Leigha Barbieri [0:00 - 1:07]: So, you want to work in healthcare, but you're not sure where to start. I'm Leah, your host of this podcast, and I'm bringing you the inside scoop on healthcare professions, from doctors to pas to healthcare administrators and crnas. My goal is to let professionals tell their stories and give honest reviews of the careers they have chosen. So, whether you're considering a job in healthcare or you simply have an interest in what we do, this show is for you. Welcome back to the so, you want to work in Healthcare podcast? I'm here with the one and only Heather Schull. Or you may know her as Heather the injector from my first ever episode of the so you want to work in Healthcare podcast. And today we're bringing you a bonus episode. These episodes are going to be every other week, so we'll still have the interview style episodes every other week, and then the weeks in between there, we're going to do a little bonus episode for you guys where we talk about healthcare related topics, pop medicine, and have a little bit of fun. So welcome, welcome. If you haven't subscribed yet, please do. And don't forget to leave a review on whichever listening platform you are listening on. Hey, Heather. Hey.
Heather Struhl [1:07 - 1:09]: Thanks for having me back.
Leigha Barbieri [1:09 - 1:12]: Of course. I'm so excited that we're doing this.
Heather Struhl [1:12 - 1:13]: Me too.
Leigha Barbieri [1:13 - 1:19]: Your episode has the most listens out of all of my podcast episodes, so.
Heather Struhl [1:19 - 1:20]: It'S starting out strong.
Leigha Barbieri [1:20 - 1:39]: Yeah. All right, so today we are going to go over the top ten jobs in healthcare reported by us news. We're going to break those down for you, give you salaries and things like that. But first, we're going to start with a little pop medicine moment. So, Heather, you want to drive us through this? Oh, yeah.
Heather Struhl [1:40 - 1:54]: So, really? Interestingly, I saw this week that Elon Musk is using ketamine, and he says it's to help keep the chemical balance correct in his brain, and he uses it when he feels negative, like depressive thoughts coming on. How do you feel about that?
Leigha Barbieri [1:56 - 2:19]: Interesting. I feel like it's giving Michael Jackson on propofol. Hopefully, it's not that extreme. Obviously, we don't want Elon musk to pass away, but I don't know that a normal middle class person is getting their doctor to prescribe them ketamine, especially for those reasons. I agree.
Heather Struhl [2:19 - 2:37]: As per FDA, ketamine is a dissociative anesthetic used medically for induction and maintenance of anesthesia, and it is also used as a treatment for depression and pain management. But I'm not that familiar with it used in these circumstances, I would love an anesthesiologist to weigh in on this.
Leigha Barbieri [2:37 - 2:38]: Yeah, for sure.
Heather Struhl [2:39 - 2:41]: I just hope he's doing it very safely.
Leigha Barbieri [2:42 - 2:51]: Yes, because it is a very strong drug, and I know it's kind of made its way into the party scene in the last ten years or so, but that does not mean it is safe.
Heather Struhl [2:51 - 2:52]: No.
Leigha Barbieri [2:52 - 3:08]: Whenever I see ketamine, it's usually in an anesthesia type setting with anesthesiologists and professionals. But I have heard that it's been used for things like depression. I just think it needs to be, like, studied a little bit more potentially, but we'll have to look into that.
Heather Struhl [3:09 - 3:12]: Yeah, definitely. Maybe we can comment on a future episode.
Leigha Barbieri [3:12 - 3:18]: Yeah, yeah, maybe we'll get an anesthesiologist on here. But kids, don't try this at home.
Heather Struhl [3:18 - 3:19]: Don't do drugs.
Leigha Barbieri [3:19 - 3:55]: Don't do drugs. All right, let's get into this list. So I want to break down the top ten jobs because that's what my podcast is all about. If you don't listen to the podcast or if this is their first time tuning in, Heather and I are both pas. I work in orthopedic surgery, and Heather works in plastics and aesthetic medicine. So I think you guys are going to really enjoy these little tips, tidbits of information we're giving you in these bonus episodes. All right, so first we have number ten, registered nurse. Good old fashioned nurse. So what do you think about nurse being number ten?
Heather Struhl [3:55 - 4:03]: I think nurses are just one of the most important jobs in the medical team.
Leigha Barbieri [4:03 - 4:04]: Facts.
Heather Struhl [4:05 - 4:26]: I don't think any other medical job that I'm sure that's hitting this list today could survive without nurses agree. I think they're so important, we wouldn't be able to get our jobs done without them. Whether we're in the or, you're working on the inpatient floors in the hospital, we just cannot survive without nurses. And there's actually a shortage right now.
Leigha Barbieri [4:26 - 4:48]: Yeah, totally. Especially since COVID there was, like, a mass exodus from the nursing field. So nursing is super important. I know a lot of people on social media are talking about how they're leaving bedside nursing, but I hope and I already see it that changes are being made in the nursing profession to keep nurses at their jobs because they are the backbone of medicine, in my opinion.
Heather Struhl [4:48 - 4:51]: Oh, absolutely. We can't function without them.
Leigha Barbieri [4:52 - 4:55]: All right, number nine, psychiatrist.
Heather Struhl [4:56 - 5:15]: Oh, wow. Well, we definitely don't have enough psychiatrists, and the more people we can get working in, you know, helping patients with mental health, I think we are just so deficient in covering, like, that sector of healthcare for patients. So I'm glad to hear that it hit the list of the top ten.
Leigha Barbieri [5:15 - 5:17]: Yeah. For patients and for ourselves.
Heather Struhl [5:18 - 5:18]: Absolutely.
Leigha Barbieri [5:18 - 5:53]: Yeah. I just saw a meme the other day by medthusiast. She puts them on a t shirt and it says, I think every degree in healthcare should come with a lifetime supply of therapy. And it's so true. It's like, honestly, we need therapy and, you know, whether from a psychiatrist, psychologist to be much more accessible because most people, like, can't afford it. Like, I can barely afford it. It needs to change. So. Yeah, psychiatrist. And the median salary is listed as 226,000 a year. There are about 1900 projected jobs.
Heather Struhl [5:53 - 6:16]: Okay, well, hopefully more than that in the future going forward. Yeah, the more we can get, the better. I feel like sometimes my own job, I turn into. I feel like a therapy dog half the time, so. Cause, you know, you may be coming in for something that is completely unrelated to this conversation, whether it's aesthetics or whatnot, but I'm also your therapy dog.
Leigha Barbieri [6:17 - 6:17]: Perfect.
Heather Struhl [6:18 - 6:19]: Not everyone has someone to talk to.
Leigha Barbieri [6:19 - 6:31]: That's true. But I'm always here real quick. Sorry, I forgot to mention this. Going back to registered nurse, the median salary is 81,000, which I think is higher than it has been. Yeah, that.
Heather Struhl [6:31 - 6:32]: I think that is higher as well.
Leigha Barbieri [6:32 - 6:32]: It's good.
Heather Struhl [6:32 - 6:35]: And honestly, I think they deserve, well, more than that.
Leigha Barbieri [6:35 - 6:36]: Yeah, same.
Heather Struhl [6:36 - 6:38]: They work really hard, long shifts, very hard.
Leigha Barbieri [6:39 - 6:43]: All right, number eight is oral and maxillofacial surgeon.
Heather Struhl [6:43 - 6:44]: Oh.
Leigha Barbieri [6:44 - 6:50]: The median salary is 239,000 a year and projected jobs are only 200.
Heather Struhl [6:50 - 7:06]: I'm actually really surprised that the salary is that low. I would have expected it to be higher. Yeah, they do such, like, fine, detailed work in the operating room, so just a lot of skill, a lot of education required to do those surgeries.
Leigha Barbieri [7:07 - 7:20]: Yeah, I agree. Obviously you need a doctorate for this and to be a psychiatrist as well, but I agree. I think that salary is a little bit low, for sure. I passed out in an oral surgery. That was fun.
Heather Struhl [7:20 - 7:23]: As a patient or just watching? Just watching.
Leigha Barbieri [7:23 - 7:35]: I couldn't handle it. I was like, oh, gosh, we're going into the mouth, like, into the jaw. This isn't. And I didn't expect to feel that way as a student. And, yeah, I just went down. It's great.
Heather Struhl [7:35 - 7:38]: Well, I hope you were kneeling on the floor before you went down.
Leigha Barbieri [7:39 - 7:50]: I think I caught. I think, like someone had a chair, like slid a chair, because I was like, I don't feel good but, yeah, tough to watch for me, but necessary, necessary profession.
Heather Struhl [7:50 - 7:52]: You know, some fields are not for everybody.
Leigha Barbieri [7:52 - 8:10]: True. All right, number seven is physical therapist. I feel like they could be higher on this list because I really do feel like physical therapists are so crucial, and I don't think they often get enough credit for what they do and the knowledge that they have, oh, 100%.
Heather Struhl [8:10 - 8:36]: They know anatomy so well and they essentially keep you moving. Like, if you just had your knee replacement done, you are or the whole team. We're solely relying on the physical therapist to help you with your range of motion, which also prevents scar tissue from forming, for example. So back in my ortho days, I used to tell my patients, your physical therapist is going to keep you in line, going to make sure you're not forming scar tissue, and just integral member of the team, for sure.
Leigha Barbieri [8:36 - 8:40]: The median salary is a little low, in my opinion, 97,000 a year, that.
Heather Struhl [8:41 - 8:43]: I would expect to be higher as well.
Leigha Barbieri [8:43 - 9:03]: Yeah, and you need a doctorate, so I wonder if the payoff is worth it. Right? Like, it's not cheap to go to physical therapy school in most cases. And if you're making under 100,000 a year, I mean, I don't know. I don't know if that trade off is worth it, to be honest.
Heather Struhl [9:03 - 9:13]: Oh, absolutely. You're going to be in debt. How long is it going to take to pay all of that off? I think. I'm pretty sure every salary, I'm going to say is too low. I expect it to be higher and it should be higher.
Leigha Barbieri [9:14 - 9:27]: I know. Well, we live in New York City, so we expect it all to be higher. But I will say the projected jobs are 37,000. Maybe that's why it ranked a bit higher because of the opportunity there.
Heather Struhl [9:27 - 9:28]: Oh, that makes sense.
Leigha Barbieri [9:28 - 10:04]: Yeah. All right, number six is nurse anesthetist, or crna, as some of you may know it. I had Chrissy on a recent podcast episode, so if anyone's interested in becoming a nurse anesthetist, definitely check that episode out, I think is episode seven. The median salary is 203,000 a year, so close to what the surgeons were making, just to point that out. And projected jobs are 4500 and you need a master's. And actually, I think Chrissy was saying now most of the programs are now doctorates, so I'm not sure why it says masters, but I think most of the programs are doctorates. If I'm. I have to double check that.
Heather Struhl [10:04 - 10:18]: That was an awesome episode that you recorded with Chrissy. Very insightful and absolutely I always am recommending CRnas as a specialty for somebody if, especially if they're a nurse, they're interested in healthcare. And your starting salary is super high.
Leigha Barbieri [10:18 - 10:20]: Yeah, that's a good trade off.
Heather Struhl [10:20 - 10:21]: Oh, absolutely.
Leigha Barbieri [10:21 - 10:35]: Cool job, too. You have a lot of autonomy, but you get to work with anesthesiologists, and it's very hands on. I would have considered that, like, if I had gone a nursing path, I think I would have considered a nurse anesthetist.
Heather Struhl [10:35 - 10:39]: I agree. And I actually did not know what a nurse anesthetist was until I was.
Leigha Barbieri [10:39 - 10:41]: Working as a PA. Really?
Heather Struhl [10:41 - 10:44]: So that's why this podcast is so important.
Leigha Barbieri [10:44 - 10:51]: Yes. All right, next, number five, veterinarian. Yes. For the animals.
Heather Struhl [10:51 - 10:52]: Ooh.
Leigha Barbieri [10:52 - 11:04]: Median salary is 103,000 a year, but there are 17,000 projected jobs. So, guys, it sounds like the United States needs vets.
Heather Struhl [11:04 - 11:07]: Are there enough schools to support these future jobs?
Leigha Barbieri [11:07 - 11:08]: I don't know.
Heather Struhl [11:08 - 11:13]: We need more vets. Our dogs and our cats are the most valuable family members we have.
Leigha Barbieri [11:13 - 11:16]: So true. Most valuable family members.
Heather Struhl [11:16 - 11:17]: Absolutely.
Leigha Barbieri [11:18 - 11:50]: Interestingly, the unemployment rate is 0.2%, so that's great. And there are a lot of jobs. I'll have to look into how many schools there are, but there's a lot of future growth opportunities, and they rate the stress. So there's, like, a scorecard. If you go to us news, there's a scorecard. Salary, job market, future growth, stress, and work life balance. And the stress level is rated as 6.6. Now, I don't know if that's high like, or low like, how is this stress scale working?
Heather Struhl [11:50 - 11:55]: I would think it's. It's stressful because, like, if my dog doesn't feel well, I want to cry.
Leigha Barbieri [11:55 - 11:56]: Oh, for sure.
Heather Struhl [11:56 - 11:59]: I can only imagine what it's like to be a veterinarian.
Leigha Barbieri [11:59 - 12:14]: Oh, my gosh. I would have become a vegetarian. Vegetarian if I like. Cause I love animals. But I could never be responsible for an animal crossing the rainbow bridge. I just couldn't do it.
Heather Struhl [12:14 - 12:15]: No, I would cry all day.
Leigha Barbieri [12:15 - 12:23]: All day. So that's number five. Number four is occupational therapists. So occupational therapist beats out physical therapists right now.
Heather Struhl [12:23 - 12:24]: Oh, that's interesting.
Leigha Barbieri [12:24 - 12:34]: Median salary is a little lower than a PT, so 93,000 a year. Projected jobs, though? 16,000. And you need a master's to become an occupational therapist.
Heather Struhl [12:35 - 12:46]: Occupational therapists really were in need over COVID. There were a lot of patients that were having complications due to COVID, so I know the occupational therapists were kind of working overtime.
Leigha Barbieri [12:46 - 12:47]: Really.
Heather Struhl [12:47 - 12:49]: They were super busy. Yeah.
Leigha Barbieri [12:49 - 13:08]: Do you know the difference, the main difference between physical therapy and occupational therapy? Yes, we're looking it up. I think it's though that occupational therapy is more about activities of daily living, smaller movements, like hand stuff. Yeah, I could be totally wrong.
Heather Struhl [13:08 - 13:20]: It also. It's a branch of healthcare that helps with people of all ages who have physical, sensory, and cognitive problems. Even like, small things, like. Yeah, like just hand movements, fine motor, touch. Things like that. Exactly as you said.
Leigha Barbieri [13:20 - 13:26]: Okay, so fine motor is kind of what I was thinking. Number three is speech language pathologist.
Heather Struhl [13:26 - 13:29]: Interesting. I am surprised to hear it's that high, but that's great.
Leigha Barbieri [13:29 - 14:03]: Yeah, me too, given my TikTok comments. I made a video about this subject last year, maybe two years ago, and a lot of the speech language pathologists wrote in. They were like, my job sucks. Why is this number three? Like, this is so crazy. I want to know why. Like, so I'm definitely interested to know. It could be that there are 33,000 projected jobs. I'm sensing that the projected job metric is driving a lot of this list.
Heather Struhl [14:03 - 14:32]: That's really interesting. I mean, I think it's such an important asset, like, to have for the medical team and back when I was doing my dietetic internship, so we were working in the hospitals at the time and for patients that had swallowing disorders, we would have the speech language pathologists come see these patients. And it's really important for the safety of the patient, not only just speech, but also swallowing different liquids. We don't want them to choke. So that whole integral pathway.
Leigha Barbieri [14:32 - 15:18]: Yeah, no, it's very important. I want to know if anybody listening is a speech language pathologist comment. Write to us. Send me a DM on instagram. I'm. Hello, I'm the PA. But yeah, it's number three. That's high. And you need a master's to become an SLP. All right, we're finally to number two, the best job in all of the land. Physician assistant. Mm hmm. Some people know it as physician associate. Now we are the number two job in healthcare. Projected jobs is 39,000. Median salary is 126,000 a year. And you need a master's. Now, it used to be that you just needed a bachelor's, and now a couple years ago, they switched it to every program has to be a master's.
Heather Struhl [15:18 - 15:23]: And I think there are certain states that will require you to have a master's and others you don't.
Leigha Barbieri [15:23 - 15:41]: Yeah. And obviously we could talk a little more on this subject because we're both pas. But I think one of the best parts about being a PA is the work life balance that you can and should have and the versatility of the job. Meaning you can switch specialties whenever you want.
Heather Struhl [15:41 - 15:42]: Which is exactly what I did.
Leigha Barbieri [15:43 - 15:45]: Yes, you did. You totally switched specialties.
Heather Struhl [15:45 - 15:53]: And there are so many pas, and not only pas and P's as well. Very common interest in orthopedics and aesthetics. So there's big crossover there.
Leigha Barbieri [15:53 - 16:27]: Yeah, I have a lot of friends who have gone from ortho to aesthetics or plastics. Finally, our number one spot is nurse practitioner. Unfortunately, pas fell to number two this year, but number one is currently nurse practitioner. The median salary is $121,000. You need a master's now to become a nurse practitioner. And they list projected jobs here, 118,000 projected jobs. So lots of opportunity there. What do you think about NP being the number one spot?
Heather Struhl [16:27 - 16:29]: It's really interesting. I mean, I know we're talking about.
Leigha Barbieri [16:29 - 16:32]: Salaries today and I know it varies.
Heather Struhl [16:32 - 16:45]: So widely between all the different states and it really depends on where you live and all these stats. It's always fluctuating every year, but it really is a great job. You have a lot of autonomy, but it's just interesting how it compares to.
Leigha Barbieri [16:45 - 16:47]: The other medical jobs.
Heather Struhl [16:47 - 16:49]: So what's your opinion on it?
Leigha Barbieri [16:50 - 17:10]: I think it is a great profession and like you said, lots of autonomy. I rely on rnps at the hospital. Like honestly, a week, like this week where I'm down a PA, I really wouldn't be able to get all this work done without them. They help out so much. So like props to my NP's.
Heather Struhl [17:10 - 17:11]: Oh, absolutely.
Leigha Barbieri [17:11 - 17:56]: Yeah. I will say though, there has been some controversy around a lot of the nurse practitioner master's programs where there's a lot of online kind of part time programs. And they've been accused, I guess you could say, of giving out easy diplomas. So the vetting process, I guess like isn't as serious as it is for say med school or PA school. They're calling them like diploma mills, which I don't think there are that many programs that are like this. I think the majority of NP programs are legit. But I think that the nursing association needs to kind of get these like diploma mills under control. Cause nobody wants to start a job being unprepared.
Heather Struhl [17:56 - 18:39]: No, absolutely. And I've heard of this in different specialties as well. And typically those programs get shut down and I don't think anyone wants to start a job not feeling prepared. So I don't think that has any reflection on the nurse practitioner job in general. I think it's a fantastic job. And I agree with you. Back when I was working in orthopedic surgery, we heavily relied on our nurse practitioners to help. At the time when I was working as a private PA, I was the only PA and I needed assistance and the nurse practitioners would help with calling our surgical patients, helping with medication refills and just a lot of the follow up care. That could take a lot of time away from me seeing patients in clinics. So it was invaluable to have them.
Leigha Barbieri [18:39 - 18:56]: I'm not against it being the number one job. I mean, I think there's a lot of promise there and they can do a lot and they can start their own practices and practice independently. So I wish PA was still number one because I think it's the best job in healthcare. But, you know, it can't be number one all the time.
Heather Struhl [18:56 - 18:59]: I guess we have some favoritism going on.
Leigha Barbieri [18:59 - 18:59]: Yeah.
Heather Struhl [18:59 - 19:08]: But I'm also curious, I don't know if you have this information what the top paying state is for nurse practitioners or even the other specialties.
Leigha Barbieri [19:09 - 19:29]: Hopefully on our next episode we're going to go through that for Pas. When I look on the US news site, it. I do not think it breaks it down by state, but yeah, I'd be curious. I will add nurse practitioner at the number one spot has 118,000 projected jobs. But I hope you guys enjoyed this program.
Heather Struhl [19:29 - 19:30]: This was great.
Leigha Barbieri [19:30 - 19:55]: Yeah, I get a lot of questions about this and I think we needed to break it down because it changes a little bit every year too. I hope this helped you all in making a decision for yourself. If you want more information on this, you could go on the US news website or you can dm us. Don't forget to leave a review on the podcast. Hopefully you guys like this little setup of the bonus episodes. If you do, let us know so we'll keep doing them.
Heather Struhl [19:55 - 19:56]: Thanks for having me back.
Leigha Barbieri [19:56 - 20:29]: Of course you can find me at hello, I'm the PA on social media. You can find Heather at heathertheinjector NYC. We will see you next time in about two weeks. On the next bonus episode, don't forget to tune into last week's episode where I interviewed Sanjay Juneja. He is the ankh doc. I'm sure you all know him. It was a great interview. We really talked about the hard stuff. So if you're interested in becoming a doctor of oncology or a PA in oncology, definitely listen to that episode. Can't wait to see you guys next time. Thanks Heather.
Heather Struhl [20:29 - 20:30]: Bye bye.
Leigha Barbieri [20:31 - 20:36]: This is the so you wanna work in Healthcare podcast. Don't forget to subscribe to stay up to date on the latest releases.
