mental health counselor
Dental hygienist
Nutritionist
Physical therapist
Pharmacist
Oral surgeon
Speech-language therapist
Image retrieved from and reproduced under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. Image courtesy of Yosarian.
Nutritionists educate people about healthy eating.
What do you think these careers have in common? Discuss your ideas with a partner, and then share your ideas with the class.

7. Workers in therapeutic services work directly with patients to improve their condition
Health care workers in therapeutic services work to improve the condition of patients who are injured or sick, physically or mentally disabled, or emotionally troubled.
They provide care, treatment, counseling, and education.
Pharmacists provide medication to patients.
Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Think about people you have met who work in therapeutic services, such as doctors and nurses. What character traits do they have in common?

8. Physical therapists and oral surgeons provide therapeutic services
Oral surgeons perform mouth and jaw surgery
Procedures like removing impacted teeth and fixing jaw structure help relieve pain
Emergency surgery helps patients who have been injured.
Physical therapists have patients with head or neck injuries, arthritis, and amputations
Help patients restore the ability to move
Reduce pain and discomfort
Image (right) retrieved from on June 5, Image courtesy of Journalist 2nd Class David Valdez.
Why do you think these jobs are in the same pathway?

9. A third career pathway is health informatics
Health information management administrator
Medical illustrator
Admitting clerk
Medical librarian
Epidemiologist
Health educator
Medical coder
Image retrieved from courtesy of Patrick J. Lynch, and reproduced under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Generic license.
Medical illustrators create illustrations like this.
What do you think these careers have in common? Discuss your ideas with a partner, and then share your ideas with the class.

10. Workers in health informatics document and process patient records and health information
Don’t usually provide direct patient care
Responsible for documenting patient records and health information
Includes Performance Improvement (PI) and Quality departments
What skills do you think are valuable to have if you work in health informatics?

11. Epidemiologists and medical coders work in health informatics
Epidemiologists determine what causes diseases and how to stop them from spreading. They work for hospitals, universities, and governments. They must be skilled in statistics. Public health decisions are often based on their reports.
For hospitals and medical providers to receive reimbursement from insurance companies, they must submit reports that have a code for each procedure. Medical coders are responsible for correctly filing these codes.
Image on the left retrieved from on June 5, 2013 and reproduced under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license ( Image courtesy of Parihar, V., Yadav, Y.R, and Sharma, D.
Why do you think these jobs are in the same pathway?

12. A fourth career pathway is support services
Hospital maintenance engineer
Biomedical technician
Interpreter
Environmental health advocate
Industrial hygienist
Mortician/funeral director
Food safety specialist
Image retrieved from and reproduced under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license, courtesy of Ben Stephenson.
Biomedical technicians repair machines like this.
What do you think these careers have in common? Discuss your ideas with a partner, and then share your ideas with the class.

13. Workers in support services create safe environments
Workers in support services work behind the scenes to create clean and safe environments.
They do jobs like making sure that health care facilities function properly and that safety standards are met.
Restaurants and grocery stores must meet health and safety standards.
Image retrieved from and reproduced under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license. Image courtesy of Zeetz.
What do you think are some of the rewards and challenges of working in support services?

14. Biomedical equipment technicians and interpreters are in support services
Biomedical equipment technicians repair and maintain equipment at hospitals, clinics, and medical provider offices. They have the skills to care for equipment like dialysis machines and surgical equipment.
Support services
Interpreters help patients who don’t speak English communicate with medical staff. They understand medical terminology. Sign language interpreters help deaf patients communicate with medical professionals.
Image (left) retrieved from Image (right) retrieved from and reproduced here under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported ( license. Image courtesy of Yury Petrovich Masloboev.
Why do you think these jobs are in the same pathway?

15. Marriage family therapist
Medical facilities categorize some of the careers in support services as “patient care services”
Support services
Patient Care Services
Nurse educator
Medical social worker
Marriage family therapist
Support diagnostic and therapeutic services
Directly involved with managing patient care
Why do you think these jobs can be categorized as patient care services?

16. The final career pathway is biotechnology research and development
Toxicologist
Biomedical chemist
Forensic scientist
Molecular biologist
Geneticist
Pharmaceutical scientist
Processing technician
Image retrieved from on June 5, Image courtesy of Pearson Scott Foresman.
Forensic scientists study fingerprints.
What do you think these careers have in common? Discuss your ideas with a partner, and then share your ideas with the class.

17. There is an unlimited potential for the use of biotechnology
Biotechnology research and development
Workers in biotechnology research and development use living cells and their molecules to make useful products.
They produce new diagnostic tests and create new forms of treatment, medications, and vaccines.
Image retrieved from on June 5, 2013 and reproduced under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license ( Image courtesy of UC Davis College of Engineering.
Biomedical chemists create new vaccines.
How would you describe biotechnology in your own words? Why do you think people in this field are excited about their work?

18. Biotechnology research and development
Toxicologists and geneticists are in biotechnology research and development
Biotechnology research and development
Geneticists are scientists who study genes. They use biotechnology methods to study how genetic diseases are inherited. They also provide information to families who have genetic disorders. Other jobs they have involve making pharmaceuticals and using genetics to make new crops.
Toxicologists are involved with the safety of products that contain chemicals, from house paint to cleaning products used by major industries. They use biotechnology methods to conduct their research and learn about toxins at the molecular level.
Image (left) retrieved from and image (right) retrieved from and reproduced under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license ( on June 5, 2013.
Why do you think these jobs are in the same pathway?

19. Looking at pathways helps you see similarities in the careers that interest you
Diagnostic services – diagnosing disease and injury
Therapeutic services – providing care, treatment, education, and counseling
Health informatics – documenting patient records and health information
Support services – working behind the scenes to create clean, safe environments
Biotechnology research and development – using living cells to make useful products