The need for healthcare professionals has never been more apparent. Shortages. Bottlenecks. Inaccessibility. These issues—which have been developing for decades—exploded during the pandemic. We still haven’t recovered.
Communities need doctors and nurses—yes. But it’s the often overlooked specialty roles that might make the biggest and most immediate impact.
Advanced practice nurses. Psychiatric specialists. Niche professionals, not always highly visible but certainly highly needed.
In this article, we’ll take a look at the roles that are making the biggest impact in today’s evolving healthcare landscape.
Advanced Practice Nursing Jobs
Advanced practice nursing covers a lot of ground. Often, however, it’s nurse practitioners who get the lion’s share of the attention. NPs are a little like junior doctors (and no, that is not an officially endorsed description).
It does, however, get a certain point across. Nurse practitioners fill many of the roles traditionally occupied by MDs.
They can:
- Prescribe medications.
- Diagnose conditions.
- Consult directly with patients.
- Interpret medical charts.
- Strategize with patients.
How much autonomy an NP has depends largely on state regulations. In some states, they can operate with little to no oversight. In others, they must work under the supervision of an MD.
Regardless, NPs are uniquely positioned to address many community healthcare needs—especially when it comes to relieving bottlenecks in access to care.
Why? First, there are simply more NPs than MDs, and they can enter the workforce faster. While it can take 12–15 years of schooling and training before a physician is fully licensed, most nurse practitioners are ready to practice after just 2–3 years of graduate school.
Second, NPs often serve in specialized roles. Family nurse practitioners (FNPs), for example, often fill a similar role to a general practitioner. You might have seen one for a routine wellness exam without realizing it. Others focus on niches like psychiatry, neonatal care, or gerontology.
To become a nurse practitioner, you’ll first need your BSN. From there, some go straight into graduate school, while others work for a few years before returning. There are benefits to taking time between degrees.
For one thing, real-world nursing experience gives you a better sense of what specialties actually suit you. You might think you’re drawn to geriatric care, only to find that the emotional toll is more than you expected.
Or maybe you assume you want to work with younger, healthier patients—until you discover that helping aging adults maintain their independence is the most fulfilling part of the job.
Whatever path you take, advanced practice nursing is one of the most impactful careers in modern healthcare. These professionals fill crucial gaps, offer specialized care, and make a real difference in both individual and community health outcomes.
Specialized Certifications
Nurses do not need to go to graduate school to begin making a more specialized impact on their local healthcare system. Certifications allow you to occupy very niche roles without getting an advanced degree.
The biggest difference on an experiential level is that, in most cases, you’ll be able to begin working in the specialized field before you’ve officially earned the certification. This is because most jobs requiring a certification also mandate a certain level of base experience before you can be fully licensed.
So, in other words, if you’re interested in diabetes education, for example, you might find a relevant job with only your base RN credential, because the position requires several hundred hours of fieldwork.
You’ll do the job, learn the ropes, take classes, and then—maybe two or three years in—get fully certified. After that, you’ll be able to work more independently and may also enjoy a salary bump.
Is Specialization Right for You?
The value of specializations is similar to that of advanced practice nursing jobs, in that you’re filling a competency gap in your community.
Sticking with the diabetes education example, towns might have multiple endocrinologists, but these specialized professionals don’t always have the time to give newly diagnosed patients the immediate, detailed attention that an educator can provide.
If you’re interested in specializing, take some time to study your options. There are literally dozens of different specializations out there. Base your choice both on what areas of medicine interest you most and what jobs are in high demand in your community. If you’re living in a city in particular, you should find a wide range of highly needed positions.
If there’s one downside to specialization, it’s that the jobs are a little more competitive than general RN roles.
Even a relatively big city might need only five to ten diabetes educators, forensic nurses, or neonatal nurses. By contrast, they could need dozens—or even hundreds—of RNs. That said, with persistence, you should be able to find a role that fits.
Side note: getting specially certified isn’t free, but in many or even most cases, it’s the hospital that winds up paying the bill. This is another advantage over graduate school.
However, you should also keep in mind that nurse practitioners usually wind up with a better deal in terms of compensation.
Their salaries tend to start in the six-figure range, whereas many specialized nursing roles stick closer to standard RN pay—though there are definitely exceptions.
Conclusion
Is that a lot of information to take in? It’s actually just the tip of the iceberg. We didn’t even get into healthcare adjacent jobs. Social work positions that help patients navigate the complexities of the system and get the care they need. Pharmacist roles that help patients and doctors alike limit side effects and complications while achieving the best possible results. And then there’s the question, what can you do with a healthcare administration degree?
Then there are leadership roles that allow you to manage other healthcare professionals. Strategize solutions at the community level. Mitigate risk.
The world of healthcare is large and the need is great. There are so many different ways to help your community. If you are interested in making a big impact, begin with some personal reflection. What excites you the most about helping other people?
It’s more than likely that there is a career out there that will allow you to focus primarily on that.
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