Health care careers manual released

The University of Nevada School of Medicine and the High Sierra Area Health Education Center announce the release of Health Care Careers in Nevada 2014-2015.

This updated edition of the manual contains a wide range of current information on more than 80 health care occupations in Nevada, including an overview of job requirements, Nevada employment outlook and average salary data in Nevada for each occupation. The guide also provides a detailed inventory of educational certificate and degree programs in Nevada for each type of health care job.

“Health Care Careers in Nevada is primarily targeted to middle school and high school students in Nevada interested in exploring careers in medicine, nursing and other health care fields. It will also be of interest to those looking to learn more about numerous health care education opportunities available to Nevada residents” says co-author Andrea Gregg, executive director of the High Sierra Area Health Education Center.

Over the past decade, the health services sector – hospitals, clinics, medical and dental practices, nursing homes, pharmacies, and other health providers – has been an economic mainstay during the state’s deepest recession since the Great Depression. From 2007 to 2012, Nevada’s economy shed close to 200,000 jobs. In contrast, employment in Nevada’s health industries grew by nearly 9,000 jobs or 10 percent.

Currently, more than 110,000 Nevadans are employed in the health services sector and nearly one in ten jobs in Nevada are in hospitals, clinics and other health care settings. Moreover, twenty of the fastest growing health care occupations in Nevada possess an average annual salary that exceeds the average annual salary of $41,497 for all occupations in the state.

Co-author Dr. John Packham, director of Health Policy Research at the University of Nevada School of Medicine, notes that: “Health care careers in Nevada continue to represent well-paying, recession-resistant employment for thousands of Nevadans poised to enter the state’s workforce – opportunities that will only increase with the growing demand for health care over the next two decades. Our hope is that Health Care Careers in Nevada can assist anyone interested in exploring such opportunities.”

For additional information on health care careers in Nevada and to access the interactive version of the Health Care Careers in Nevada 2014-2015 manual, visit www.highsierraahec.org.

The University of Nevada School of Medicine, a research-intensive, community-based medical school, has served Nevada for more than 40 years as its only public medical school. Our mission is improving the health of Nevada’s diverse population through world-class biomedical research, an innovative curriculum integrating basic and clinical sciences, and highly competitive residency and fellowship programs that complement a statewide network of urban and rural clinical facilities. Through targeted growth and investment in research, clinical services and education, we will become a resource for improving health care regionally and across the country.