You Don't Have to Be a Doctor: Discover, Achieve, and Enjoy Your Authentic Health Career

by Jeffrey Oxendine

Overview

A Practical Guide to Your Authentic Health Career

Whether you are a student or recent graduate, a health professional, or are considering a career change to the health field, this book provides the framework, exercises and insights you need to advance from where you are today to experience the joy, power, and success that comes from living your authentic life and career.

In You Don't Have to be a Doctor, Jeff Oxendine guides readers through a proven nine-step process to choose their authentic health career path, secure jobs, and navigate life and industry changes. Readers are empowered to make choices in alignment with emerging industry needs, their values, passions, goals, and what they are good at and enjoy. Readers can develop an action and accountability plan to achieve their goals.

The book does not discourage anyone from being a doctor or pursuing any specific health profession. It emphasizes the importance of critically assessing and choosing a path aligned with who you are and what you want from your life and career and provides proven tips and tools for success.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781951591199
Publisher:	Publish Your Purpose Press
Publication date:	06/04/2020
Pages:	346
Sales rank:	133,806
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 1.10(d)

Table of Contents

FOREWORD xxiii

INTRODUCTION xxvii

Sam’s Story xxvii

Maria’s Story xxix

How This Book Can Guide You xxxi

Who Is This Book Intended For? xxxiii

How to Use the Book xxxv

What If You Find Out Your Current Path or the Health Field Isn’t Right for You? xxxvi

The More You Put Into It, the More You Will Get Out of It xxxvi

CHAPTER 1 HEALTH CAREERS ARE GROWING AND CHANGING 1

CHAPTER 2 LIFE AND CAREER PLANNING FRAMEWORK AND THE ORGANIZATION OF THE BOOK 9

CHAPTER 3 FRAMEWORK STEP 1: EXPOSURE: GAIN EXPOSURE TO HEALTH CAREER OPTIONS AND WHAT IS POSSIBLE FOR YOU 25

CHAPTER 4 FRAMEWORK STEP 2: ASSESSMENT AND DISCOVERY 63

CHAPTER 5 FRAMEWORK STEP 3: PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE 103

CHAPTER 6 FRAMEWORK STEP 4: CHOOSING AND ACTIVELY PURSUING YOUR DIRECTION(S) 121

CHAPTER 7 FRAMEWORK STEP 5: EDUCATIONAL PREPARATION 161

CHAPTER 8 FRAMEWORK STEP 6: PERSONAL BRANDING, PACKAGING, AND PROMOTION 175

CHAPTER 9 FRAMEWORK STEP 7: NETWORK OR NOT WORK 197

CHAPTER 10 FRAMEWORK STEP 8: BELIEF AND COURAGE 221

CHAPTER 11 FRAMEWORK STEP 9: LIFELONG LEARNING, ADJUSTMENT, AND FLOW 251

CHAPTER 12 DEVELOPING YOUR ACTION PLAN: TYING IT ALL TOGETHER AND TAKING ACTION NOW TO ADVANCE YOUR AUTHENTIC HEALTH CAREER 279

CONCLUSION 293

REFERENCES 295

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 303

ABOUT THE AUTHOR 305

Editorial Reviews

Life is about making choices. This book provides practical advice and a roadmap for you to use today and every day in choosing and working in careers that will improve health and healthcare for all. Over the past 16 years, students and graduates of the UC Berkeley School of Public Health have benefited from following Jeff Oxendine's 9-step framework and you will too. It is more important than ever that we make wise choices that align our talents, goals, and interests to meet the needs of the emerging challenges that face health and social care systems locally and throughout the world.

Stephen M. Shortell, PhD, MPH, MBA Professor of the Graduate School Distinguished Professor Emeritus and Dean Emeritus School of Public Health, UC Berkeley

Jeff's passion for decades has been to nurture, mentor, and inspire the next generation of health professionals, particularly those from under-resourced backgrounds. This book is full of the wisdom he has gained and imparted from those experiences. It's an invaluable resource for students, and those of us who work with them. I look forward to sharing it with my colleagues, as we work to achieve a robust health workforce that reflects the diversity of our communities and country.

Nancy Turnbull, MBA Senior Associate Dean for Educational Programs, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

A powerful book and tool that parallels my career journey. By working with Jeff at UC Berkeley and Health Career Connection, I experienced firsthand many of the book's concepts: exposure; aligning my education and career with my passions, values, and purpose; the power professional relationships; and risk taking. Thank you, Jeff, for developing this in a way that people of all career stages can benefit from.

Ikenna "Ike" Mmeje, MHSA, FACHE Chief Operating Officer Memorial Care Long Beach Medical Center Miller Children's and Women's Hospital

In a world where public health and healthcare are such important parts of our lives and the economy in the U.S and globally, Jeff Oxendine's book aimed at helping people find their authentic health careers could not come at a better moment. Like Jeff, having long been connected to public health training for students and helping them find diverse careers in the healthcare and public health sectors, I can affirm that the framework, tools, and stories contained here will help people at all stages of their career journey to more effectively explore their inner self and the broad range of emerging health career options as a means to find the authentic career path that is right for them. I often meet with students who only have known about clinical career paths in healthcare, and this book will help them to explore other non-clinical health career alternatives, as well as think critically as to which among clinical or these other paths are their more authentic paths. I have found that applicants who can genuinely articulate their authentic path and have effectively prepared for it strengthen their chances of acceptance to medical, public health, or other health professions programs. Faculty members like myself and others who advise students in their career path development in the healthcare arena, will also find this book to be an incredible resource that can be utilized to offer more robust advice
and support to students as they make choices about educational paths and job decisions.

Paul A. Hattis, MD, JD, MPH Senior Associate Director, MPH Program Associate Professor, Tufts University Medical School

From the Publisher