MILWAUKEE AREA TECHNICAL
COLLEGE (MATC)
MATC offers students access to some 31
allied health programs. (See sidebar for
list of potential allied health careers.)
Educators are currently launching a
new Health Services Management track.
Students will graduate with entry- to
mid-level clinical experience and related
health care business skills, which educators say will prepare them for a variety
of roles with local health care employers.
MATC Health Sciences Dean Dessie
Levy says the latest career training
effort evolved out of feedback from area
health employers in need of professionals with fewer clinical and more business
and management skills.
“We’re going to start with phlebotomy
and nursing and embed those courses
into a degree that focuses on the business
of health,” she says. “That way, the indi-
vidual will understand billing, employee
development, scheduling, and other
related skills.” The college hopes to admit
its first cohort in the spring of 2012.
MATC is also training information technology (IT) and project-management professionals through its Health Information
Technology (HIT) certificate program.
And it is one of 17 colleges to participate
in the Midwest Community College HIT
Consortium, an organization dedicated
to training more health information specialists. Through the program, students
learn about electronic health records, the
exchange of sensitive information among
health care providers and public-health
authorities, and redesigning workflow
to improve quality and efficiency in the
transfer of health care records.
Experts say the consortium was formed
in response to the 2009 Health Information
Technology for Economic and Clinical
Health Act, which reportedly could
generate north of 200,000 health-related
IT jobs by 2015, a number that is likely to
grow in the wake of President Obama’s
new health care law, which could extend
coverage to an estimated 30 million more
Americans.
“When the HIT training project ends
next March, we are expected to have
trained 300 IT or health care students in
four designated health IT roles,” says Levy.
Training is offered on campus and online.
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Branching Into Bioscience
DELGADO COMMUNITY COLLEGE (DCC),
NEW ORLEANS
When it opened in 1990, DCC’s allied
health division had only two programs;
today it features 24 to 28 different areas,
depending on need. Unlike many parts
of the country, where health facilities
are understaffed, health care facilities in
New Orleans—many such facilities wiped
out by Hurricane Katrina still have not
reopened—do not suffer from a lack of
manpower.
“Our graduates are employed, but
there’s no large need in any area,” says
Harold Gaspard, DCC’s dean of allied
health. However, with new hospitals set
to open by 2015, administrators know
that boom is coming.
These days, the big push is in biosciences and research, says Gaspard. “We’ve
identified a lot of areas to develop and
Allied Health Careers
Anesthesia Technology. Anesthesia
technicians assist anesthesiologists in
preparing and caring for patients who
have to “go under” for invasive sur-geries and other medical procedures.
Dental Hygiene. Dental hygienists
work with and under the supervision
of dentists. They are trained to help
assess oral health and perform such
duties as dental charting, teeth
cleaning, fluoride treatments, local
anesthesia, counseling, and dental
X-ray processing.
Dietetic Technician. Dietetic technicians build nutritional care plans, including education for at-risk patients.
These professionals typically work
as part of a team under a registered
dietician. They also educate staff,
students, and the community about
nutritional health.
Health Care Informatics. These
professionals often work as part of a
team in health care facilities and hospitals to provide information technology and customer support to clinical
professionals.
Medical Coding Specialist. As members of a dedicated health team,
these individuals generally work in
hospitals to classify and transcribe
medical data from patient records.
Respiratory Therapist. These high-demand professionals evaluate, treat,
and care for patients with breathing
disorders. Most respiratory therapists
work in hospitals as part of a high-pressure life-saving team, responsible
for intensive care. Procedures are
both therapeutic and diagnostic.
Surgical Technology. Surgical technologists mainly work alongside doctors
in operating rooms, where they facilitate the safe and effective completion
of invasive surgical procedures by
ensuring that the environment is safe
and the equipment properly functions.
Careers courtesy of Milwaukee Area
Technical College. For a more comprehensive list, visit www.matc.edu.
