Earning your public health degree online is the smartest option to gain the vital, multidisciplinary skills required to jump-start your career in this crucial field. Public health professionals work to help improve lives and ensure well being of everyone within communities.
Public health draws on many professional and academic disciplines to help prevent epidemic diseases and promote pro-active, preventive public health policies through research and education.
From implementing education and deterrence programs to helping to set public policy and research goals, public health professionals focus on the broader concerns of the general public with regards to health, as opposed to general medicine, which focuses on individuals.
Public health degree programs focus on specific areas, giving you much flexibility in choosing a career path. You will develop essential skills in the five core area of public health: biostatistics, epidemiology, environmental health, health management and policy, and behavioral science.
Whether you are interested in pursuing a professional or academic career in public health, earning your public health degree online is faster, more affordable, and more convenient than traditional routes. Many accredited institutions offer online public health programs, and eDegreeSteps can help you find the best solution for your educational and career goals.
Public health professionals and academics are the policy makers of public health, trained in various subfields to nurture public policies and practices that prevent disease, promote longevity, and educate the public about potential health dangers.
Most online public health programs are geared toward either professional or academic development. If you're interested in an administrative or academic career that draws upon many areas of human knowledge and endeavor, earning your public health degree online could be your best bet.
Online education allows you to pursue your educational goals on your own terms, at your own pace, and from the comfort of your own home. Much of your online education will utilize state-of-the-art distance learning technology, connected to your home workstation, so you should also be at ease using computers and software applications.
Most people who aim for an online public health degree also plan to go for a postgraduate degree in this field, geared either toward an academic or administrative career.
Online public health programs offer a variety of degrees at every academic level, from bachelor's to doctorate. In addition, you can major in various subfields of public health:
Most students in this field go on to graduate school to earn one or more of the following degrees:
A typical masters program takes about 2 years or fewer to complete. You will study such vital aspects of public health as epidemiology, behavioral health, biostatistics, environmental health, and psychology. If you already have a degree in nursing, social work, or other health-related fields, you may want to consider a postgraduate degree in public health.
With the increasing average life expectancy and growing concerns about healthcare disparities, a degree on public health can qualify you for many different careers in a dynamic and growing field.
An online public health degree prepares you for a wide range of positions connected to healthcare consultation, health education and research, policy development and strategic planning, environmental development, disease prevention, epidemiology, behavioral health, and biostatistics.
The potential workplace includes state and federal departments of public health, healthcare agencies, non-profit community health agencies, hospitals, corporate offices, schools, and academia.
According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, positions in public health are expected to grow faster than other occupations through 2020:
Salaries for professionals with public health degrees vary depending on the field of specialty, level of advancement and experience. According to the various resources, average 2010 salaries for selected public health fields are as follows:
Public health and health care are often interchangeable in the public mind, and one recent trend is making that confusion more understandable as the focus of health care shifts toward more prevention and education. The Affordable Care Act mandates more preventative programs, increasing the need for more trained public health professionals.
Indeed, prevention programs and how and where they can best be implemented will dominate the field of public health through 2020. Public health prevention programs focus on everything from smoking prevention and awareness to cancer prevention to violence prevention.
Qualified and educated academics and professionals will be needed in the future to meet these many new challenges, which in many ways were inspired by public health research to begin with.
Public health degree online will launch your career in a vital professional and academic field and eDegreeSteps connects you to many excellent, accredited online public health programs.