Healthcare scientist

A healthcare scientist or medical scientist is a scientist working in any of a number of health related disciplines. Healthcare scientists may work directly for health service providers, or in academia or industry. Healthcare scientists typically refers to those contributing directly to clinical services, and not scientists working solely in health related research and development.^[1] ^[2]

Disciplines[edit]

Boundaries between healthcare science and other related fields are not strictly defined. There are more than 50 different specialisms.^[3] Healthcare scientists work in clinical bioinformatics, life sciences, physical sciences and physiological sciences.^[4] A non-exhaustive list of healthcare science roles is below.

Medical physicist
Biomedical scientist
Audiologist
Clinical cytogeneticist
Clinical embryologist
Neurophysiological scientist
Vascular scientist
Cardiac scientist

Organisation[edit]

Regulation and organisation of healthcare scientists varies significantly from country to country, and from discipline to discipline.

Europe[edit]

United Kingdom[edit]

There are over 50,000 healthcare scientists working in the NHS.^[5] Biomedical Scientist and Clinical scientist are a protected title in the United Kingdom, requiring state registration.^[6] The Health and Care Professions Council holds the register and regulates the profession.^[7] The main routes to registration and training are through courses run by the Institute of Biomedical Science or the National School of Healthcare Science.^[8]

North America[edit]

United States[edit]

According to the bureau of labor statistics, there were 120,000 medical scientists working in the United States in 2016.^[9]

References[edit]

^ Johnson, Sarah (12 September 2018). "'The NHS is not just doctors and nurses': five hidden roles". The Guardian.
^ "Healthcare Science Practitioners". The Academy For Healthcare Science. Retrieved 24 December 2018.
^ Simmons, Alan (17 March 2013). "So what does a healthcare scientist do, exactly?". The Guardian.
^ "Roles in healthcare science". Health Careers. 20 September 2017. Retrieved 24 December 2018.
^ "What is healthcare science?". NHS England. Retrieved 24 December 2018.
^ "Clinical Science Professional Bodies". The Academy For Healthcare Science. Retrieved 24 December 2018.
^ "Clinical scientist registration". GOV.uk. Retrieved 24 December 2018.
^ "About us". NSHCS. Retrieved 24 December 2018.
^ "Medical Scientists : Occupational Outlook Handbook". U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 24 December 2018.

[1] Johnson, Sarah (12 September 2018). "'The NHS is not just doctors and nurses': five hidden roles". The Guardian.

[2] "Healthcare Science Practitioners". The Academy For Healthcare Science. Retrieved 24 December 2018.

[GuardianHCS-3] Simmons, Alan (17 March 2013). "So what does a healthcare scientist do, exactly?". The Guardian.

[4] "Roles in healthcare science". Health Careers. 20 September 2017. Retrieved 24 December 2018.

[5] "What is healthcare science?". NHS England. Retrieved 24 December 2018.

[6] "Clinical Science Professional Bodies". The Academy For Healthcare Science. Retrieved 24 December 2018.

[7] "Clinical scientist registration". GOV.uk. Retrieved 24 December 2018.

[8] "About us". NSHCS. Retrieved 24 December 2018.

[9] "Medical Scientists : Occupational Outlook Handbook". U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 24 December 2018.

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