The advancement
in medical technology that made it possible for some people to lend their voice
to medical issues has been frowned upon by an expert in the field that perceives this
as an incursion to their line of duty and is therefore fighting tooth and nail
to put an end to the incursion.
Initially, when the Internet was less
regulated, healthcare professionals were crying foul at the proliferation of
unlicensed pharmacies and unlicensed practitioners doing business via the World
Wide Web.
While those complaints have subsided coinciding with a new set of
laws for e-commerce, many healthcare professionals are still wary of the
influence of the Internet on the industry as a whole.
As a
result of this, the healthcare industry and the Internet have always made
uneasy bedfellows, although the relationship has improved dramatically in
recent years. Some medical practitioners lauded the onslaught of websites that
offer free medical information while others saw it as an intrusion into their
authority.
Healthcare education suffered the same fate for quite some time.
While many in the medical community saw an opportunity to expand the
opportunities for healthcare education. Others were somehow skeptical about
the likely effect it might have on the profession, especially if proper care is
not taken to curb the excesses of some non-medical practitioners that would
want to take advantage of some people online to provide unreliable information that
might put other people’s lives in danger.
Today,
online education is becoming more viable and easily accessible to the majority of
the people who can’t afford to some most areas of study as a traditional campus
education student. While there are some positions in health care that will
always require hands-on learning, many can be effectively taught online.
Most
universities that offer online curricula are now making degree programs in
health care readily available. Administrative programs are the most widely
offered, although there are several that lean toward the clinical side of the
industry.
Nurses, in particular, have a variety of choices when it comes to
online education. Several bachelors of Science degrees in nursing has become a
popular way for nurses with LPN or RN licensure to advance their education.
The
emergence of online educational opportunities has made it easy for some people
to have easy entry into the profession. And if strict adherence to the tenet
and standardization of the medical profession is followed to the latter, this is a
clear indication that the healthcare industry will benefit immensely in the
next several years to come.
With an aging baby boomer population, positions in
health care are expected to rise well above the average for all other
industries. New positions will be created and both new and existing positions
will need to be filled. Online degree programs offer many chances to work
in the healthcare industry that otherwise might not be able to because of
scheduling conflicts that keep them from attending traditional universities.
