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Allied health professions

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Allied health professions are clinical and administrative health care professions distinct from medicine, dentistry, and nursing. [1] Allied health professionals make up 60 percent of the total health workforce. [2] They work in health care teams to make the healthcare system function by providing a range of diagnostic, technical, therapeutic and direct patient care and support services that are critical to the other health professionals they work with and the patients they serve.

Contents

[edit] Professions

Definitions of Allied Health professions vary in many different ways, but always include that they are health professions distinct from medicine, dentistry, and nursing. Some definitions only include health professions that require registration by law to practise, but usually all allied health professions that require a degree or higher qualification are included.

Depending on the country and local health care system, a limited subset of the following professions (professional areas) may be represented, and may be regulated:

All professionals/professional areas ascribed before belong to the ever-growing group of allied health professionals and their subspecialties. The precise titles and roles in the allied health professions may vary considerably from country to country.

[edit] Recognized allied health professions

[edit] Allied health professions in Australia

In Australia, Allied Health typically includes all health professions other than medicine, dentistry and nursing that require a tertiary degree to practise, and who form part of the public health system. The proviso of forming part of the public health service excludes some registered professions, such as chiropractors in regions where they are not employed in government health facilities. Queensland Health employs more than 5000 allied health professionals across the following disciplines:[3]

[edit] Allied health professions in the UK

  • Chiropody/Podiatry
  • Dietetics
  • Music Therapy
  • Orthoptics
  • Occupational Therapy
  • Paramedics
  • Physiotherapy
  • Prosthetics and Orthotics
  • Radiography
  • Speech and Language Therapy

[4] [5]

[edit] Training and education

Some allied health professions are more specialized, and so must adhere to national training and education standards and their professional scope of practice. Often they must prove their skills through diplomas, certified credentials, and continuing education. Other allied health professions require no special training or credentials and are trained for their work by their employer through on-the-job training (which would then exclude them from consideration as an Allied Health Profession in a country like Australia). Many allied health jobs are considered career ladder jobs because of the opportunities for advancement within specific fields. [6]

Allied health professions can include the use of many skills. Depending on the profession, these may include medical terminology, acronyms and spelling; basics of medical law and ethics; understanding of human relations; interpersonal communication skills; counseling skills; computer literacy; ability to document healthcare information; interviewing skills; and proficiency in word processing; database management and electronic dictation.[4]

[edit] History

 This section does not cite any references or sources.
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2008)

The explosion of scientific knowledge that followed World War II brought increasingly sophisticated and complex medical diagnostic and treatment procedures. In addition, increasing medical and health care costs provoked a trend away from treating patients in hospitals toward the provision of care in physician's private and group practices, and ambulatory medical and emergency clinics. What followed was an increase in the need for expertly trained health care delivery personnel.

These changes in the health industry will continue to encourage expansion of the allied health workforce.

According to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), the health care industry consists of three main sub-sectors, divided by the types of services provided at each facility: [7]

  • Ambulatory health care settings (ambulatory): Primarily provides out-patient services at facilities such as doctors’ offices, out-patient clinicsand clinical laboratories.
  • Hospitals: Primarily provides in-patient health services and may provide some out-patient services as a secondary activity.
  • Nursing and residential care facilities (nursing care): Provides residential care, such as community care for the elderly or mental health and substance abuse facilities.

A larger proportion of the allied health care workforce is employed in ambulatory settings than in hospitals or nursing and residential care facilities. In California, nearly half (49.4 percent) of the allied health workforce is employed in ambulatory health care settings, compared with 28.7 percent and 21.9 percent employed in hospital and nursing care, respectively.[8]

Workforce and health care experts anticipate that health services will increasingly be delivered via ambulatory and nursing care in places with aging populations and due to the industry’s need to be cost efficient. Advancements in medical technology also allow for more services that formerly required expensive hospital stays to be delivered via ambulatory care. For example, in California, research has predicted the total consumption of hospital days per person will decline from 4 days in 2010 to 3.2 days in 2020 to 2.5 days in 2030. In contrast, the number of ambulatory visits per person will increase from 3.2 visits per person in 2010 to 3.6 visits per person in 2020 to 4.2 visits in 2030.[8]

With this growing demand for ambulatory health care, researchers expect to witness a heavier demand for professions that are employed within the ambulatory sector — in other words, allied health.[8]

[edit] Allied health employment projections

A f studies and projections in the United States have shown an expected long-term shortage of qualified workers to fill many allied health positions. This is primarily due to expansion of the health industry due to demographic changes (a growing and aging population), large numbers of health workers nearing retirement and a lack of sufficient investment in training programs to keep pace with these trends.[9] [10]

Studies have also pointed to the need for increased diversity in the allied health workforce to realize a culturally competent health system in the United States. [11]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Association of Allied Health Schools, Definition of Allied Health Professionals
  2. ^ University of California San Francisco, Advancing the Allied Health Professions
  3. ^ Allied health career structure Queensland Health
  4. ^ a b "Allied Health Professionals at NHS Careers". http://www.nhscareers.nhs.uk/ahp.shtml. Retrieved 2008-02-03. 
  5. ^ www.dh.gov.uk/chpo
  6. ^ "United States Bureau of Labor Statistics". http://www.bls.gov/oco/cg/cgs035.htm#training. Retrieved 2010-04-24. 
  7. ^ "North American Industry Classification System". http://www.census.gov/cgi-bin/sssd/naics/naicsrch?chart_code=62&search=2007%20NAICS%20Search. Retrieved 2010-04-24. 
  8. ^ a b c "California Health Jobs, Help Wanted Report, page 13". http://www.calhealthjobs.org. Retrieved 2010-04-24. 
  9. ^ "National Skills Coalition, America's Forgotten Middle Skills Jobs Report". http://www.nationalskillscoalition.org/assets/reports-/americasforgottenmiddleskilljobs_2007-11.pdf. Retrieved 2010-04-24. 
  10. ^ "Association of Academic Health Centers Out of Order Out of Time Report". http://www.aahcdc.org/policy/outoforderoutoftime.php. Retrieved 2010-04-24. 
  11. ^ "California Endowment, Workforce Diversity". http://www.calendow.org/Collection_Publications.aspx?coll_id=30&ItemID=320. Retrieved 2010-04-24. 

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