Online Career Advancement Enhances Health Care Academic Preparation Programs

Online, November 29, 2009 (Newswire.com) - Online Career Advancement (OCA), an online health care career education service provider, recently upgraded their web services infrastructure, and course management system, to accommodate expanded development of healthcare career academic preparation programs. The services have been enhanced to offer significant opportunities for people to learn more about exciting and rewarding professional healthcare careers and to academically prepare to successfully pursue licensing, certification, or degree programs.

According to a recent national survey conducted by the American Medical Association (AMA), the best way to address the high demand for, and critical shortage of, professional health care workers is to provide opportunities for career exploration and adequate academic preparation for people planning to pursue health care certifications, licensing, and post-secondary education programs.

AMA data, as well as statistics from the World Health Organization (WHO), indicates that there are vast shortages of professional health care workers worldwide. The high shortages and critical demand for healthcare workers is significantly related to these factors: most public high schools in the U.S. do not adequately prepare students to pursue professional health care education programs; most people who would be interested in pursuing a particular health care profession have no chance of success due to lack of awareness that the profession even exists; there is a definite correlation between college completion and academic preparation; most people cannot afford traditional academic prep school programs; differences in college completion rates exist largely because of differences in academic preparation and performance; many are being prepared to get admitted, but not being prepared to finish!

The last mentioned of these prohibitory factors "...not being prepared to finish" is a primary reason why Online Career Advancement developed the new programs.

According to Leonard Cox, partner program manager for Online Career Advancement, "We were quite familiar with the abundance of health care aptitude and college entrance exam programs available; many developed during the 1950's, and not updated since. According to AMA, WHO, and several other health care industry professional associations, there is a greater need for people to fully understand the nature of the career they have chosen to pursue prior to committing to a formal education program." Professor Cox is one of the original developers of the Online Career Advancement medical coding programs.

The Online Career Advancement (OCA), prep courses are designed to specifically address the issue of career exploration and awareness and to increase the chances of success for people planning to pursue health care post-secondary education, training, and certification programs.

The expanded program will allow participants to prepare for the most challenging, rewarding, and in-demand professional health care careers. Some of the career preparation courses that Online Career Advancement is offering include dentistry, optometry, pharmacy, nutrition, surgical technology, and radiology.

Online Career Advancement offers numerous free resources for those interested in learning more about professional health care career opportunities. People who register for the free resources are also eligible to enroll in their Introduction to Medical Terminology course for free (regular $200 fee).

Information on the Online Career Advancement (OCA) courses can be found at http://www.onlinecareeradvancement.com/