In recent decades, with the emergence of more sophisticated methods of medical diagnosis and treatment procedures, there has been a growing demand for experts trained in specialized fields of medical care to deliver health care services to the public. Most of the professionals who work in the field of health care are not doctors or nurses, but are other highly trained specialists. Yet public awareness of who allied health workers are and what they do remains unclear. Health care consumers can better define the meaning of allied health by judging several crucial factors.
Instructions
1. Identify categories of allied health professionals. The fundamental groups of health care professionals include doctors, nurses, and allied health professionals. Numerous types of health care occupations, careers, and professions fall within the allied health category (see Resources below). According to the National Healthcareer Association (NHA), occupations in the health care industry continue to be the fastest growing segment of the nation's job market. The trend is expected to continue as the U.S. population ages.
2. Consider the contributions that allied health professionals and the services they provide make to health care. Distinguish non-physician allied health professionals from those professionals who practice medicine, nursing, podiatry and dentistry. Health care workers who are not doctors or nurses are members of the allied health profession. Medical technicians or technologists and clinical rehabilitation therapists are examples of allied health workers. Allied health professionals are highly skilled health care workers, many of whom are clinical personnel who are specialists in their fields. Like other professionals, allied health workers are required to meet training and educational standards, in addition to obtaining state and/or national certification and accreditation, licensure, and continuing education credits. The accreditation processes set the professional standards for workers in the various fields of allied health. The goal of these standards is to improve the quality of patient care by assuring that allied health professionals are competent and qualified in their specific areas of expertise.
3. Determine whether a particular field of allied health focuses on patient care specialty areas not related to physicians or nursing. Even without being a doctor or nurse, allied health professionals are able to deliver high quality patient care services that provide for the prevention and treatment of diseases and injuries, the goal being to keep people healthy.
4. Establish whether the professionals working in an area of allied health provide direct patient care. Allied health professionals assist other health care professionals in the assessment and treatment of disease processes. Positions in the allied health industry require professionals who are trained and qualified to provide a range of diagnostic, therapeutic, technical, rehabilitative, and other support services as they work with others as part of a health care team.
5. Find out if the field hires qualified allied health professionals to practice their professions. In many situations, allied health professionals are now responsible for performing their services independently with minimal or no supervision by a physician. But allied health workers also function as part of a health care team, and therefore, must cooperate with other medical professionals in providing care to patients. Effective health care services involve collaboration between allied health professionals and a patient's attending physician. Allied health workers keep clinicians informed about a patient's progress and response to treatment. Just the same as in other professions, the occupations that make up the field of allied health require that professionals comply with the restrictions and regulatory statutes imposed by their particular licensing body.
Tags: allied health, health professionals, allied health professionals, health care, allied health, health workers
