10 Most Common Misconceptions of Healthcare Professionals

“Girl, when you grow up you must become a doctor ah, so can make the family proud!”

Is this a familiar phrase that you often hear during family gatherings or Chinese New Year? You’re not alone! Contrary to what some may think, being a doctor is hardly the only pathway to a meaningful career in healthcare. In this article, the SGExams team has thus set out to find and debunk the top 10 myths you might believe about the healthcare sector.

Myth 1: There aren’t a lot of job opportunities in the industry other than being a doctor, dentist or nurse.

This is probably the most common misunderstanding regarding the healthcare sector among many of us. This sentence is akin to asserting that all a plane needs to fly is a pilot. Obviously, that isn’t the case!

Singapore’s healthcare sector has almost 6,174 healthcare establishments and a wide diversity of professions, demonstrating how vast and varied the field really is. As long as you want to make a difference in the lives of others, you’ll be able to find a job in healthcare that fits you, your talents and abilities.

Allied Health Professionals (AHP) make up one of the largest groups in the list of professions. AHP professions may include:

● Diagnostic Radiographer

● Dietitian

● Orthoptist

● ​Respiratory Therapist

● Physiotherapist

● ccupational Therapist

● Medical Social Worker

● Pharmacist

● Podiatrist

You don’t commonly hear about these disciplines as compared to the more well-known “doctor” or “nurse”. Still, they play a crucial part in our healthcare system.

Keeping in mind the number of healthcare establishments in Singapore, we move on to the next myth of healthcare!

Myth 2: The only place to work is at the hospital.

While hospitals may be the most commonly known healthcare establishments, healthcare professionals can be found in many other settings including polyclinics, community hospitals, and nursing homes.

Hence, you have the option to develop your career beyond hospitals. The world is your oyster, really.

Myth 3: Doctors are more important than nurses. Hence, I should aim to be a doctor instead.

In Korean dramas revolving around the healthcare industry, the main character usually is a doctor. Why is this so? This creates the impression that being a doctor is a more glamorous profession. However, doctors and nurses are comparable in that neither one governs over the other; rather, they collaborate and complement each other’s work.

Doctors frequently devise medical treatment plans, write instructions, and monitor a patient’s overall progress. Nurses, on the other hand, are the ones who care for and watch over the patient 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Nurses are also given considerable autonomy, and in situations where time is short, experienced nurses are expected to exercise decision-making authority.

Together, they operate together as a team, with each member having well defined roles and responsibilities. Nurses are expected to be more independent and make judgments or suggestions for patient care, according to doctors. This allows doctors to “check-in” on more patients, and nurses can give doctors feedback on how the patient’s condition has changed.

In essence, doctors diagnose patients while nurses accompany patients throughout the recovery process.

Speaking of nurses, here’s another big myth about them.

Myth 4: Nurses are “lowly-skilled”.

On the contrary, nursing is a fulfilling and highly skilled career path. For instance, enrolled nurses now have more options to advance to become registered nurses. New roles have also been introduced over the years, such as Assistant Nurse Clinician (ANC), Advanced Practice Nurse (APN), as well as the coveted Chief Nurse, referring to the top nursing position in a healthcare institution.

What if I told you that a Master’s in Nursing is required if you want to become an APN? APNs, being senior nurses, can take on more responsibility in the diagnosis and treatment of patients. Some nurses that are in the research track may even have a PhD!

So change that mindset — nursing isn’t as “low-skilled” as you think.

Myth 5: Healthcare professions such as physiotherapy and pharmacy are too niche for me to consider.

While certain healthcare professionals may work in more specialised fields, they still require a wide range of knowledge and skills to perform their functions effectively. Here are three examples to demonstrate the varied competencies required in different healthcare professions.

Physiotherapy

Don’t physiotherapists just perform massages? They do, actually, but that’s just one part of the whole treatment process. What sets physiotherapists apart is that they’re also specially trained to diagnose and assess patients, synthesising the information gathered to determine causes of pain.

Pharmacy

Many of us have interacted with pharmacists when they dispense medication over the counter. Beyond this, however, pharmacists are responsible for advising patients and other healthcare professionals on the correct usage and side effects of medication. They also contribute to the research and testing of new drugs, working in hospitals, universities and pharmaceutical companies.

Medical Social Work

Medical Social Workers need more than just a kind heart: they’re highly skilled professionals who must have at least a university degree in social work at the bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral level. Their pivotal attribute is the ability to empathise: to understand things from the perspective of their patients while maintaining an open and non-judgmental attitude.

Myth 6: Once I become a healthcare professional, I am only considered as manpower and there is no career growth.

The demand for healthcare professionals isn’t going to slack down anytime soon. The pandemic has also increased the need for specialists and other experts to help battle the virus and care for patients.

Many AHPs go on to hone their clinical skills through further studies. They also go to conferences to keep themselves updated in their various clinical communities and some of them find time to write and publish research, contributing to the academic community.

Should you enter Singapore’s public healthcare as an AHP, you can look forward to being developed through on-the-job training, mentorship, and job rotations. You’ll have exposure to a wide range of specialisations as well as development opportunities. As you advance in your career, you may choose to move into the management, clinical, research or education track, depending on your objectives, credentials, and strengths. Check out the chart below to see different career progression pathways in one of the public healthcare clusters:

Myth 7: Artificial intelligence, robotics, and machine learning will take away jobs.

Healthcare moves in lockstep with technology. As AI and robotics continue to advance, we can expect to see them being applied in the healthcare sector and play an increasingly important role in the future of healthcare. Won’t this render healthcare professionals obsolete?

Fear not: Technology will not replace clinicians; rather, AI and robotics will act as tools that augment and extend medical expert capabilities in the same way that a smartphone helps us in our work and everyday lives. While algorithms can suggest diagnoses and mechanical arms can perform surgery, a human professional will always be needed at the helm to ensure these tools are being used well.

Besides, you can’t replace the warmth and security of the human touch. We still don’t see many robot pets around even though they’re fairly easy to get these days, don’t we?

So, there’s nothing to be afraid of!

Myth 8: There is no work-life balance when I work in the healthcare industry.

Stories about healthcare professionals suffering from burnout abounded during the pandemic. We won’t misrepresent the facts: It’s true that COVID-19 has placed additional strain on healthcare workers all around the world.

The pandemic is unprecedented and nobody really knows when it will end. However, the good news is that the work healthcare professionals do is now highly regarded and respected by many Singaporeans. We’re sure that in time to come, the sector will readjust and calibrate itself to allow better work life balance for our healthcare professionals!

That being said, work-life balance is a personal responsibility no matter which sector or industry you eventually find yourself in. There are strategies and skills that you can use to manage your work-life balance and avoid burnout. For example, you can practice effective time management and establish clear boundaries on communication (apart from emergency cases) outside working hours. Many professionals also engage in self-care, such as exercising, picking up a hobby or even joining a club or interest group!

Myth 9: Being a top student in my university course is good enough to succeed in the healthcare sector.

Acing your theory and practical skills in your university course may be important, but nothing at school will prepare you for the real working experience. The hustle and bustle of working in a hospital will take some getting used to. Fret not, listed here are some important skills that you can pick up for a successful career in public health.

Analytics and big data

The value of data in healthcare has long been recognized — from the clipboard at the end of a hospital patient’s bed to demographic data on a variety of topics. With digitisation taking over every aspect of our lives, we now have access to more data than ever before.

To make data-driven decisions, healthcare professionals must be able to manipulate and analyse data. It’s also critical to be able to visually display data in a way that colleagues and the general public can understand.

Cultural awareness and cultural competency

Cultural awareness is the recognition of the diversity of cultures present in the general population. Beyond this understanding, cultural competency includes the ability to adapt treatments, systems and organisations to different cultures. For example, your patients in the hospital may speak a different language. How do you communicate with them then?

Soft skills

Soft skills such as critical thinking, teamwork and communication are required in practically all employment, and healthcare is no exception. Whether they’re reacting to emergencies, devising long-term prevention measures or handling difficult cases, healthcare professionals must operate effectively in teams and handle their patients well. This necessitates interpersonal skills, the capacity to listen, communicate, and negotiate, as well as effective leadership.

Myth 10: Healthcare is only for those who are not afraid of blood.

When we think of a profession in healthcare, we usually think of the human body, then blood, and for some of us, that’s where the story ends. Blood injury injection phobia (BII) affects about 4% of the population, but it doesn’t mean that those who are affected can’t have a great and productive career in healthcare.

While it is impossible to totally avoid blood exposure in healthcare, keep reading for job recommendations in healthcare that will benefit others while reducing your exposure to blood and other gruesome scenes.

Administration

You may not know it, but administrative professionals are also present in the healthcare sector. They consist of different functions and specialties such as:

• Finance Professionals
• HR Professionals
• Economists
• Business and IT Analysts
• Computer Scientists and Programmers

If you’d like to enter healthcare and are also interested in any of the above fields, becoming an administrative professional could be a great way to combine your passions!

Occupational Therapy

Occupational therapists help people improve their ability to function in the world. They work with people of various ages and abilities, from supporting persons with impairments in becoming more self-sufficient at home to assisting children in developing their dexterity and understanding of their bodies. They may also assist those seeking treatment for mental health or substance abuse issues by helping them re-establish their routines while applying the skills they learned in treatment.

If you’re someone who would find fulfillment in working directly and extensively with your patients, occupational therapy may be a good fit for you!

Diagnostic Radiography

From X-rays to MRIs, CT scans, ultrasounds, and more, physicians rely on imaging to make critical choices regarding patient care. That’s where diagnostic radiographers come in: they’re trained to operate sophisticated imaging equipment to identify patients’ problems, enabling other healthcare professionals to administer the correct treatment.

Beyond the commonly-known services mentioned above, diagnostic radiographers may also work in more specialised fields like fluoroscopy, mammography, nuclear medicine, and interventional radiology.

If you’re someone who enjoys making use of technical and specialised knowledge, and has good analytical and pattern recognition skills, diagnostic radiography might be the way to go!

We hope this article has helped to demystify some of the unknowns and misconceptions surrounding the healthcare sector!

If you have further questions for us, simply post them (anonymously or otherwise) on our Padlet, and we’ll liaise with our partners at MOHH to answer them.