Which of the following refers to careers in the Medical profession and Allied health services

1. Finding a job
2. What Is Allied Health? (5 Types of Allied Health Professionals)

By Indeed Editorial Team

Updated March 28, 2022 | Published June 15, 2021

Updated March 28, 2022

Published June 15, 2021

The Indeed Editorial Team comprises a diverse and talented team of writers, researchers and subject matter experts equipped with Indeed's data and insights to deliver useful tips to help guide your career journey.

Healthcare is a rewarding career field with a variety of opportunities, even for people who don't want to go to medical school and nursing school. Allied health professionals are an integral part of the healthcare system and there is a growing demand for these professionals to support medical staff. Understanding what opportunities are available for allied health professionals can help you decide if it is the right career for you. In this article, we discuss what allied health is, where allied health professionals work and explain five types of allied health professionals.

What is allied health?

Allied health professionals are employees that work in the healthcare field but aren't physicians, nurses or dentists. They make up the rest of healthcare staffs that perform important duties like health administration, technical support, diagnostics and rehabilitation. The term allied health includes most people who provide healthcare. These professionals have a wide range of education and training and their qualifications depend on the duties of their specific job.

Allied healthcare workers work directly with patients or away from patients in labs or in administrative offices. Allied health professionals who work with patients often work with physicians, though they may also work with patients individually as specialists. For example, nutritionists are allied health professionals.

Read more: Top 25 Best Health Care Jobs

Types of allied health professionals

Allied health professionals include a wide range of health providers, but you can break them down into five groups:

1. Primary care provider

A primary care provider is someone who works at a clinic or institution that is often the first point of contact for patients and healthcare workers. This may be in an urgent care clinic, pharmacy or a community health center. Primary care providers often work alongside physicians and work to diagnose and treat illness in patients. Here is a list of allied health professionals who work in primary care:

• Dental hygienist: A dental hygienist performs dental cleanings and preventative dental care.

• Nutrition supervisor: A nutrition supervisor is a nutritionist who oversees the nutritional decisions at an institution.

• Pharmacist: A pharmacist dispenses medicine and sometimes recommends over-the-counter remedies for customers.

• Community health worker: A community health worker helps patients access healthcare when their location or situation makes it difficult for them to receive.

• Healthcare technician: A healthcare technician assists doctors and nurses with medical tasks and makes patients comfortable in clinics or hospital settings.

• Certified nursing assistant: A certified nursing assistant helps patients under the supervision of a certified nurse.

Read more: How To Become a Health Care Technician

2. Health promotion

Allied healthcare professionals provide education about how to have a healthy lifestyle. They work in community centers and nonprofits to help spread education about health to underserved populations. They also work for the government, informing citizens about health and helping establish policy surrounding health. Businesses may hire health promotion professionals to come into their offices and give presentations about health conditions and practices. Here are some jobs a health promotion allied healthcare professional may have:

• Environmental health specialist: An environmental health specialist educates clients and enforces regulations about sanitation, food and health hazards.

• Health educator: A health educator teaches people about behaviors that promote health and help to build strategies to improve the health of individuals and communities.

• Dietitian or nutritionist: A dietitian or a nutritionist helps their clients understand how the food they eat affects their bodies.

• Health coordinators: A health coordinator, also known as a health service manager, oversees the organizational or operational aspects of patient care within healthcare settings, like establishing relationships with vendors.

Related: How To Become a Health Educator (With Steps)

3. Administrative workers

Administrative workers work in various healthcare facilities. They file paperwork, manage offices and answer phones. They also deal with the financial side of things by handling billing and conducting business with insurance agencies. Here are some jobs that an administrative allied healthcare professional may have:

• Administrative medical staff secretary: A medical secretary provides administrative support to the staff, such as filing or answering phones.

• Front desk recept**ionist:** A front desk receptionist handles administrative support, takes contact information for patients and schedules appointments.

• Medical transcriptionist: A medical transcriptionist takes audio recordings that physicians or other healthcare professionals make and turns them into typed transcripts for reference.

• Medical biller: A medical biller calculates bills and collects payments for medical procedures, updates patient records and creates invoices. They can also work with patients to create payment plans.

• Professional coder: A medical coder turns patient information into a medical code that insurance agencies use to track clients and payments.

Read more**: [Top 15 Health Services Administration Jobs**](https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/finding-a-job/health-services-administration-jobs)

4. Rehabilitative workers

Rehabilitative workers help patients restore function to their bodies, minds and emotional wellbeing. Patients come to these professionals after having suffered a traumatic injury or a mental or physical illness. Patients typically have a series of appointments with a rehabilitative worker to help them regain their abilities. Here are some jobs that a rehabilitative allied health professional may have:

• Occupational therapists: An occupational therapist helps patients regain the ability to perform everyday activities after an injury.

• Prosthetists: A prosthetist makes synthetic supportive devices, like prosthetic arms and legs or braces, and fits them to patients.

• Physiotherapists: A physiotherapist works to determine the cause of an injury and creates a treatment and prevention plan that involves exercise.

• Speech pathologists: A speech pathologist helps adults and children with communication or swallowing disorders.

• Psychologists: A psychologist helps their patient learn coping mechanisms to deal with stress and anxiety or mental health disorders.

• Art therapists: An art therapist uses creating art to help their patients work through their emotions.

Related: 10 Alternative Jobs for Occupational Therapists

5. Diagnostic professionals

Diagnostic professionals are allied health professionals who use diagnostic machinery, like X-ray machines and MRI machines, to help diagnose patients with internal diseases or injuries. They are often technicians who have to train with specific machinery. They may work in hospitals or in offices that specialize in running diagnostic tests. Here are some jobs that diagnostic professionals may have:

• Radiology technician: A radiology technician puts patients in the correct position to create a clear diagnostic image using an x-ray machine.

• Ultrasound technician: An ultrasound technician uses equipment to examine the abdomen, reproductive organs and heart.

• Medical sonographer: A medical sonographer uses equipment and sound waves to examine the interiors of bodies to provide images that help diagnose internal illnesses and injuries.

• Nuclear medicine technologist: A nuclear medicine technologist prepares radioactive medicine that patients take to help imaging technology get a better view of potential illnesses or injuries inside their bodies. They also help administer chemotherapy to cancer patients.

• Cardiovascular technician: A cardiovascular technician operates machinery involved with detecting and treating heart disease, like EKGs and pacemakers.

Related: Guide To Diagnostic Medical Sonographers

Where do allied health professionals work?

Because allied professionals perform a variety of duties, they also work in a variety of places. Some of those places are:

In hospitals and clinics

Many allied health professionals work alongside physicians and nurses in hospitals or clinics. They have access to patients and are present during their treatment. Administrative workers may also be in the hospital to perform any administrative duties. Many diagnostic professionals work in hospitals because they need to be near the machinery to do their jobs.

At hospitals, allied health professionals often work in teams that include other allied health professionals, physicians and nurses when treating patients. A patient's physicians and healthcare team may call an allied health professional to consult, so even if an allied health professional doesn't primarily work at a hospital or clinic, they may still perform some of their duties there.

In private practice

Some allied health professionals work in private practices. Professionals like physical and mental health therapists or dietitians can set up their own practices. They are often specialists that patients come to see after their primary care health professionals have recommended further tests or treatment. These specialists typically work in their own buildings but may have close ties with local hospitals, clinics or other private practices where they can send and receive referrals or provide consultations.

In their home

Allied health professionals who have jobs that are primarily administrative or have to do with online databases and billing often work from home. For example, a medical biller can access the financial records they need from their home computers. This is becoming more popular as technology increases the ability to access records and databases from anywhere.

What healthcare roles aren't allied health professionals?

Allied healthcare professionals make up most of the healthcare field so to understand which professionals qualify as allied health, it may be easier to show who does not. Here is a list of prominent healthcare professionals that aren't members of allied health:

• Nurse

• General Practitioners

• Dentists

• Internal Medicine Physician

• Pediatrician

• Obstetrician

• Gynecologist

• Surgeon

• Psychiatrist

What are examples of medical and allied health professions?

Which of the following is an allied health professional?

What is the role of medical and allied health professionals?

What is an allied professional?