So you want to be a caregiver? That’s good! Lots of people start their healthcare careers as caregivers. However, you may want to consider becoming a medical assistant or dialysis technologist. Here’s why:

Job Opportunities

Caregivers and personal care aides generally work in-home with elderly patients.

Medical assistants can work in hospitals, doctor’s offices, or nearly any other medical context. Because the role is so versatile, medical assistants are some of the most in-demand members of the healthcare team.

Dialysis technologists can work in hospitals, dialysis clinics, cruise ships, and other locations. The need for dialysis technologists is increasing drastically, which means good job security.

Certifications

Caregivers only get one certification: Caregiver.

Midwestern Career College’s Medical Assisting program prepares students for multiple certification exams in three disciplines:

• phlebotomy
• electroencephalography (EKG/ECG)
• medical assisting

MCC’s curriculum is structured so you can get certified in phlebotomy and EKG before you even finish the program, giving you a chance to start working in healthcare right away.

MCC’s Dialysis Technologist Training Program prepares students for the premier dialysis certification: Certified Hemodialysis Technologist (CHT) from BONENT. Additionally, students are trained in phlebotomy, and prepared for two phlebotomist certification exams.

Get One Step Ahead

Beginning your healthcare career can be intimidating, and caregiver seems like a logical first step. If you think about your career as a ladder, caregiver would be one of the bottom rungs. Why not climb a few extra rungs up from the start? Medical assistant and dialysis technologist are just that extra step.

Because jobs for medical assistants are so varied, you can easily maneuver from medical assisting into a wide range of further advancements. You could go into medical imaging, surgical technology, or lots of other things, and your experience as a medical assistant will make you a much more qualified candidate that employers will love.

Dialysis techs can also work in a variety of contexts, and gain lots of valuable healthcare experience. Dialysis techs can advance into supervising or chief technician positions, and many go on to become nurses or fill other upper-level healthcare positions.

And you might as well take the extra step now, instead of later. Lots of people come right back to school within a year or two of becoming a caregiver because of burnout.

Caregiver Burnout

Caregivers have a hard, underappreciated, and sometimes dangerous job. Caregivers work directly in patients’ homes, which sometimes means dealing with unpleasant odors and individuals for hours on end, with no support from other trained staff. After a certain amount of time dealing with these difficulties for low pay, many decide to return to their education seeking something else, like medical assisting. Here at Midwestern Career College, we find a lot of our students are caregivers. So why not skip being a caregiver and go straight for medical assistant or dialysis technologist?

Enroll Now!

We are currently enrolling for our Medical Assisting program and our Dialysis Technologist Training Program for Chicago, Blue Island and Naperville. If you’d like to learn more, call (312) 236-9000, email admissions@mccollege.edu, or fill out our online form today to receive a brochure and more information.