Whilst many people are familiar with the role of health professionals such as doctors, nurses and dentists, much less known are the kind of healthcare roles HealthCare that are performed by the myriad other health professionals whose role it is to help prevent, diagnose and treat illnesses and potential illnesses that might not require a more traditional healthcare professional.

Typically working across a broader range of bases beyond the typical hospital and private practice environments, if you were to make a list of the varied disciplines that practitioners of allied health Brisbane can offer, many of these will be found in places such as schools and universities, care homes and community health centres and more often than not they will be working as part of a multidisciplinary team to offer patients positive results.

Allied health professional make up roughly a quarter of the Australian medical industry workforce. They are employed in professions that treat and supply a very diverse range of care and support solutions.

Typically, we come into contact with these most frequently during visits to a chemist, where the pharmacists who prepare and dispense medicines, as well as offering advice on their use are part of this vital part of the industry.

Many allied health professionals are able to provide fantastic medical care for patients without having to visit a hospital or general practitioners surgery. In fact frequently they operate out of their own premises and dependent upon the discipline, will be able to provide their services in the relative comfort of a patients home, particularly if they are old, have mobility issues, or have recently come out of hospital for whatever reasons. Ultimately, they are able to enable people to maintain a level of independence if they prefer to stay in their own home rather than having to be admitted to a care home or similar dependent environment.

So, what kind of roles are considered part of the allied health service? Here are a few of the more common ones that you might already be familiar with:

Psychologists are experts of the mind who are able to analyse, evaluate and treat mental and behavioural processes.

Social workers provide a range services such as counselling and community engagement to support people who are having difficulty with personal or social activities.

Speech pathologists work with patients who are struggling with communication or who have trouble swallowing food, drink and medicines. These are often related to communication handicaps, for example following a stroke or having suffered palsy.

Chiropractors are widespread and specialise in both diagnosing and treating muscular disorders which often result in bad posture, limited ability to walk or exercise, and indeed suffer referred complications that can affect the digestion, eyesight and much much more.

Chiropractic is often closely related to physiology and physiotherapy which focusses on massage and stretching treatments to help rehabilitate the body following an injury, disability or chronic disease.

The list doesn’t end there. Dieticians, Occupational Therapists, Medical Imaging Professionals, Podiatrist and Osteopaths are all a valuable part of the Allied Heathcare spectrum whose skills and benefits we each might someday learn to value.

Paul Petersen