A respiratory therapist is a specialized healthcare practitioner trained in critical care and cardio-pulmonary medicine in order to work therapeutically with people who have acute critical conditions, cardiac and pulmonary disease. Respiratory therapists graduate from a college or university with a degree in respiratory therapy and have passed a national board certifying examination. The NBRC is responsible for credentialing as a CRT, or RRT,
A radiation therapist, therapeutic radiographer or radiotherapist is an allied health professional who works in the field of radiation oncology. Radiation therapists plan and administer radiation treatments to cancer patients in most Western countries including the United Kingdom, Australia, most European countries, and Canada, where the minimum education requirement is often a baccalaureate degree or postgraduate degrees in radiation therapy. Radiation therapists can also prescribe medications and radiation, interpret tests results, perform follow ups, reviews, and provide consultations to cancer patients in the United Kingdom and Ontario, Canada . In the United States, radiation therapists have a lower educational requirement and often require postgraduate education and certification in order to plan treatments.
A dietitian, medical dietitian, or dietician is an expert in identifying and treating disease-related malnutrition and in conducting medical nutrition therapy, for example designing an enteral tube feeding regimen or mitigating the effects of cancer cachexia. Many dietitians work in hospitals and usually see specific patients where a nutritional assessment and intervention has been requested by a doctor or nurse, for example if a patient has lost their ability to swallow or requires artificial nutrition due to intestinal failure. Dietitians are regulated healthcare professionals licensed to assess, diagnose, and treat such problems. In the United Kingdom, dietitian is a 'protected title', meaning identifying yourself as a dietitian without appropriate education and registration is prohibited by law.
A cardiovascular perfusionist, clinical perfusionist or perfusiologist, and occasionally a cardiopulmonary bypass doctor or clinical perfusion scientist, is a healthcare professional who operates the cardiopulmonary bypass machine during cardiac surgery and other surgeries that require cardiopulmonary bypass to manage the patient's physiological status. As a member of the cardiovascular surgical team, the perfusionist also known as the clinical perfusionist helps maintain blood flow to the body's tissues as well as regulate levels of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the blood, using a heart–lung machine.
Athletic training is an allied health care profession recognized by the American Medical Association (AMA) that "encompasses the prevention, examination, diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of emergent, acute, or chronic injuries and medical conditions." There are five areas of athletic training listed in the seventh edition (2015) of the Athletic Training Practice Analysis: injury and illness prevention and wellness promotion; examination, assessment, diagnosis; immediate and emergency care; therapeutic intervention; and healthcare administration and professional responsibility.
A Doctor of Physical Therapy or Doctor of Physiotherapy (DPT) degree is a qualifying degree in physical therapy. In the United States, it is considered a graduate-level first professional degree or doctorate degree for professional practice. In the United Kingdom, the training includes advanced professional training and doctoral-level research.
A medical laboratory scientist (MLS) or clinical laboratory scientist (CLS) or medical technologist (MT) performs diagnostic testing of blood and body fluids in clinical laboratories. The scope of a medical laboratory scientist's work begins with the receipt of patient or client specimens and terminates with the delivery of test results to physicians and other healthcare providers. The utility of clinical diagnostic testing relies squarely on the validity of test methodology. To this end, much of the work done by medical laboratory scientists involves ensuring specimen quality, interpreting test results, data-logging, testing control products, performing calibration, maintenance, validation, and troubleshooting of instrumentation as well as performing statistical analyses to verify the accuracy and repeatability of testing. Medical laboratory scientists may also assist healthcare providers with test selection and specimen collection and are responsible for prompt verbal delivery of critical lab results. Medical Laboratory Scientists in healthcare settings also play an important role in clinical diagnosis. An estimated 70% of medical decisions are based on laboratory test results and MLS contributions affect 95% of a health system's costs.
Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) is a licensure for mental health professionals in some countries.
Nurses in the United States practice nursing in a wide variety of specialties and departments.
An orthotist is a healthcare professional who specializes in the provision of orthoses. An orthotist has an overall responsibly of orthotics treatment, who can supervise and mentor the practice of other personnel. They are clinicians trained to assess the needs of the user, prescribe treatment, determine the precise technical specifications of orthotic devices, take measurements and image of body segments, prepare model of the evaluation, fit devices and evaluate treatment outcome. In the United States, orthotists work by prescription from a licensed healthcare provider. Physical therapists are not legally authorized to prescribe orthoses in the U.S. In the U.K., orthotists will often accept open referrals for orthotic assessment without a specific prescription from doctors or other healthcare professionals.
Recreational therapy or therapeutic recreation (TR) is a systematic process that utilizes recreation (leisure) and other activities as interventions to address the assessed needs of individuals with illnesses and/or disabling conditions, as a means to psychological and physical health, recovery and well-being. Recreational therapy may also be simply referred to as recreation therapy, but in short, it is the utilization and enhancement of leisure.
Health professional requisites refer to the regulations used by countries to control the quality of health workers practicing in their jurisdictions and to control the size of the health labour market. They include licensure, certification and proof of minimum training for regulated health professions.
In the United States, Certified Pulmonary Function Technician (CPFT) is a medical technician who is at least a Certified Respiratory Therapist and at most a Registered Respiratory Therapist that has successfully passed the national certification exam. A pulmonary function technician assists a Registered Pulmonary Function Technician with performing function tests on patients. Tests are done both inpatient and outpatient and in specialty clinics such as asthma clinics and sleep centers.
The National Board for Respiratory Care (NBRC Inc. is a non-profit organization formed in 1960 with the purpose of awarding and maintaining credentialing for Respiratory Therapists in the United States. The NBRC is the only organization in the United States which develops certification examinations for Registered Respiratory Therapists and Certified Respiratory Therapists. The NBRC also offers additional specialization credentialing for respiratory practitioners that hold its certifications. The CRT and RRT designations are the standard credential in respiratory care for licensure requirements in the portions of the United States that have enacted a Respiratory Care Act. States that license respiratory therapists sometimes require the practitioner to maintain their NBRC credentialing to maintain their license to practice. The NBRC is headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas. It has been in the Kansas City metropolitan area since 1974. The NBRC is located at 10801 Mastin St, Suite 300, Overland Park, KS 66210.
A polysomnographic technologist performs overnight, daytime, or home sleep studies, polysomnograms, on people with suspected sleep disorders. In the United States and worldwide, the process for becoming a polysomnography technician or technologist is primarily either on-the-job or certificate based. There are associate level programs offered by for-profit schools that award a degree in polysomnography technology in the United States, though not necessary to attain employment with the same title. After an education program or adequate on-the-job training is complete, the student is eligible for credentialing by the Board of Registered Polysomnographic Technologists (BRPT), a non-profit credentialing agency based in the United States but serving polysomnographers worldwide. The BRPT maintains credentialing for over 35 countries including Canada and the United States as well as over 17,000 individuals working in the industry.
A Sleep disorder specialist (SDS) is a Registered Respiratory Therapist (RRT-SDS) that has successfully passed the certification examination NBRC-SDS. The respiratory therapist may also be a Certified Respiratory Therapist (CRT-SDS) under certain conditions. The sleep disorder specialist scores and performs polysomnography and also assists in diagnosing and preparing a treatment plan for the condition. Some of the conditions the sleep disorder specialist helps evaluate and treat are; insomnia, sleep apnea, restless legs syndrome, and narcolepsy.
Healthcare professional credentials are credentials awarded to many healthcare practitioners as a way to standardize the level of education and ability to provide care.
