What Is Allied Health Career Training? A Guide to Getting Started
“Allied health” is one of those terms that gets used a lot in healthcare but rarely gets explained. If you’ve come across it while researching training options and weren’t entirely sure what it meant, you’re not the only one.
Allied health refers to a broad category of healthcare professionals who are not doctors, nurses, or pharmacists. It includes clinical roles like certified nursing assistants and medical assistants, technical roles like phlebotomy technicians and EKG technicians, diagnostic roles like radiologic technologists, and administrative roles like medical billing and coding specialists. In other words, it covers most of the people who keep a hospital, clinic, or medical office actually running.
Allied health career training is how you prepare for those roles. And depending on which direction you go, that training can take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months.
What kinds of jobs fall under allied health?
The range is wider than most people expect. At Petra Allied Health, we offer nine campus courses that cover different corners of the field.
Direct patient care roles put you in close contact with patients throughout your shift. Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) is the most common starting point. CNAs help patients with daily activities like bathing, dressing, mobility, and meals, and they work in settings like nursing homes, hospitals, and assisted living facilities. The course is 90 hours. Medical Assistant training (184 hours) prepares you for a broader clinical and administrative role in physician offices and clinics. Dental Assistant training (240 hours) focuses specifically on dental care settings.
Technical and diagnostic roles are more procedural. Phlebotomy Technicians (64 hours) collect and prepare blood samples for lab testing. EKG Technicians (48 hours) perform electrocardiograms and help physicians identify heart rhythm irregularities. Limited Licensed Radiologic Technologists (LLRTs) (84 hours) perform diagnostic X-rays under physician supervision. These roles involve patient interaction, but the work is centered on a specific procedure rather than ongoing care.
Administrative roles keep the business side of healthcare functioning. Medical Billing and Coding (120 hours) trains you to work with ICD-10 codes, insurance claims, and medical documentation. Most of the work happens at a desk, and employers include hospitals, clinics, and insurance companies.
Pharmacy Technician training (48 hours) prepares you to work alongside pharmacists in retail, hospital, or independent pharmacy settings, handling medication preparation, prescription labels, and insurance claims.
And Veterinary Assistant training (64 hours) applies allied health principles to animal care, preparing you to support veterinarians in clinics, animal hospitals, and emergency care centers.
How long does allied health training take?
It depends entirely on the course. The shortest options at Petra Allied Health are EKG Technician and Pharmacy Technician, both at 48 hours. The longest is Dental Assistant at 240 hours. Most fall somewhere in between.
None of these are multi-year commitments. That’s one of the defining features of allied health training compared to nursing or medical school. You’re learning a specific, focused set of skills and entering the workforce much faster.
If your schedule doesn’t allow for in-person classes, Petra Medical College offers fully online, self-paced certificate programs in Medical Assistant and LLRT, along with individual courses in Phlebotomy, EKG, Veterinary Assistant, and others. There are no set class times or enrollment periods, so you can start whenever you’re ready and work at your own pace.
Who is it for?
Allied health training works for a few different types of people.
If you’re entering healthcare for the first time and want a realistic path that doesn’t require years of school, most of these courses assume no prior medical experience. Petra Allied Health’s courses are designed for beginners, and many students start with no healthcare background at all.
If you’re already working in healthcare and want to add credentials, courses like Phlebotomy, EKG, or LLRT can expand what you’re qualified to do without starting over. A CNA who adds phlebotomy training, for example, becomes a more versatile candidate in hospital and clinic settings.
How to choose the right course
This comes down to three things: what kind of work you want to do every day, how much patient contact you’re comfortable with, and how quickly you want to be working. We wrote a separate guide that walks through each of those questions in detail: Which Healthcare Course Is Right for You? 3 Questions to Help You Decide.
If you’d rather skip the reading and get a quick answer, the course finder quiz on that page asks three questions and gives you a personalized recommendation.
Getting started
Petra Allied Health has been training allied health professionals for over 30 years. All campus courses are offered in Springdale, Arkansas, with class schedules designed to accommodate working students. Most courses offer payment plans, and CNA students may qualify for nursing home sponsorship that covers tuition.
You can view the full list of campus courses and upcoming schedules at petraalliedhealth.com/campus-courses, or call (800) 785-9876 to talk with an advisor.
For online training, visit petramedicalcollege.com to browse self-paced programs and courses you can start anytime.