About Healthcare Sciences
If you are passionate about technology or science, and about helping others, a career in healthcare science offers a wide range of opportunities at all entry levels across a range of roles and career paths;
Clinical bioinformatics is an area of healthcare science responsible for developing and improving methods for acquiring, storing, organising and analysing biological data that supports the delivery of patient care.
Staff working in clinical bioinformatics use areas of computer science including software tools that generate useful biological knowledge by manipulating ‘big data’
Life sciences staff play a major role in the delivery of healthcare.
Whether they are helping couples with IVF or supporting doctors and other healthcare professionals in the diagnosis and treatment of disease, they are a crucial part of the team.
Roles in the life sciences can be divided into three areas:
- pathology - investigating the causes of illness and how it progresses; carrying out tests on tissue, blood and other samples from patients. Pathology plays a crucial role in helping doctors choose the best type of treatment for patients, and monitoring its effectiveness
- genetics - understanding the genetic components of illnesses.
- reproductive science - a rapidly developing field, creating life and providing other solutions to infertility.
Healthcare science teams in life sciences work in:
Physical sciences and biomedical engineering
- Healthcare science staff in this area develop methods of measuring what is happening in the body, devise new ways of diagnosing and treating disease, and ensure that equipment is functioning safely and effectively.
- They support, develop and apply physical techniques such as ultrasound, radioactivity, radiation, magnetic resonance, electromagnetism and optical imaging to explore or record the workings of the body for diagnosis, monitoring and treatment.
Most healthcare science staff working in physical sciences and biomedical engineering are based in hospitals and specialist departments. Some will work with patients in their own homes.
Physiological sciences
Healthcare science staff who work in the physiological sciences use specialist equipment, advanced technologies and a range of different procedures to evaluate the functioning of different body systems, to diagnose abnormalities, and to direct and in some case, provide therapeutic intervention and long-term management and care.
The work involves direct interaction with patients in a range of areas.
Most healthcare science staff in physiological sciences work in hospital clinics and departments, or as part of a surgical team. Some work in the community, visiting patients in their homes or in schools.