Clinical technologists are healthcare scientists working in a range of clinical and healthcare locations including NHS hospitals, private health care, academic institutions and the medical device industry.
The practice of clinical technologists is divided into medical physics and clinical engineering. They work in the following disciplines:
- Medical physics
- Nuclear medicine
- Radiotherapy physics
- Radiation physics
- Clinical engineering
- Medical engineering
- Radiation engineering
- Rehabilitation engineering
- Renal technology
- Sonography
- Clinical Computing
For some clinical technologists, their role will bring them into direct contact with patients and they may perform invasive or complex patient procedures, make clinical interventions or exercise judgment that can substantially affect patient health and welfare. For others, their role may mean they work ‘behind the scenes’ preparing treatments such as radioactive injections or looking after specialist medical devices, however, their impact on patient care and outcomes cannot be ignored or underestimated. Furthermore, as the role of clinical technologists is not regulated by statute it is not compulsory for them to appear on a register.
A scope of practice statement describes the attributes that would be expected from a newly qualified clinical technologist at the point of registration. For more information you can download the current Scope of Practice document here.