6 answers
kourtney
Student
Kerrville, Texas
6
Questions
Asked
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Why did you choose the health care pathway?
#health #hospital-and-health-care #healthcare
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6 answers
Keana Anderson
Supervisor in MA Communications
11
Answers
Southfield, Michigan
Updated
Keana’s Answer
Hello, great question. I work in the health insurance industry. My team develops the annual communications for members benefits. These documents explain the members benefits and health insurance coverage. I decided to apply with my current employer as they are pretty reputable and on of the biggest health insurance carriers in my state. I've been with them now for almost 7 years and I love it.
Melina Fernandez Brandt
Physician
6
Answers
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Updated
Melina’s Answer
Hi Kourtney!
Fortunately I knew I wanted to be a doctor since I was a child. I felt that it was so interesting and complicated at the same time. I knew I wanted to study it, know more about it. When I was in high school I went to a hospital and was able to spend some hours in the emergency room and see how it all worked. It was great to see how the staff was able to help people that came in pain or after an accident. After that, I was sure that is what I wanted to do.
It is a great career but there is a lot of sacrifice that comes with it. It is a long but rewarding road. Also, there will always be work for people in healthcare.
Hope this helps! Best of luck!
Fortunately I knew I wanted to be a doctor since I was a child. I felt that it was so interesting and complicated at the same time. I knew I wanted to study it, know more about it. When I was in high school I went to a hospital and was able to spend some hours in the emergency room and see how it all worked. It was great to see how the staff was able to help people that came in pain or after an accident. After that, I was sure that is what I wanted to do.
It is a great career but there is a lot of sacrifice that comes with it. It is a long but rewarding road. Also, there will always be work for people in healthcare.
Hope this helps! Best of luck!
John Quigley
Director
3
Answers
Saint Clair Shores, Michigan
Updated
John’s Answer
Hi Kourtney. Good question. I find that there are so many different perspectives that folks provide when I have asked them similar questions. In my case, I was interested early in becoming part of an industry that was helping a portion of the community that needed assistance getting access to healthcare and health services.
I found the best place for me to start was working at a health plan that served Medicaid members. This was extremely rewarding to me as I worked in different areas of the plan and and got an opportunity to speak directly to the members and providers. A lot of the members we served were young mothers, folks that had economic hurdles or other disabilities. I really enjoyed my time helping them navigate a confusing industry, understand how to interact with their insurance plan and providers, and ultimately help them stay current with health and wellness visits, and assist with accessing the care they needed when they were sick or injured.
After several years working in the Medicaid landscape, and watching my parents grow older I decided to focus on another demographic and moved into the Medicare world (for people over 65 years of age). This for me was a natural extension of my earlier career choice and I have pursed the same area of interest in the Medicare world.
I found the best place for me to start was working at a health plan that served Medicaid members. This was extremely rewarding to me as I worked in different areas of the plan and and got an opportunity to speak directly to the members and providers. A lot of the members we served were young mothers, folks that had economic hurdles or other disabilities. I really enjoyed my time helping them navigate a confusing industry, understand how to interact with their insurance plan and providers, and ultimately help them stay current with health and wellness visits, and assist with accessing the care they needed when they were sick or injured.
After several years working in the Medicaid landscape, and watching my parents grow older I decided to focus on another demographic and moved into the Medicare world (for people over 65 years of age). This for me was a natural extension of my earlier career choice and I have pursed the same area of interest in the Medicare world.
Yasemin G.
Aspiring physician
635
Answers
Updated
Yasemin’s Answer
Hi Kourtney! Excellent question and one that is asked many times to individuals in the healthcare field. For me, it began when my grandmother was diagnosed with dementia and I began to take care of her for some time, we had a very strong and trusting relationship and this was the first real experience I had in health care. Afterwards my biology teacher combined medicine with science and I absolutely loved it; taking care of my grandmother and having my biology teacher teach science in a medically related way inspired me to pursue the path of being a physician. It can be difficult and require time and dedication, but it is a very rewarding field; one of my experiences in the health care field is volunteering in the ER, in this setting there are so many cases to see and so many patients to help. I've had the opportunity to not only obtain experience in a true medical setting but also help many patients in their care. Besides being a physician there are many pathways in the health care field like nursing, physician's assistant, pharmacist, etc., to name a few. I think to really decide if this field is right for you I would recommend to get experience working with others in a medical setting and also making sure you like science. Individuals who are pursuing a path in health care will be studying a lot of science, and even though you may struggle in a subject or like one more than the other, it is important to make sure you can do well in these classes and enjoy them as well. Hope this has helped!
I wish you the best!
I wish you the best!
Inspiring indeed
Samantha Armando
Medical Student
10
Answers
Schaumburg, Illinois
Updated
Samantha’s Answer
Hi Kourtney,
This is always such a difficult question to answer because sometimes it feels so natural to be on the path I am on. However, it is also so fun to answer because I am so passionate about it. I have always loved science but I have also loved helping others. Volunteering for organizations in the United States and other countries almost are a treat for me because the joy it brings me to interact with others. When adding what I loved together, I knew I wanted to be a physician. Before I got into medical school I worked in an emergency room for 3 years and loved it. Allowed me not only to volunteer int he hospitals near me but also allowed me to see the ins and outs of physicians lives. Since that experience basically confirmed that being a physician was for me I kept studying hard (even though it was easy to spend hours and hours studying because the classes were so interesting and fun) and eventually got into medical school. Medical school is challenging for sure but does not always feel like that because the classes are beyond interesting. During this pandemic I knew I made the correct choice in my career because I was saddened I could not do more to help others, especially not being able to help at the hospitals.
The great thing about all of this is the heath care system is HUGE! You have so many opportunities to help in the way that makes you happy. It really is a great, rewarding profession. It takes work but anything worth doing has a little work involved. You will be great at whatever you choose if you truly love what you do.
Goodluck!
This is always such a difficult question to answer because sometimes it feels so natural to be on the path I am on. However, it is also so fun to answer because I am so passionate about it. I have always loved science but I have also loved helping others. Volunteering for organizations in the United States and other countries almost are a treat for me because the joy it brings me to interact with others. When adding what I loved together, I knew I wanted to be a physician. Before I got into medical school I worked in an emergency room for 3 years and loved it. Allowed me not only to volunteer int he hospitals near me but also allowed me to see the ins and outs of physicians lives. Since that experience basically confirmed that being a physician was for me I kept studying hard (even though it was easy to spend hours and hours studying because the classes were so interesting and fun) and eventually got into medical school. Medical school is challenging for sure but does not always feel like that because the classes are beyond interesting. During this pandemic I knew I made the correct choice in my career because I was saddened I could not do more to help others, especially not being able to help at the hospitals.
The great thing about all of this is the heath care system is HUGE! You have so many opportunities to help in the way that makes you happy. It really is a great, rewarding profession. It takes work but anything worth doing has a little work involved. You will be great at whatever you choose if you truly love what you do.
Goodluck!
Krishna Chaitanya Tumuluru
Supervisor - Data Management and reporting
25
Answers
Updated
Krishna Chaitanya’s Answer
I was introduced to healthcare data when I started for a healthplan a decade ago. I really liked it as it gave me oppurtunity to understand how things work in US health care. Then on, I started picking healthplans as my employers through out my career. I tried to understand the complex laandscape of health care in over simplified fashion but soon I realized that its not possible. I focused on learning one thing at a time as I got oppurtunites to work on different areas like claims, membership and provider modules.