担心自己选择了错误的职业？不要慌乱。重新开始永远不会太晚。比起过去的人们，今天的工作者们不仅有更多的机会更换自己工作的公司，也有更多的机会更换自己所从事的职业。
　　“生命太短了，以至于你不能够把时间浪费在你自己不愿意做的事情上。”医学博士Susan Scher说。14年前当她发现自己并不想从事临床医学的时候，便在旧金山自己开了一家药品营销和公共关系公司。她说，如果继续自己的职业道路比尝试追求新的目标对你来说更有压迫感，也许你应该转行了。
　　3位成功的跳槽者——一位离开了医疗卫生行业，一位进入了医疗卫生行业，还有一位进入了这一行业的某一新的方向——讲述了他们为什么并且是如何掌握主动的，以及他们在这一过程当中吸取了哪些经验。
　　从抽血医师到程序员
　　对于Dorothy Power，一位来自马萨诸塞州Hubbardston城的年轻母亲来说，在医院里当抽血医师的5年确实是够受的。Power已经厌倦生活在为病人抽血的风险的压迫下，也厌倦了在假期和周末还要拖着疲惫的身体上班。“在医院工作的热情在不断减退，而且我的工作看起来是没有出路的。”Power说。
　　Power以前的一些同事建议Power跟他们那样上伍斯特工艺学校。这所学校专门培养高技术人才。她利用业余时间在那里学习，8个月的时间里她学习了Unix, C和C++等程序语言。在伍斯特工艺学校学习期间，她参加了两次学校组织的招聘会。在第二次招聘会上，她得到了一份在一家药品计费软件公司的工作。“我在医学方面的工作背景帮助我得到了这份工作，”她说。“他们很高兴我在医院工作的时候有使用他们的软件的经历。”
　　在新的工作单位，Power的起薪比她在医院工作了五年之后的工资还要高。而且，她的工作时间很规律。“我现在一直告诉别人要加油，”她说。“我刚进去的时候有些担心，但是后来发现其实并没有我想象的那么困难。”
　　结论：你能够找到一个更适合你的生活方式的工作。
　　从摄影师到护士
　　尽管医疗卫生行业现在面临严峻挑战，但是仍然有很多人都梦想着进入到这一领域。Margaret Kaye就是其中之一。
　　Kaye在大学获得了艺术史的学位，毕业后在欧洲广泛游历，然后回到美国成为了一家报纸的摄影记者。她很久以前就想成为一名护士，在一次去孟加拉国摄影的旅途中她最终下定了决心。当时与她同行的有Interplast的成员。Interplast是一家向发展中国家派遣医疗志愿者，为他们的儿童提供免费整形修复手术的非营利性组织。在路上，Kaye的工作是用照片记录下病人在这改变一生的手术前后的感情变化。“我意识到我不想只是拍照，”Kaye说，“我觉得自己像是一个局外人想要介入。”
　　当Kaye回到美国之后，她便开始进修进入护士学校所要求的课程。她最终进入到加利福尼亚州库比提诺的德安萨学院学习。几年之后，她对自己的这一决定仍非常满意。“有了护理这一套技能，我走到世界的任何一个角落都能够找到工作。”Kaye说道。和Power一样，Kaye也相信影响深远的行业转变是值得的。“也许要花很多钱，也许很困难，但是你只有一次生命。”她说。
　　结论：对于转变行业你必须既要有热情，又要很现实。
　　从营销经理到创业者
　　生活在佛罗里达州西棕榈滩的Ian Cordes躺在一家医院的病床上，正在进行胆囊手术后的休养。不料这个时候却传来了坏消息。他曾在一家连锁护养院担任营销经理，而这家公司被卖掉了，他所在的地方办事处也被关闭了。“我非常吃惊，”他说。“我根本没有想到。”
　　出院以后，Cordes在这家公司得到了另外一份工作，但是并不是他想要的工作。“当我拒绝这份工作的时候，我没有考虑到后果会如何。这或许是件好事，不然的话我也许还停留在那儿。”他说。Cordes投出了几十份简历和信件，也联系了猎头们。但是因为他想继续留在长期护理市场领域里，他没有能够找到合适的机会。
幸运的是，他获得了几个月的遣散费。他把那些时间投入到了学习如何使用计算机和像Pagemaker这样的桌面排版软件上了。在失业了几个月以后，他开始了自己的生意，他为自己的公司取名为Corecare，并被登入了本州的长期护理协会的通讯录上。
　　他过去在这一行业的客户关系也帮了他大忙。“过去那些为我提供货物和服务的人们开始聘请我为他们做市场营销、广告和宣传册。”Cordes说，“我真的很好的利用了我所知道的和我认识的朋友们，从那时起我认识了更多的人。”
　　头五年比较“艰难”，他说，他的妻子全天都要工作，只为能得到一份医疗保险。但是他知道自己做出的决定是正确的。“那时我这么做看起来很冒险，但是我知道如果那时我不迈出这一步，我就永远都不会迈出那一步。”。做一名创业者“真的很让人满足，而且一个偶然的机会它就这样发生了。”他说。
　　结论：如果你要转向医疗卫生行业的某一新的职业，充分利用你的技能、过去的经验以及人际关系方面的优势。

Second Chances
Enter or Exit Healthcare Midcareer
Afraid you've made the wrong career choice? Don't panic. It's never too late to make a fresh start. Not only are today's workers more likely than those of past generations to switch employers several times during their careers, they're also more likely to change professions.
"Life is too short to do something that is not making you happy," says Susan Scher, MD. Fourteen years ago she opened a medical marketing and public relations firm in San Francisco after realizing she didn't want to practice clinical medicine. If the idea of continuing down the professional path you're on is more stressful than thinking about pursuing something new, you're probably due for a career change, she says.
Three successful career changers -- one who left healthcare, one who entered healthcare and one who went in a new direction within the industry -- tell why and how they took control, and the lessons they learned throughout the process.
From Phlebotomist to Programmer
Five years as a hospital phlebotomist was enough for Dorothy Power, a young mother from Hubbardston, Massachusetts. Power was tired of the risks involved in drawing blood, as well as the required holiday and weekend hours. "Morale was going down at the hospital, and my position seemed like a dead end," Power says.
Some of Power's former colleagues suggested she follow in their footsteps by attending Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), which trains people for high tech positions. She attended the institute part-time for eight months, learning programming languages like Unix, C and C++. During her time at WPI, she attended two job fairs organized by the school. At the second event, she landed a job as a programmer/analyst at a medical billing software company. "My medical background helped me get the job," she says. "They liked the fact that I had seen the user side of their software at my hospital job."
At her new company, Power's starting salary was higher than what she was making after five years in phlebotomy. Plus, she's working regular hours. "I tell other people to go for it all the time," she says. "I was nervous going into it, but it turned out to be easier than I thought."
The bottom line: You can find a career more conducive to your lifestyle.
From Photographer to Nurse
Despite healthcare's current challenges, many people are still thrilled to be entering the field. Margaret Kaye is one of them.
Kaye graduated from college with an art history degree and then traveled extensively in Europe before returning to the US to work as a newspaper photographer. She had long considered becoming a nurse, but she made her decision during a photography trip to Bangladesh. She had gone there with Interplast, a nonprofit organization that sends teams of medical volunteers to developing countries to provide free reconstructive surgery to children. While on the trip, Kaye's job was to photograph the emotions of patients before and after their life-altering surgeries. "I realized I wanted to do more than take pictures," Kaye says. "I felt like I was on the outside looking in."
When Kaye returned home, she started taking courses required to enter nursing school. She enrolled at De Anza College in Cupertino, California, a few years later, and has no regrets about her decision. "With a skill set like nursing, I can go anywhere in the world and have a job," Kaye says. Like Power, Kaye believes a major career change is worth the effort. "It may be expensive and hard, but you only have one life," she says.
The bottom line: You have to be both enthusiastic and realistic about a career change.
From Marketing Manager to Entrepreneur
Ian Cordes of West Palm Beach, Florida, was lying in a hospital bed recovering from gallbladder surgery when he got some bad news. The chain of nursing homes he worked for as a marketing manager had been sold, and his regional office was being closed. "I was totally stunned," he says. "I didn't see it coming."
When he got out of the hospital, Cordes was offered another position in the company, but it wasn't a job he wanted. "When I said no, I wasn't thinking about the consequences, which is probably a good thing or I'd still be there," he says. Cordes sent out dozens of resumes and letters and contacted headhunters. But since he wanted to stay in the realm of long-term care marketing, he couldn't find the right opportunity.
Fortunately, he received severance pay for several months. He devoted that time to learning how to use computers and desktop publishing programs like Pagemaker. A few months after his layoff, he launched his own business, called Corecare, and landed a newsletter account with the state's long-term care association.
His industry contacts also came in handy. "Folks who used to provide goods and services to me started to hire me to do their marketing, advertising and brochures," Cordes says. "I really leveraged what I knew and who I knew in terms of my network, and I've met a lot more people since then."
The first five years were "difficult," he says, and his wife worked full-time just to get health insurance. But he knows he made the right move. "It seemed daring at the time, but I knew if I didn't take the step then, I'd never take it," he says. Being an entrepreneur "is really very satisfying, and it all happened almost by accident," he says.
The bottom line: If you're transitioning to a new career within the healthcare industry, take advantage of your skills, past experiences and network of contacts.
　　编辑：曾妍