What does a health care specialist do?
Health care specialists are medical professionals working in the health care industry. These medical specialists handle their subordinate corpsmen while maintaining their administrative records during deployment. They work hand in hand with patients diagnosed with Alzheimer's, paralysis, and dementia. It is part of their job to provide nursing care to patients, which may include immunization and medical examination. They need to develop skills and knowledge in patient care, military health care, and routine medical treatment.
Health care specialist responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real health care specialist resumes:
- Train and certify soldiers in CPR and first aid classes and achieve significant improvements in their productivity.
- Manage a team of 12 sailors in three departments including manpower, inpatient and outpatient behavioral health, and pediatrics.
- Manage ventilator settings, suction tracheostomy, tube-feeding assistance.
- Provide nursing care of patients including medical examinations, administering immunizations, and assisting with triage of mass casualties.
- Ensure compliance with CLIA, EMA, and FDA operating guidelines.
- Provide emotional support and companionship to clients.
- Demonstrate professional bedside manner, compassion and empathy toward patients and family members.
- Assist assigned surgeon by scheduling consultations and surgery appointments, and assisting with minor surgical procedures in-office.
- Maintain BLS and EMT-B certification.
- Ensure compliance with HIPAA and OSHA guidelines.
- Obtain ICU, MICU, dementia and palliative care experience.
- Update training records as needed to renew BLS and EMT-B certifications.
- Complete the EMT course, and the advanced life saving course.
- Be combat ready to support a unit in a hostile field environment.
- Develop lesson plans and prepare new candidates for board certification as EMT's.
Health care specialist skills and personality traits
We calculated that 26% of Health Care Specialists are proficient in Patient Care, Rehabilitation, and Medical Care. They’re also known for soft skills such as Integrity, Listening skills, and Physical strength.
We break down the percentage of Health Care Specialists that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Patient Care, 26%
Interacted regularly with physicians, corporate consultants, and independent medical consultants, thus assuring quality and consistency of patient care.
- Rehabilitation, 23%
Evaluated individual needs for rehabilitation / alternative health care.
- Medical Care, 18%
Trained personnel and conducts precautionary meetings to ensure personnel are aware of procedures for emergency medical care and health education programs.
- Emergency Care, 14%
Administered emergency and routine outpatient medical treatment for battle and non-battle casualties by performing emergency care.
- Medical Readiness, 5%
Provided medical support for two major military operations which impacted the overall medical readiness of United States Forces Korea.
- Patients, 4%
Administered immunizations and started intravenous infusions on over 50 patients, under the supervision of licensed medical provider.
Most health care specialists use their skills in "patient care," "rehabilitation," and "medical care" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential health care specialist responsibilities here:
Integrity. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a health care specialist to have is integrity. Their role and responsibilities require that "home health aides and personal care aides should make clients feel comfortable when they tend to personal activities, such as helping a client bathe." Health care specialists often use integrity in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "entrusted in a leadership role and taught numerous medical procedures due to an excelled capacity and skill level. "
Detail oriented. Lastly, "detail oriented" is an important element of what a health care specialist does. Health care specialist responsibilities require this skill because "home health aides and personal care aides must adhere to specific rules and protocols and carefully follow instructions to help take care of clients." This resume example highlights how health care specialist duties rely on this skill: "utilized basic emergency care equipment and provided the physician with a detailed report on patients and their vital signs. "
The three companies that hire the most health care specialists are:
- Army National Guard248 health care specialists jobs
- National Guard138 health care specialists jobs
- SavATree81 health care specialists jobs
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Compare different health care specialists
Health care specialist vs. Group home worker
A group home worker is an employee who assists with different types of patients staying in group homes to help them develop life skills until they are ready to live independently. Group home workers must assist different types of patients, such as adults diagnosed with mental illness, seniors with disabilities, or young residents who cannot live with their families due to behavioral issues. They must monitor the behavior of residents, especially those with a troubled past.
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between health care specialists and group home worker. For instance, health care specialist responsibilities require skills such as "rehabilitation," "inpatient care," "medical care," and "emergency care." Whereas a group home worker is skilled in "crisis intervention," "data entry," "meal prep," and "independent living." This is part of what separates the two careers.
The education levels that group home workers earn slightly differ from health care specialists. In particular, group home workers are 1.2% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a health care specialist. Additionally, they're 0.6% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Health care specialist vs. Nursing home aide
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, health care specialist responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "patient care," "rehabilitation," "inpatient care," and "medical care." Meanwhile, a nursing home aide has duties that require skills in areas such as "home health," "physical therapy," "nursing home," and "compassion." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
In general, nursing home aides achieve similar levels of education than health care specialists. They're 3.6% less likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.6% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for health care specialists in the next 3-5 years?
Jill Carlson
Office Manager, Center for Vital Health, BS Healthcare Administration
Specifically, in the medical field, we have seen in-office appointments decrease dramatically as people are required to stay home. Not only have medical offices had to learn quickly how to have an appointment via telemedicine, but the patients have also had to adapt to this new way of seeing their healthcare provider. I believe we will see more programs and phone apps that allow provider and patients to connect quicker and easier.
In a nutshell, I really think that we will see courses in our post-secondary schools, and maybe even junior high and high school, that teach students how to navigate the online meeting platforms as well has enhancements in telemedicine visits. I think the COVID-19 pandemic has created a new pathway in healthcare and we will need highly trained individuals to work through these systems and educate patients.
Health care specialist vs. Resident aide
Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from health care specialist resumes include skills like "rehabilitation," "inpatient care," "medical care," and "emergency care," whereas a resident aide is more likely to list skills in "assist residents," "resident care," "meal prep," and "incontinence care. "
When it comes to education, resident aides tend to earn similar degree levels compared to health care specialists. In fact, they're 3.6% less likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.6% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Health care specialist vs. Nurse's companion
Types of health care specialist
Updated January 8, 2025
