What Do Health Educators Do (including Their Typical Day At Work)

Stan T.Career, Job DescriptionLeave a Comment

Job Description, Daily Responsibilities, and Work Life

Health Educators

Health Educators provide and manage health education programs that help individuals, families, and their communities maximize and maintain healthy lifestyles. Use data to identify community needs prior to planning, implementing, monitoring, and evaluating programs designed to encourage healthy lifestyles, policies, and environments. May link health systems, health providers, insurers, and patients to address individual and population health needs. May serve as resource to assist individuals, other health professionals, or the community, and may administer fiscal resources for health education programs.

Salary
$62120
Becoming One
Hard
Education
Associate's degree
Job Satisfaction
Job Growth

Personality



Job Description

Job Description

Health Educators provide and manage health education programs that help individuals, families, and their communities maximize and maintain healthy lifestyles. Collect and analyze data to identify community needs prior to planning, implementing, monitoring, and evaluating programs designed to encourage healthy lifestyles, policies, and environments. May serve as a resource to assist individuals, other healthcare workers, or the community, and may administer fiscal resources for health education programs. They also prepare and distribute health education materials, such as reports, bulletins, and visual aids, to address smoking, vaccines, and other public health concerns.

Other tasks include:

  • Develop and maintain cooperative working relationships with agencies and organizations interested in public health care.
  • Maintain databases, mailing lists, telephone networks, and other information to facilitate the functioning of health education programs.
  • Document activities and record information, such as the numbers of applications completed, presentations conducted, and persons assisted.
  • Develop and present health education and promotion programs, such as training workshops, conferences, and school or community presentations.
  • Collaborate with health specialists and civic groups to determine community health needs and the availability of services and to develop goals for meeting needs.
  • Develop, conduct, or coordinate health needs assessments and other public health surveys.

We asked Health Educators how satisfied they are with their job. Here is what they said.

Job satisfaction

75%

How meaningful is this job

87%


75% of them said they were satisfied with their job and 87% said they find that their job makes the world a better place or helps to make someone else’s life better.



Typical Day At Work

On a daily basis, Health Educators supervise professional and technical staff in implementing health programs, objectives, and goals. They develop and maintain cooperative working relationships with agencies and organizations interested in public health care.

  • Develop and maintain health education libraries to provide resources for staff and community agencies.
  • Maintain databases, mailing lists, telephone networks, and other information to facilitate the functioning of health education programs.
  • Collaborate with health specialists and civic groups to determine community health needs and the availability of services and to develop goals for meeting needs.
  • Document activities and record information, such as the numbers of applications completed, presentations conducted, and persons assisted.
  • Develop educational materials and programs for community agencies, local government, and state government.

We asked some Health Educators a few questions to find out what else does their work day look like. Here is what we found.

Do you have telephone conversations everyday in this job? 99% said yes
How important is it to work in a team in this job? 91% said very important
Do you have group discussions everyday in this job? 72% said yes
Do you talk or work with customers everyday in this job? 82% said yes
Do you have to deal with angry customers everyday in this job? 0% said yes
Do you have to make decisions everyday in this job? 79% said yes

Other responsibilities

Besides their typical day, Health Educators also prepare and distribute health education materials, such as reports, bulletins, and visual aids, to address smoking, vaccines, and other public health concerns. They may also develop and maintain health education libraries to provide resources for staff and community agencies.

On a weekly to monthly basis, Health Educators Document activities and record information, such as the numbers of applications completed, presentations conducted, and persons assisted. They might also Develop operational plans and policies necessary to achieve health education objectives and services.

In addition, they Provide program information to the public by preparing and presenting press releases, conducting media campaigns, or maintaining program-related Web sites.

Although specific duties may vary, many of them Maintain databases, mailing lists, telephone networks, and other information to facilitate the functioning of health education programs.

To some Health Educators, it is also their responsibility to Develop and maintain cooperative working relationships with agencies and organizations interested in public health care.


Working life

Working hours

Standard 40 hour work week

Working schedule

Regular schedule like a 9 to 5

In a typical work week as a Health Educator, you can expect to work 40 hour work week.

Do Health Educators work in an office-style work environment?

Every day
69%


Never
22%


Do Health Educators work outdoors?

Never
67%


Once a year
22%



Is this right for me

Best personality for this career

The Helpers and The Entrepreneurs

People who are suitable for this job tends to like working with, communicating with, and teaching people. They like helping or providing service to others..

They also like starting up and carrying out projects. They like leading people and making many decisions. Sometimes they require risk taking and often deal with business.

You can read more about these career personality types here.



Learn more about Health Educators

Summary
Job Description (You are here)
Salary
Requirements
Quiz

Related to Health Educators Job Description

Health Educators job description, what do Health Educators do, typical day for Health Educators, what is it like to work as a Health Educator, how many hours do Health Educators work, day to day work of a Health Educator

Additional resources

http://www.bls.gov/OOH/community-and-social-service/health-educators.htm
http://www.sophe.org/
http://www.apha.org/
http://www.nchec.org/


Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.