There’s a New Job in Healthcare: The Temperature Checker

It’s not news that COVID-19 has had a profound impact on the healthcare system. It has overwhelmed the system in certain ways, underwhelmed the system in other ways, and revealed challenges and deficiencies within the system.

The long-term implications of this pandemic on healthcare are not yet clear. We do not yet know which types of healthcare jobs will be most affected. However, as with any significant trauma or event, the most resilient and successful people are likely to be the ones who can adapt to whatever changes come. Thinking now about how you can build skills that will help to meet new or changing needs in healthcare can help set you apart from others who are also pursuing careers in medicine.

For those who are pondering how the pandemic may influence healthcare needs in the future may have identified one rapidly growing trend: the massive increase in temperature checks across the globe. As businesses, camps, and other organizations begin to reopen, temperature checks are increasingly relied on as an important safety measure to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

While leaders within some of these organizations originally planned to hire nurses for temperature checks, it quickly became clear that convincing nurses to take on the role of temperature checkers is difficult given the extensive training that nurses have undergone and that many of their skills would be wasted if they focused solely on temperature checking. In addition, unlike in some industries today, nurses are generally not struggling for work, as there is a shortage of nurses across the country.

This situation poses an opportunity for a new role in healthcare that would require little training – i.e. the role of a temperature checker. Because temperature checking technology is not always accurate, experts say that having humans administer the temperature check is critical. However, the training protocols for learning how to take accurately measure temperatures are relatively straight forward.

For those hiring temperature checkers, there has been more of an emphasis on people skills than on previous healthcare training because little medical or scientific knowledge is required to effectively fulfill this role. Those pursuing jobs as temperature checkers have come from hospitality industries as well as customer service position and education.

Takeaway: Given the changing landscape of healthcare in the face of COVID-19, healthcare work opportunities are shifting. While some jobs seem to be disappearing, the new role of temperature checker is on the rise. Given that this pandemic has made us more aware of the important measures for preventing the spread of infectious disease, this job may continue to grow even once the drastic impact of this virus has started to resolve. Those who can demonstrate that they have good people skills may be the best candidates for these positions, as they require a lot of interaction with others but little medical knowledge.