Career Center >> Allied Health and Support Careers >> Is "Allied Health" outdated?
Is "Allied Health" outdated?
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Posted 2 months ago Is the term "allied health" outdated? Although the term "allied health" gives the group more political clout, does it exclude more than in includes? Is that a term that would be more fitting? |
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| Posted about 1 month ago Yes! The term is much outdated for those in Healthcare , it does set the different types of careers apart from the rest as if to say that Allied Health is a separate field , which in fact it should be included as the component to develop good care. "Everyone is a extension in delivering the services that are needed . |
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| Posted about 1 month ago Agreed. This term is both inclusive and exclusive. While we have strength in numbers, we are less individualized under "allied health" and patients need to understand that we all have different roles.
(I say "we" as I am a retired pharmacist - although this is technially not allied health, we are often excluded from the elite practitioners segment.) |
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| Posted about 1 month ago Great question! And an increasing topic of debate. In the April issue of the Health Care Careers e-Letter (American Medical Association), I referenced a 1998 article, "Who is under the allied health umbrella?," that looks at the term's history and identifies its pros (strength in numbers) and cons (loss of individual identity). I then asked readers of the e-Letter whether the term still serves a purpose. Some respondents felt that the term remains
useful, if flawed; others said it's time to mothball it. A few selected responses:
- Practitioners do not get their degrees in plain vanilla "allied health." Using it as anything more than a broad phrase to encompass nonphysician practitioners is basically meaningless. It is time for the term to go.
- I don't see a problem with the term. It's just that we have not marketed it very well.
- Being grouped with so many other professions does tend to negate the importance of each individual profession.
- The term has never made sense to me, and I doubt the general public knows what it means —- which is the real problem.
- I'd vote for dumping the term if I could think of a better one! Until then, power in numbers is a cornerstone for most of our small professions.
Also, an article in TRENDS (see pp 5-6), from the Association of Schools of Allied Health Professions (ASAHP), Stephen Collier wrote that many schools of health professions are removing "allied health" from their titles. The debate continues... |
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| Posted 10 days ago I find it to be exclusive because it has a tendancy to lend further credance to the social hierarchies that we 'occasionally,' see in the various hospitals we work in. I find it particularly interesting to note that though it may be the case everywhere, when I went to school, nursing was a clearly defined program in and of itself, while everyone else was lumped together into the 'Allied Health,' umbrella. I love my nurses, don't get me wrong, but I also appreciate the work contributed by my fellow X-ray techs, the phlebotomists, the pharmacy techs, and those wonderfull individuals who do echo-cardiograms, EKGs, EEGs, and as many other jobs as you can think of in order to make the hospital run smoothly, because without all those people Doctors would be up a fairly large creek. You find many Doctors and Nurses who are exceedingly appreciative and helpfull to those of us in the Allied-Health professions, but I do feel that the blanket term lends some additional 'umph,' to the already poor attitudes of those who would assume that they are the only people in the hospital who's oppinions or contributions matter. |
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| Posted 9 days ago Seems outdated because Professional tittles exist |
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| Posted 8 days ago Well, the term Allied Health has one big plus: No one outside of healthcare has any idea what it means, so I guess you could say it serves as an internal codeword to determine the insiders from the outsiders. But seriously, I feel it's divisive, and unneccessarily separates groups that should be integrated. Allied and nonallied HC pros all work together for the good of patients (we hope). Why separate and stigmatize with a label? |