A degree in Health Sciences is a great option for undergraduates who are looking to transition into a career in health care. Health Sciences degrees are interdisciplinary in nature, giving you a well-rounded education in both the behavioral sciences and the natural sciences so that you can provide the best possible care.
What is a health science degree?
A Health Sciences degree will cover health-related social science fields such as epidemiology, psychology, and sociology as well as public health classes and coursework in areas such as exercise and nutrition. The goal of the Excelsior College Bachelor of Science in Health Sciences is to prepare students for a career in healthcare. This means learning the skills required to help patients understand how to make choices in their lives to promote good health and overcome their own obstacles to wellness.
The degree course teaches students about how the US healthcare industries and insurance providers are organized, as well as an understanding of healthcare policy at the state and federal level. In short, the purpose of a Health Sciences degree is to equip students with the knowledge to effectively work in any number of healthcare settings such as treatment centers, hospitals, public health agencies, and long-term care facilities.
Career opportunities
Health Sciences degrees are broad and interdisciplinary, which means that they can be applied to a multitude of different career options. This is fantastic news for graduates because it gives them the opportunities to change careers later on if they want or need to, and means that they will be able to offer a tremendous amount of value to any team that they are part of. After you complete your Health Sciences degree you have the option to either begin work or to undertake further training and accreditation to embark on a specialist career path.
Some of the career paths that Health Sciences graduates embark upon are:
- Behavior analyst
- Community health worker
- Hearing aid specialist
- Doctor
- Research assistant
- Registered dietician
- Mental health counselor
- Patient care advocate
- Physical therapist
A Health Sciences degree means that you can begin working in a healthcare setting so that you can get a better idea of which healthcare career is the right one for you.
Health careers outlook
According to the BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics), the outlook for people embarking on health careers is good.
The field is projected to grow by 15% between 2019 and 2029, with an additional 2.4 million jobs being created. This is a much higher rate of growth than other fields. The main reasons for this are the aging population, which means there are a lot more older people who often require a higher level of healthcare and the fact that there is an increasing number of people suffering from chronic conditions such as diabetes and obesity.
The salaries across the healthcare sector vary hugely of course, but the average wage for healthcare practitioners and technical occupations was $69,870 in May 2020. This is much higher than the average wage across all occupations which was $41,950.
