The Healthcare Studies major is designed to meet the needs of students with a variety of career interests. The courses provide an introduction and overview of many different facets of healthcare, ranging from patient care to healthcare policy and technology. Some career paths require additional post-graduate study.
Career paths from the Healthcare Studies General concentration include:
- Patient experience specialists facilitate projects and team initiatives and provide services to achieve strategic organizational improvement in patient, family, and employee healthcare experience.
- Healthcare administrators support the operation of hospitals and other types of healthcare facilities. These include:
- Quality improvement
- Operations management
- Patient Satisfaction
- Safety and Regulatory specialists
- Billing
- Informatics specialists work with electronic health records to help improve patient outcomes.
- Hospital Relations Coordinators work for non-profit organizations in collaboration with hospitals to arrange organ and tissue donor services
- Long-term care administrators manage adult day health centers, assisted living facilities, and nursing homes
- Pharmaceutical sales representatives educate physicians and other medication-prescribing professionals on new developments in the rapidly advancing pharmaceutical industry.
- Health research assistants support scientific studies by recruiting participants for clinical trials and community-based research projects, collecting and analyzing data, and reporting and presenting results.
- Digital health communication specialists enhance healthcare facilities' internal and external digital health to enhance population and individual health outcomes.
Career paths from the Clinical Trials Administration and Practice concentration include:
- Clinical Trials Coordinators work with patients alongside teams of physicians, nurses, and researchers to plan and manage clinical research trials.
- Community research coordinators work with members of the community to educate and engage community members in the clinical research process
- Regulatory specialists work with clinical trial teams to ensure compliance with federal regulations
Career paths from the Speech Language Pathology Assistant concentration include:
- School-based SLPAs work in K -12 settings and conduct screenings and provide speech therapy to children
- Clinic or hospital-based SLPAs conduct assessments and provide speech therapy to a variety of patients
Career paths from the Therapeutic Recreation in Aging concentration include:
- Therapeutic recreation directors in skilled nursing facilities, assisted living facilities, and senior centers are responsible for planning, organizing, and implementing individual and group activities for facility residents.
Skilled Clinical Professions: HLS majors can complete an Associate Degree in a clinical health profession after receiving their BS; other HLS majors already have an AS degree. Students with a BS in HLS can typically accelerate their completion of the AS requirements using their SCSU coursework. The combination of the BS in Healthcare Studies degree with an associate degree in a clinical field is extremely professionally valuable, as it leads to increased opportunities for supervisory and leadership roles. Relevant Associate
Degree programs and careers include:
- Surgical Technology
- Diagnostic Medical Sonography (Ultrasound)
- Radiography
- Radiation Therapy
- Nuclear Medicine
- Echocardiography
- Medical Assisting
- Physical Therapy Assistant
- Occupational Therapy Assistant
- Respiratory Therapy