About Allied Healthcare

Allied Health Professions are a distinct group of health professionals who apply their expertise to prevent disease transmission, diagnose, treat, and rehabilitate people of all ages and all specialties. Together with a range of technical and support staff, they may deliver direct patient care, rehabilitation, treatment, diagnostics, and health improvement interventions to restore and maintain optimal physical, sensory, psychological, cognitive, and social functions. Allied health encompasses a broad group of health professionals who use scientific principles and evidence-based practice for the diagnosis, evaluation, and treatment of acute and chronic diseases; promote disease prevention and wellness for optimum health, and apply administration and management skills to support health care systems in a variety of settings. Allied health professionals are concerned with the identification, diagnostic evaluation, and treatment of acute and chronic diseases and disorders; provision of dietary and nutrition services; rehabilitation services; and the management and operation of health systems. Allied health professionals apply scientific principles and evidence-based practice in order to optimize patient or client outcomes. Allied health professionals must also attend to the prevention of disease and the management of patients with chronic disease. Thus, the scope of allied health practice extends to the individual, the family, the community, and to public education; many allied health professions specialize in the promotion of optimum function and health and the improvement of health-related quality of life. In addition, healthcare administration and health systems management are important components of allied health. Professions that are often listed as “allied health” include many of the well-known non-nurse, non-physician health care providers including audiologists and speech-language pathologists; physiotherapists, physical therapists, occupational therapists, and respiratory therapists; diagnostic medical personnel (medical laboratory scientists, cytogenetic technologists, diagnostic molecular scientists, and pathologists’ assistants); imaging specialists (radiographers, nuclear medicine technologists, and sonographers); nutritionists and dietitians; and physician assistants. Others often included in allied health include dental personnel (dental hygienists and dental assistants); emergency medical personnel (EMTs, paramedics); exercise science professionals (athletic trainers, exercise physiologists, Kinesio therapists ); health information technologists; health educators (asthma educators, diabetes educators); counselors (genetic counselors, mental health counselors, family therapists); specialists in cancer diagnosis and treatment (medical physicists, medical dosimetrists, and radiation therapists); pharmacy personnel (pharmacy technicians and assistants) and other healthcare providers and support personnel, such as medical assistants. There are also a very large number of less well-known healthcare professions generally considered allied health. Allied health educational programs seek to prepare competent allied health professionals and leaders for practice across multiple healthcare settings. Allied health educational programs are offered at a variety of postsecondary educational institutions.