Most people with a passion for medicine have their heart set on becoming a doctor or a nurse, but these aren’t the only professions in the industry. There are all kinds of alternative medical careers out there. Here are just some of the more unusual ones.

Prosthetics technician

Prosthetics technicians play a vital role in designing and building artificial limbs and body replacements. It’s a very rewarding job, helping people who have been through the trauma of amputations and lifelong disabilities to live normal functioning lives. Whilst this role doesn’t require a medical degree, it does require extensive knowledge in biology, physics, chemistry, engineering and design. There are training schemes that can teach the skills needed to perform this job.   

Medical illustrator

If you’ve got a love for drawing and medicine, a job as a medical illustrator could be the role for you. These artists help to produce anatomical images and animations for books, documentaries and various other media. It’s a very niche job, but not one that everyone can as it combines artistic and medical know-how.

Air paramedic

Being a paramedic is a thrilling job in itself, but the role of an air paramedic takes these thrills one step further. Air paramedics have to attend to medical emergencies in remote locations where regular ambulances can’t go, instead travelling via helicopter. Air evac careers can take you all over the world. This job may require expertise in medicine and aviation.

Cardiac perfusionist

Cardiac perfusionists have a special role in keeping people alive during operations by controlling breathing and blood circulation with machinery. They often work in organ transplant surgery and high risk operations. In some cases, perfusionists may even be in charge of arranging the procurement of donor organs. A medical degree isn’t always required, although scientific qualifications are likely to be favoured.

Cruise ship nurse

Nurses aren’t just needed in hospitals. Cruise ships carrying thousands of people often need nursing staff to attend to guests that may be sick or injured. Not only do you get to help treat people every day – you get to travel the world whilst doing it, exploring ports and taking advantage of the cruise ship luxuries on your days off. This role can be competitive due to their only being a very limited number of vacancies.

Forensic scientist

Forensic scientists are employed to use their medical skills to investigate problems. They are commonly used to help catch criminals by doing DNA tests and doing biological analyses. They are also used to determine the cause of death where it may be unclear. Forensic science isn’t easy to get into and requires a lot of formal training. Applicants may then need a background check, as well as going through various other tests to check that they are trustworthy. Forensic scientists must be highly detail oriented and keen problem solvers in order to find data that other people can’t.