Great Jobs In The Medical Field Where You Don’t Deal Directly With Patients

Some people are natural extroverts and simply love working with people. Others prefer to work in a profession which doesn’t require them to interact with a great number of personalities because they are introverts by nature. If you happen to fall into that second category yet would love to work in the medical field, have no fear. There are plenty of careers in the medical arena in which you will rarely if ever, be asked to interact with patients.

1. Medical Transcriptionist

While some doctors keep the medical transcriptionist in the exam room with them to transcribe the visit directly into digital format, you still wouldn’t need to interact with patients. In fact, it is even frowned upon to do so. You could maybe ask a doctor to repeat something, but for the most part, you will be transcribing the visit to the EHR or EMR platform used by that doctor or hospital.

2. Medical Science Laboratory Technician

Getting a bachelor of medical laboratory science from the University of Cincinnati would prepare you well for a career as a medical science lab technician. Here, you would be working secluded in a laboratory studying specimens sent to the lab for analysis. You would be responsible for answering to doctors if necessary, but your findings would most often be entered into the computer system your hospital uses. If you are totally introverted, you can even study at the University of Cincinnati online program, limiting interactions with others, even while earning this degree.

3. Healthcare Informatics

While some of the other professions listed here do require some interaction with patients from time to time, this is one career in which you will rarely even be in the same room with a patient! Healthcare informatics is a job in which you will be responsible for entering key data to a patient’s healthcare records. You will be logging anything from procedures to diagnoses and everything in between. While a medical transcriptionist records interactions between patients and providers, you will be responsible for keeping all digital records in their proper place and for ensuring all information is up to date.

4. Medical Coding

Within recent years, standardized medical coding has become mandated by law. Since many patients have Medicare and Medicaid, it has become necessary to assign codes to services so that they can be easily understood between agencies. Medical coders work behind the scenes to bill insurance companies, of which government entities are the largest, with specific codes for each service provided. It’s a way to help patients get their bills paid without actually necessitating interacting with them at all. You may occasionally need to place a phone call or two to the insurance company to track down a payment, but at least you can hide behind the phone (or computer) you are on!

So, as you can see, you really can work in the field of healthcare even if you aren’t really keen on interacting with patients. With a shortage of professionals on all levels of healthcare, each of these careers offers a better-than-average future. Isn’t this a great way to work with patients without ever coming face to face with one? It’s nice to know that even introverts can make an impact on healthcare.