Learn as much as you can about the health care industry by reading Modern Healthcare (http://www.modernhealthcare.com), visiting the Web sites of health care associations, and talking to CASs about their careers. Perhaps your school’s career counselor or a health teacher can help arrange an information interview and/or job-shadowing experience with a clinical applications specialist.

Join student business organizations—such as Junior Achievement (https://jausa.ja.org), DECA (www.deca.org), Future Business Leaders of America (https://www.fbla.org), and Business Professionals of America (http://bpa.org) to learn more about the business world and participate in activities that develop your leadership, managerial, and financial management skills.

Medical equipment and software is integral to the monitoring, treatment, and care of patients in a wide range of areas such as general surgery, orthopedics, urology, hematology, cardiology, and oncology. It is also used to maintain patients’ health records, schedule appointments, and improve efficiency in health care settings. Clinical applications specialists perform the following duties:

• coordinate with sales and service teams regarding the scheduling of customer training events
• gather information from end-users regarding how and where the technology will be used, and answer any questions they may have before the installation or set-up process begins
• assist with system implementation, configuration, workflow design, and maintenance
• provide technical and clinical training, education, and ongoing support to end-users on the use of medical products and software
• develop and implement training strategies that are geared toward various types of learning methods
• communicate with the clinical support manager regarding customer concerns and/or product performance issues
• analyze problems or issues, research solutions, and communicate the best options to end-users
• follow up with users after the completion of training, and provide periodic in-person or online follow-up training to end-users, if necessary
• write training manuals, if requested
• assist with product demonstrations at conferences and trade shows