Definition of Allied Health

Allied health is a common connotation in the medical field that encompasses a tune of almost 200 health providers excluding doctors and nurses. Professionals such as speech pathologists, orthopedists, podiatrists, and dietitians among others fall under the category of allied health workers. In basic terms, Allied Health is a service that provides complementary services under the supervision of professional experts such as doctors and nurses.

Case in point is Australia where almost 90,000 allied health professionals provide complementary services in different hospitals. Services offered range from making visiting rounds, creation of reports to the provision of care that carers may not be in a position to provide. An increasingly aging population and the governments’ prioritization of healthcare only mean that allied health workers will increase. The training requirements for this diverse group vary as some are more specialized than others hence requiring extensive education and ongoing developmental training.

There are two broad categories in allied health, namely, assistants or technologists and the technologists or therapists. The training for technicians normally takes roughly two years. They are tasked with carrying out procedures all the while working under the close supervision of the technologists. On the same breath, technologists undergo more rigorous training and study to develop or sharpen their skill centered on diagnosing and patient evaluation.

Like any other career, passion plays a critical role in determining one’s success in their profession. However, players in this industry and course facilitators opine that one must have a strong academic background. One can achieve this by enrolling for a degree or diploma courses to equip oneself with knowledge and the required skills. However, it is worth noting that not all skills are taught while acquiring academic knowledge. Such skills include but are not limited to being approachable; Allied health professionals should be down to earth, easy to communicate with and keen to listen while paying attention to details.

How to get Certificate IV in Allied Health

As earlier illustrated, taking Australia as an example, we see the government has prioritized the training of allied health workers through the funding of relevant training institutions such as the Health Industry Training. It is stipulated in their website that to acquire Cert IV in Allied Health, one should not already have in an acquisition or working towards acquiring a higher certification.

Through the health Industry Training, one can acquire concessional or pocket-friendly fees pegged on condition that the applicant is either an aborigine or an inhabitant of the Torres Strait. Further, they can take advantage of the concessional amounts by furnishing a health care or pension card provided under the Commonwealth statutes.

The government has also stepped up its efforts in providing funding to organizations to offer training to both existing and new workers. Under such a program, one is eligible to acquire certification level IV in the following areas; Administration and Mental Health, and Ageing and support.


Jobs available with Level IV Certificate and how to contribute to society

As earlier discussed, there are a variety of jobs and careers to choose from and they mainly fall under two major categories, therapists and technicians. Under the latter, we do have laboratory technicians, respiratory therapy and radiology technicians. Despite most of the jobs requiring a two-year-investment in the form of degrees, some jobs also require less time in equal measure. Such include medical assistants and home health assistants.

By investing in higher degrees, technologists and therapists are tasked with the diagnosis and evaluation of patients hence formulating a road map on treatment. Further to this, they are also tasked at knowing the potential benefits and effects of a particular treatment plan. Under such categories, we do have pharmacists, physicians, and health administrators who are required to go up to masters and doctorate levels.
Dozens of career options lay bare for one to choose from when focusing on Allied Health. One may delve in a more active role leading to therapy roles such as an occupational or physical therapist. Being one of the fields that require one’s interaction skills to be top-notched, there exist those that would like to limit their interaction with patients thus taking active roles in the information technology field. They specialize in the generation and retrieval of patients’ files and processing of claims. A career in the Allied Health sector is inexhaustible and one would have a broad range of choices.