What are the employment prospects for Chinese medicine and health care students?

Judging from the current industry demand and policy orientation, the employment prospects of traditional Chinese medicine and health care are generally on the rise. However, the income and development of different practitioners vary greatly and cannot be generalized at all.

I had dinner with the director of the nutrition department of a local tertiary hospital a while ago. He said that the year before last, his department had recruited two masters in traditional Chinese medicine and health care, and opened a chronic disease health care clinic. Every time, the clinic was sold out within ten minutes. Many elderly patients with high blood pressure and diabetes relied on their customized medicated diet and daily conditioning plans, which had much higher compliance than simply prescribing medication. Nowadays, whether it is a health management position in a community health service center or a health care planning position in a high-end nursing community or a postpartum rehabilitation institution, they are willing to pay high salaries to people with a professional background. I know a girl who graduated last year. She studied five-year Chinese medicine health care and went to a chain of high-end nursing homes in Hangzhou. The basic salary was 7,000 when she first joined the job. She made personalized conditioning plans for the elderly and received commissions. On a good day, her monthly income can exceed 10,000.

However, there are many voices denigrating this major online, with many saying that it is "tasteless" and "change careers immediately after graduation". I have met several students who graduated from junior colleges, and they said that the companies recruited by the school are basically health care centers and health care product companies. You don't need to do any professional conditioning after joining. Every day you sell moxibustion cards and sell health teas to customers. The basic salary of more than 2,000 depends on commission, which is no different from ordinary sales. If you want to enter a hospital or formal institution, the threshold is at least a bachelor's degree and you must have relevant qualifications, which is simply not enough. Some people also complained that when taking the public examination, there were very few positions for Chinese medicine and health care. Most of them could only apply for three, which was much narrower than the options for clinical Chinese medicine and nursing.

The emergence of this polarization actually has a lot to do with the current reshuffle period in the health care industry. In the past few years, the health care industry was in chaos, and anyone with a nutritionist certificate could come out and deceive others. Now everyone has become more discerning, and they increasingly recognize practitioners who have a professional background and have real skills. If you are studying in a five-year medical degree program, can obtain a medical practitioner certificate, and work with the teacher for three to five years to gain enough clinical experience, you will not have to worry about customer sources whether you join the system to open an outpatient clinic or open a small studio of your own for private conditioning. The last time I went to a community for a free clinic, I met a little girl who had just graduated two years ago. She was doing health education in the community. She usually taught Baduanjin to the elderly and gave lectures on solar terms and health. In her spare time, she popularized local health science on Xiaohongshu. In half a year, she accumulated more than 20,000 fans in the area. Many people came to her privately to make customized conditioning plans. Her side job was much higher than her main job salary.

Here is a pitfall that many people easily fall into. If you study Chinese medicine and health care with a four-year science degree, you will not be able to get a medical license. You can only do health consultation, science popularization, and non-diagnosis and treatment work. The choices will be much narrower. You need to find out before you apply for a job or enter the industry. Don't wait until you graduate to be dumbfounded. To be honest, this track is not as easy to make money as advertised on the Internet, and it is not as unbearable as the hype. Whether you can go smoothly depends on whether you are serious about saving real things. After all, today's consumers are very smart. Whether you can really help them solve their problems can be determined by just chatting a few words and giving it a try.