The main difference between clinical and non-clinical jobs is pretty simple. Simply because you work in a clinic or healthcare facility doesn’t suggest that your function is “clinical”. If you take care of patients or supply direct patient care of any type, in which particular case your job is considered as “clinical.” Types of clinical functions in healthcare are:
- Physician (ER doctors, hospitalists, surgeons)
- Nurse (CRNA, LPN/LVN, RN, CNS)
- Pharmacists
- Medical Lab Technologist
- Therapist (Physical Therapist, Radiation Therapist)
- Techs (Ultrasound Tech, Radiology Tech, Surgical Tech)
- Medical Assistants
- Dietician
Non-clinical roles are the ones that do not offer any sort of medical attention, or testing. It consist of medical billing and coders, receptionists, hospital executives, transcriptionists, and anyone who works as a support staff at a hospital such as Human Resources, IT, administrative assistants, etc. Some non-clinical workers do interact with patients, but don’t essentially offer medical care. There are plenty of additional non-clinical roles in the health care industry like pharmaceutical reps, medical gadget sales, medical recruiters, biomedical engineers, biostatisticians, case workers and patient advocates. Other examples of non-clinical hospital jobs:
- Case manager / Social Worker
- Human Resources & Recruiting
- Accountants
- Executives
- Administrative Assistants
- Information Technology
If you appreciate dealing with people and do patient care, working in a hospital may very well be appealing to you. A typical hospital has countless workers, along with patients coming in and out on a daily basis, it brings new challenges. Also, because healthcare is really a growing industry, hospital jobs are comparatively secure when compared with corporations which may be more unstable occasionally.
