(Sturti/Getty)
Median Salary: $74,880
Salary Growth (2009–2015): 13%
Total Employees: 5,200
Change in Employees (2009–2015): -21%
Job Description:
This category of healthcare workers includes nurses, physician assistants and midwives. They tend to patients and work with physicians to provide treatment. It’s busy work—they’re responsible for a host of medical and communication tasks, and at times may be required to be on call for 24 hours a day.
Job Qualifications:
A combination of education and practical experience is required in this field. Nurse practitioners must have completed a nursing program. The same goes for physician assistants and midwives. After schooling, they have to undergo a period of supervised practical training before they can work on their own. Nurse practitioners are required to be registered in Canada, while some provinces and territories require midwives and physician assistants to do so.
Salary:
The median wage is $87,115 for nurse practitioners, $73,698 for physician assistants and $78,391 for midwives according to PayScale North American data updated earlier this year. Pay does not change much by experience in this field.
Career Opportunity:
Job prospects in this field are generally good given Canada’s large aging population. Midwives also don’t have difficulty landing a job based on historical data, according to Service Canada.
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