Cancer in children occurs suddenly and without any prominent symptoms in the initial stages, unlike in adults. Treating children suffering from cancer requires dedicated staff and skilled experts. There are various career opportunities in this field. You can be of great value to a child diagnosed with cancer. Learn more about the same in this article.
Life can come to a sudden halt when the youngest family member is in excruciating pain and problems due to one of the most life-threatening medical conditions – cancer. With advancements in medical science, various types of cancers can be cured; however, it still remains to be one of the biggest challenges before the medical community. For millions of children all across the globe who’re diagnosed with some type of cancer every year, it takes some time before life returns to normalcy. Nevertheless, with skilled medical doctors and expert pediatricians, the arduous task of cancer treatment in children can be managed effectively. If you’re an individual who is motivated to work for children in the medical field, hosts of career opportunities await your attention.
Careers in pediatric treatments related to cancer disease have witnessed a tremendous growth as hospitals and health care units require a good support staff for increasing survivability of children suffering from the menace of cancer. So, at the outset, you may be a pediatrician who is indirectly helping the child to remain healthy or you may be a family supportive nurse taking care of the child when he is in the hospital. Right from cancer specialists, chemotherapy technicians to cardiologists, various medical doctors may be required to help children fight the ailment. A large number of cancer foundations recruit nurses, support staff and doctors to work with child cancer patients.
Careers for Medical Students in Pediatric Cancer Treatment
In the process of getting diagnosed, cared and treated for cancer, following medical professionals play a key role. Careers in any of the following fields is directly or indirectly helpful in treating cancer patients that includes even the children.
Practice Nurse
They’re a part of the primary healthcare team and usually work with GPs to provide assessment, screening, treatment, care and education to patients of all ages. Generally, they’re the professionals who make patients comfortable in the hospital for diagnosis and check ups. To become a practice nurse, one requires two years’ professional training as well as good work experience post studies.
Clinical Hematologist
Clinical hematologists are experts in treating medical conditions involving the blood. For the cancer diagnosis, they test the patients’ blood sample to get a detailed knowledge about the possibility of cancer. Doctors who specialize in oncology hematology work specially with patients who’re diagnosed with blood cancers. They may also be involved in medical issues related to blood transfusion, stem cell transplants and bone marrow transplants.
Oncologists
These are the medical professionals who specialize in treatment of cancer. Medical oncologists, radiation oncologists and surgical oncologists are some of the specialties in this broad field. Once a child is diagnosed with cancer, she or he must be taken to a consultant oncologist to chalk out the further treatment plan.
Pediatric Nurses
Pediatric nurses take care of child patients in a health care unit. They’re specially trained to offer support, care and love to child patients battling with complex diseases like cancers.
Radiographer/Radiography Assistant
Radiographers or radiography assistants are medical professionals who help radiologists in taking x-rays and preparing patients for proper diagnosis. They also help doctors analyze the x-ray by giving a description of the internal view of the patient’s complication area. They also explain patients about how the process of X-ray will be done. Radiography assistants also ensure complete patient care as more than limited exposure to harmful x-ray radiations is dangerous
Clinical Support Worker
Employed as the hospital support staff, clinical support workers help doctors diagnose and manage patients. In the recent years, owing to increase in demand of manpower, assistant requirements in hospitals has increased to a large extent.
Pathologist
Pathologists are the M.D. Or D.O. degree holders and since pathology is a recognized subspeciality in the medical field, it is one of the most competitive careers. There are various specialties in this field and all are concerned with finding the right cause and development of the disease.
Hospital Pharmacists
Hospital pharmacists are the medical professionals who are employed in hospital pharmacy services. Being experts in the field of medicine, they not only dispense prescriptions but they’re also involved in purchase and quality testing of medicines. In cases of child healthcare centers that treat cancer and similar disease, hospital pharmacists also advise patients in various aspects of the medicine.
Hospital Management Jobs
Cancer institutes dedicated to child patients need excellent management to perform at peak efficiency. Directors, administrator and chairman of various hospital units are responsible for overseeing all the works in the hospital. Those doctors having vast experience in handling managerial positions can look forward to various hospital management career options.
These are just some of the mainstream careers for children suffering from cancer. Indirectly, there can be many more medical professionals who help child patients to fight cancer in various stages. Certainly, there is no dearth of medical jobs in this field. However, candidates must understand that any of the above medical jobs requires years of consistent education, training and work experience to establish as a successful professional. Hence, medical students must make dedicated efforts to seek degrees in their interest areas from good medical schools.
Working with children and helping them live a better life can give you immense job satisfaction and even the salaries in this field are competitive, when compared to other professions. You just need to have patience to complete the long years of education and training. After that, you can obtain certifications and licenses and work as a doctor. Similarly, as a counselor and child psychologist one can help children de-stress from the trauma of such lethal diseases. By working as a team, family members, counselors, cancer specialists and medical professionals can ensure that the child is able to survivor cancer and is able to lead a normal life.