The Role of Research in the Advancement of the Health Professions - Essay Example

The Role of Research in the Advancement of the Health Professions Research in health related fields s back to thousands of years ago and has beenpreferred as a means of advancing the health profession (Dunnick 2003, p.925). Today it has become part and parcel of the discipline as a way of advancing the knowledge of the health professionals so as to improve their competencies in the delivery of services to patients. Research is particularly important to health professionals pursuing courses in radiologic sciences such as medical imaging. This paper will examine the role of research in advancements of health profession particularly in medical imaging. Allen (2000, par.1) argues that the key to any health profession in the current world is in how it delivers clinical services. This is manifested in the ability of the health professionals to get steady results in the treatment of patients. Nevertheless, for clinicians to be able to achieve the required, consistent, credible, and predictable outcomes during treatment from one patient to the next, research becomes a necessity (Dunnick 2003, p.926). The research conducted would also enable the health professionals’ advance, establish credibility, change, and improve in their career. The field of medical imaging is reported to be among the health professions that have been affected hugely by technological advancement being witnessed in the health profession (Foerster and Reich 2009, Par.3). This is because new technologies keep coming up in the field of radiological science each and every time. As a result, the technologies being adopted in medical imaging for diagnosis and treatment of diseases keeps changing. For instance, the technology that is being used currently may be rendered outdated in the next few years. When such happens, certainly health professionals who have no prior knowledge of how to use the technology will not find it easy using the new technology that most probably will compromise the consistency expected of them in their clinical practice. Therefore, to ensure that professional keep pace with the technological changes being witnessed in medical imaging, more emphasis must be put on research in the field of radiological sciences. The research will help the medical imaging professionals to be able to predict what the future medical imaging holds as far as technological advancement is concerned (Dunnick 2003, p.927). In turn, this will help them to prepare well in advance for such modalities to ensure that their professional practices are not negatively affected by the a new technologies emerging in medical imaging. Certainly, this will help them advance career wise since they would be up to date with the technological trend in their line of profession. Research helps greatly in building credibility and respects that every medical practitioner would want. Building credibility and respect through research makes it easier for medical practitioners like those involved in medical imaging to receive licenses, which is mainly issued based on a practitioner’s level of competency (Foerster and Reich 2009, par.3). Being awarded a license does mark the beginning of career progress since the practitioner would now be able to deliver services to people without any interference from the state. This is because the practitioner would now be recognized as a competent person based on the knowledge gained from the research finding. Research also plays a great role in protecting the public, which is also good for the profession (Foerster and Reich 2009, Par.5). This is because research enables the public to have a better understanding of the health profession, as well as how helpful the profession may be to them. For instance, research in the line of medical imaging will help protect the public in that it is through research that they would begin to understand better, what medical imaging is how it operates, and how beneficial medical imaging is to them. Research also helps in advancing the health professions in that it helps in bridging the gap in communication. Allen (2000, par.3) notes that research will not only help in supporting and clarifying procedures, but will also lead to better application of diagnosis procedures in medical imaging, which certainly will improve delivery of services. This will boost the confidence of patients in the medical practitioners. By building confidence on patients, certainly this will give patients a reason to give medical imaging professional a try. Research in the field of radiological science will also improve the credibility of the profession by proving to the world that what the field entails which is good for the profession as a whole. This would in turn bring more reward to the profession since there would be more trust and respect from everyone in the society regarding the profession (Foerster and Reich 2009, Par.4). Research also plays a big role in the health profession in that it enables health practitioners learn many things pertaining to the line of profession (Foerster and Reich 2009, Par.6). This is because it is through research that one is able to discover many aspects of the profession which may not be apparent when performing diagnosis or offering treatment of diseases. Medical imaging, for instance, is a growing health profession, which needs to be understood into details and any changes that need to be made, incorporated as fast as possible so as to improve the quality of services offered to patients (Allen 2000, Par.4). This can only be achieved through research, which will enable the medical practitioners to be able to predict all the changes and incorporate them into practice within the system. Finally, a research also helps health professionals in understanding what the society wants and how they perceive the kind of treatment they receive from clinicians (Foerster and Reich 2009, Par.7). Certainly, without research, no meaningful development can be made since medical practitioners would not be able to know where the patients or the society needs improvements. This would mean that the practitioners would take things as being normal thereby making no meaningful development. However, with research, they would discover areas that need improvement from which appropriate adjustments would be made to meet the demand of the people. Conclusion Research certainly plays a major role in the advancement of health profession. This is because it gives the health professionals an opportunity to learn new things they would have otherwise not been able to learn. As such, through research, health professionals are able to improve their competencies thereby improving their capacity to offer quality medical services to patients, which are consistent, predictable, and reliable. References Allen, M. (2000), The Importance of Research. September, Vol. 01, Issue 09. http://www.acupuncturetoday.com/mpacms/at/article.php?id=27680 (Accessed 15 Nov. 2012). Dunnick NR. (2003), Report of the 2002 Intersociety Commission Meeting: radiology 2002-today’s research is tomorrow’s practice. Am J Roentgenol. 180:925–928. PubMed. Foerster, B.R., & Reich, D.S. (2009). Translational Research in Radiology: Challenges and Role in a Patient-based Practice. Read More