8 Things You Can Do With A Public Health Degree

Healthcare has evolved and branched out into several different fields in the past few decades. This has proven to be beneficial against rising global health issues. Administration and management deal with the healthcare setups in facilities, while doctors and nurses provide firsthand care to the patients. In addition to this, scientists and researchers play a major part in making the healthcare system better and more accessible.

Public health is another equally important branch of healthcare. You don’t have to have a medical background to become a public health professional, making it an attractive choice for people interested in non-traditional healthcare jobs. Here is everything you need to know about career choices in public health. But first, let’s look into what public health actually is.

What is public health?

Simply put, public health deals with the health of the public. Public health specialists deal with the health of communities on a large scale. They mainly focus on disease prevention, especially if it is contagious.

Public health comes under the umbrella of biomedical sciences. Even though it focuses on the physical health of the population, a few subdisciplines of public health also deal with the psychological impacts of diseases that affect the community as a whole.

We recently experienced a global emergency in the form of Covid-19. The public health departments worked overtime to come up with SOPs and take steps to control the spread of the virus.

Careers in public health

The pandemic made us realize the importance of the public health sector in our community. More people are now showing interest in various subdisciplines of public health. If you wish to pursue a career in this field, an MPH degree program will kick-start your career. A master’s degree in public health can open up the following career paths for you to choose from.

1.         Epidemiology

Investigating the origins and patterns of disease is crucial to controlling the spread. A lot can be determined by studying the way and the rate by which contagions spread in a population. This is what epidemiology is all about.

If you are naturally curious and have good investigation and research skills, epidemiology is the field for you. Rather than being holed up in a laboratory, epidemiologists work in the field, gathering data and uncovering patterns that help the physicians and policymakers take appropriate steps toward treatment and prevention.

2.         Emergency management

Health emergencies can occur anytime, anywhere. It is best to stay alert and prepared to deal with emergencies and make quick decisions.

Public health specialists who opt for emergency management train to act quickly in emergencies. They deal with disease breakouts and medical emergencies during disasters like earthquakes or terrorist attacks. As an emergency management director, you have to learn to work in high-pressure situations. In most cases, you will have to make split-second decisions and rapid improvements to the original plan.

3.         Occupational health and safety

Healthcare workers often work in a highly contagious environment that can be deadly. Similarly, construction workers can get seriously injured if they do not take proper safety measures. These are just two of the many examples that explain workplace hazards people encounter.

Occupational health and safety is a career in public health that takes proper measures to ensure maximum health security in the workplace. The people in-charge help create proper safety protocols for the workers to follow and ensure they are properly followed. They also ensure that the companies strictly follow the health regulations set by the state.

4.         Public policy and administration

The government and public health sector need to coordinate to develop health policies that work best for everyone. For this purpose, public health policymakers and administrators come into play.

If you have good research skills, you can work in the research wing of public health policymaking. It entails digging into the studies and statistics related to health issues so that the authorities can take appropriate steps toward public health improvement. You can also work in policymaking as an analyst. All you need to do is work with the researchers and figure out if the new policies actually complement the collected data and research.

5.         Nutrition

You are what you eat. We often come across this saying more times than we notice. Many health issues arise among the population simply because of unhealthy dietary habits.

Research indicates that a healthy diet can prevent major health issues like hypertension, diabetes, and heart diseases. Public health nutritionists play a major role in this regard. As a nutritionist, your job will be to assess the ongoing and rising health risks among the population and ways to treat and prevent them through diet and exercise. Once you formulate a diet plan, all you need to do is figure out ways to introduce them in attractive ways so that people are inclined to follow through with them.

6.         Biostatistics

Statistics is an important part of any research. All the collected data is interpreted in the form of graphs and charts. Research in public health involves a bulk of data that can be exceedingly difficult to interpret without statistical representation. For this purpose, biostatisticians are needed to plot and graph the data points to identify trends in healthcare and take appropriate measures to improve the quality of life.

7.         Education

Educators are the most important members of any community. They impart their hard-earned knowledge and wisdom to the next generation and train them to serve their community. Public health educators are no different.

With an increase in demand for public health experts, educators are more in demand than ever. Although you need a doctorate in public health to qualify as an educator, this career option is not without its perks. You get to influence an entire generation of healthcare specialists eager to serve the public on a large scale.

8.         Mass communication

All the policies and research are not enough if you cannot communicate the new developments to the public. This is where public health communication professionals come in.

Communication professionals are not only well-versed in public health practices, but also possess excellent verbal and written skills. They use the resources at their disposal to spread awareness regarding health practices to the general public are ways that are easy to understand.

Conclusion

A career in public health can be rewarding. Even though it is different from traditional healthcare practices, a career in public health can bring about positive changes on a much larger scale. If you wish to get into public health, there is no better time than now! Your community needs more and more public health experts to counter the rapidly deteriorating public health.