What It Is Like to Be a Biomedical Scientist: Job Description

What is like to be a Biomedical Scientist? It is undeniable that Biomedical science plays a crucial role in our world today. A broad-spectrum is covered within this career path, giving a varied choice of jobs to choose from once successfully qualified as a Biomedical Scientist. Due to the nature of the profession, there are steps involved before you can work within this area, to protect the individuals around you. These steps involve IBMS and HCPC – which will be explored and explained in depth within the essay. Furthermore, detail will be provided to give an insight into the highly-variable day to day job of a Biomedical Scientist. This leads on to explore an important Public Health Organisation that plays a huge part in this profession – The NHS (National Health Service). The NHS relies heavily on the support of Biomedical Scientists to ensure the successful running of the services they provide to the public. The individual skills and qualities of a Biomedical Scientist are just as important as having the scientific knowledge gained from the degree.

Being a Biomedical Scientist involves predominantly working within a lab. You will typically find that the day to day work involves performing a variety of lab-based scientific tests on various samples that are crucial in the process of the diagnosis and treatment of disease. This is done with the advancing medical equipment and technology which allows us to grow, test and analyse cultures from those affected samples. You may look into treatments themselves and analyse and test the effectiveness. As previously mentioned the role of a biomedical scientist can vary dependent on the job you choose to undertake once qualified. Four key areas can be specialised in within this profession which are as follows: Infectious sciences, cellular science, molecular pathology or genetics.

There are numerous different types of organisations to work for with this degree. There are many industry jobs in large pharmaceutical/ biotechnology companies. These jobs can be of high salary but possess less job security. There is likely to be less intellectual freedom than those in the academic sector. Academic sector positions include non-profit organisations, hospitals, or within colleges and universities. There are also non-traditional career paths whereby the skills of a Biomedical Scientist are wanted out with a standard research lab setting. These can include science journalism, public policy, and patent law.

The NHS plays a huge part in many Biomedical Scientists’ careers. Healthcare laboratories are involved in over 70% of diagnoses in the NHS. Working within the NHS will involve a variety of laboratory and scientific tests to aid the diagnosis and treatment of patients. Working for the NHS gives you the chance to progress to more advanced roles within the organisation. Usually starting on Band 6 as a graduate, there is the potential to move up the bands, as the knowledge and expertise you have increases through experience. The role involves working with highly technical machinery.

Within this role communication with many different other workers within the NHS is crucial for the overall successful running of hospitals. This could be working alongside consultants, doctors, nurses, and patients to provide vital information and materials. To work for the NHS, you must be registered under HCPC regulations.

To work in the UK in this field, you must be HCPC (Health and Care Professions Council) registered. To reach this point, there are a few stages that must be undertaken. To achieve this, a BSc (Hons) degree in Biomedical Science must be completed. This degree must be accredited by IBMS (Institute of Biomedical Science). As part of the degree, IBMS requires a Registration Training Portfolio to be completed. Some universities give students the opportunity to complete this portfolio on an IBMS approved integrated placement within one of the years of the student’s study. This placement will be based in a clinical laboratory. Gaining an IBMS Certificate of Competence allows HCPC registration to begin, allowing you to register as a qualified Biomedical Scientist. HCPC has its Standards of Conduct, Ethics and Performance which must be abided by to remain practicing in this profession. It is important to maintain these standards as it is a regulated body. If you wish to progress within this career you can gain specialist qualifications through IBMS.

The personal skills and qualities are just as crucial as having the underlying scientific knowledge in order to be successful within the profession. Universities ensure that not only is the course content being covered, but individual skills are being developed and maintained. Numeracy and problem-solving skills are key. Presentation skills allow confidence to build and people skills can become developed working together on tasks. Keeping on top of basic lab skills is the bottom line to success. Working in the NHS can involve the interaction between many healthcare professionals so people skills must be developed – this could be done through relevant part-time work to further gain experience and knowledge.

In conclusion, Biomedical Science is important for our understanding and treatment of diseases. It is the role of a biomedical scientist to investigate and research into diseases, whether that be carrying out tests on samples or working to evaluate the effectiveness of new potential treatments that could potentially cure diseases. They contribute massively to research on improving the health of individuals.