Ask ten people in the street about their recent patient experience, and you'll get ten diverse, relatable answers. One had their routine skin check last week. Another had a hip replacement last month. Yesterday, two called their GP to renew their scripts for ongoing medication. The takeaway: we've all had experiences as patients in one way or another.
Roughly 1 in 10 nonfarm employees in the US work in the healthcare industry. Healthcare roles are integral to the population, and this is not changing any time soon; this is why increased options and opportunities for education in the healthcare field, such as online study, are crucial.
But what are the benefits of online study options, aside from attending a class in your favourite pyjama pants? Let's look at what online study options bring to the healthcare table.
Flexibility
Pyjama pants are a light-hearted perk. But realistically, flexibility is more than just letting you study when you want; it's letting you keep the rest of your life—often collateral damage from study—in good health. It's the ability to keep your part-time job to support your family while you study. It's the time to dedicate to your volunteer work on the side. Really, it's whatever you want it to be.
And as your healthcare career grows, so will your need to embrace this flexibility. For an undergrad, work is a couple of weekend shifts at your local cafe; for someone doing postgrad, it might be a 12-hour shift in ER, then home in time to get the kids ready for school. You'll study when you're free and awake, not the other way around. Online study is the ideal remedy to this unpredictability, as it means healthcare workers and students needn't move heaven and earth to continue their professional growth.
Accessibility
If childhood was your folk's farm and a trip to the closest mall was an eight-hour exercise, then you know the value of accessibility. You're not alone, either. Around one-fifth of the US population lives in rural areas, where access to livestock and pastures might be high, but access to employment opportunities can be low.
Healthcare is not immune to this trend. Never mind access to education; access to general healthcare is the first real challenge for people living in these areas. If you grew up somewhere urban, bets are you know exactly how long it takes to reach your local hospital. Someone rural mightn't have the same luxury. Online study means you can complete much of your program from the farm (as long as you have decent WiFi).
Accessibility here isn't just proximity. Nor is it just physical accessibility. Around 15 million US adults get diagnosed with social anxiety disorder every year, and that's just the ones officially diagnosed. If the thought of a busy campus makes your palms sweat, you likely know what we're talking about. Online study is perfect for this as it lets you learn without dealing with unnecessary stress.
It's not just about anxiety, either; accessible study means that people with a whole range of both physical and mental conditions can access education and course options that they may not otherwise have been able to.
Self-Paced Learning
Healthcare is an industry that changes as fast as the challenges it strives to conquer. It's content-heavy, and that isn't about to change. That's why having self-paced online learning options is often the clincher that convinces someone to pursue a healthcare career. Like a juggling ball that's only part of the act when you need it, self-paced study keeps your career growing in the background.
Diversity
So far, we've explored benefits that help you, the student. With accessibility comes diversity, a benefit that helps the healthcare industry just as much. Collectively, we should all know the power of diversity, whether in politics, sports, or the media. Healthcare is no different. Diversity in healthcare is important for many reasons, only one of which is that the better the industry reflects the community it belongs to, the better it can help.
Online study options help improve diversity in nursing and other healthcare fields by providing access to students who otherwise might not be able to undertake courses. Registered nurses are the largest healthcare workforce in the United States, 80% of whom are white/caucasian. By providing opportunities to more prospective students, online study could help balance the distribution of nursing professionals across all population groups, better reflecting the diversity of the country.
At its heart, diversity improves communication and trust—both of which are pillars of a strong healthcare strategy. Diversity is representation, and representation matters. It stitches together race, gender, sexual orientation, and so much more to create more equal, fair, and effective systems.
Training in Technology
Some changes you just can't fight. One of these is cloud computing. Online study prepares us for this by immersing us in the software that shapes our professional lives. Everything from project management tools to apps that remind patients when their next heart health test is due. If performing an ECG or taking blood is considered a hard skill in healthcare, think of your aptitude with online technology as a soft skill; it's not front and centre to your role, but it sure makes things operate a lot smoother.
The great thing about online study is that it makes you competent in technology without it being the main goal or something that takes up a whole lot more of your time. Joining online lectures and uploading assessments will become second nature and will put you in good stead when you join the workforce.
Online study isn't going anywhere; if anything, it's only going to grow in popularity. The evidence above makes a clear case for expanding online healthcare study options, not just for those wanting to enter the industry but for the communities across the United States that rely on healthcare daily and for students from all walks of life. With online study options, the healthcare industry can continue to become a more diverse, accessible, sustainable, and effective field for generations to come.
