An Open Call For Contributions

Hello! If any of you out there have had experiences applying or working in the healthcare field, please shoot me a message! I would love to hear from others and post some more insight to this blog.

Lab Technologists

I recently met a registered medical laboratory technologist through work, so I decided to do some research on the career and post what I found.

What Does a Lab Technologist Do?

• Perform laboratory analyses and provide information to physicians
• Help physicians to diagnose and treat patients, as well as monitor and prevent disease
• Use medical devices to observe biological samples
• Determine the validity of the results they obtain
• Design new procedures to reflect the rapid pace of change in their workplace. 

How Do I Apply?

• There are two routes of going about it: college (apply on the Ontario colleges website) and university (apply on OUAC)

University Route

• Three universities in Ontario offer a program: Michener, UOIT, and Windsor
• You can get in right from high school. You need to take English, math, and science courses to apply. Check out each school for more details.
• The minimum GPA cutoff is high-70s

College Route

• Click here for an extensive list of programs
• In general, you need to take senior-level science courses in high school. The medical lab programs seem to be one of the more competitive programs at college
• Check out each program to see what is involved in the admissions process

A New Chapter

I've decided that this blog will remain dedicated to different careers in healthcare. I am going to start a new blog about my own personal journey through life and my new OT career path!

Please check it out here!!

An Update on My Life!

Hello world! I am super excited to say that I've accepted an offer to McMaster for my Masters in Occupational Therapy!!! I can't wait to meet everyone in September and to get back to school! I left the interview not knowing how it really went, but I guess I must have done well after all.

I think I might try to write more about the OT career from this point on as this is the career choice I've made (and I've written about almost as many healthcare careers as I can think of). I'm not sure exactly what direction this blog will take.

If any fellow future Mac OT students are reading this, shoot me an email!!! :)

Healthcare Professionals - Income

One thing I found important when I was trying to plan a career in healthcare was salary. I know it's not the most important, but it's definitely something to look at! I will update this as I come across new careers and numbers.

Average Income per Year in Ontario
Registered Nurse: $70 000
Occupational Therapist: $70 000
Physiotherapist: $70 000
Dietician: $70 000
Cardiac Perfusionist: $80 000
Naturopath: $75 000
Osteopathic Physician: $185 000
Pharmacist: $90 000
Massage Therapist: $40 000
Respiratory Therapist: $65 000
Physician Assistant: $80 000
Pathologist Assistant: $80 000
Medical Imagers: $60 000
Chiropractors: $70 000
Chiropodist: $55 000
Dentist: $120 000+
Speech-Language Pathologist: $65 000
Audiologist: $65 000
Social Worker: $50 000
Genetic Counsellor: $75 000
Cytotechnologist: $50 000
Veterinarian: $72 000
Optometrist: $120 000
Paramedic: $50 000
Midwife: $65 000
Doctor: $340 000
Denturist: $45 000
Lab Technologist: $50 000
Optician: $41 000
Denturist: $50 000

Medical Imaging

I'm going to try to group all of the medical imaging programs together in this post and break them down by category.

Ultrasound

• What it is: imaging technology that uses high-frequency sound waves to display real time images of the soft tissue structures in the human body
• Used to differentiate between normal and pathologic findings and to monitor pregnancies for fetal abnormalities, fetal growth and well-being
• What Does an Ultrasound Tech Do?: performs ultrasound examinations, acquires sonographic images of the normal human anatomy as well as any abnormal or pathologic conditions and completes a technical report of their findings
• How Can I Apply?: Michener, Algonquin, Cambrian, and St Clair all offer the ultrasound program. You can apply on the Ontario Colleges website
• Check out each of the schools' individual requirements. Some of them just require a high school diploma with high school science courses, and others require post secondary education
• Michener interviews top-ranked applicants

Radiation

• What It Is: the production of images of internal organs and structures by passing a small, highly controlled amount of radiation through the human body, and capturing the resulting image on an image recording device.
• What Does an Radiation Tech Do?: perform diagnostic imaging examinations, including mammography and computerized tomography and are responsible for accurately positioning patients and ensuring that a quality diagnostic image is produced.
• How Can I Apply? Confederation, Mohawk, Algonquin, Cambrian, Fanshawe, and Michener offer radiation technology or radiation therapy programs
• Check out the prerequisites from each school. Most require a high school diploma, but Michener requires 1 year of university. All school have science course prerequisites required.

MRI and cardiac sonography programs require applicants to either be a registered healthcare professional or have another degree in medical imaging.

Dietician

What Does a Dietician Do?

Here are just a few examples:

• educating and advising clients on how food and healthy eating habits can prevent illness and achieve and maintain optimum health
educating and advising a wide range of patients on how therapeutic diets and dietary therapy can improve the management of their conditions
calculating individual’s nutritional requirements using standard equations based on assessments of blood chemistry, temperature, stress, mobility and other relevant factors
analysing the nutritional content of food
devising eating plans and manipulating recipes
delivering group sessions to a variety of audiences, including children and patient groups
educating other healthcare and non health care professionals about food and nutrition issues;
working with large companies to support well being programmes for staff
advising catering departments about specific dietary requirements
running clinics in hospital outpatients departments or general practitioners’ (GP) surgeries for patients who have been referred by hospital consultants, GPs or health visitors
advising athletes and sports persons on how diet can optimise performance and recovery from injury

How Do I Become a Dietician?

 

The process for becoming a registered dietician is kind of confusing from what I gather, so I will do my best to try and explain it here. There are two basic routes, as depicted by the following lovely flowchart: 

 

 

Track 1: Integrated Internship Route

• Complete an undergraduate degree in dietetics with an internship. These programs are available at the following schools: UBC, Saskatchewan, McGill, Montreal, Laval, Moncton, Ottawa
• It looks like most of these programs admit students into the third year of an undergrad. You need to have at least 2 years of university credits, certain prerequisite courses, references, a paper, and get invited to an interview. Check out the above links for further info.
• Admission is highly competitive, but not as competitive as entry into a Masters program

Track 2: Post-Degree Internship Route

• Click here for a full list of schools that offer the program. In Ontario, Guelph, Ryerson, and Western offer them
• You need to have a 4 year honours degree from an accredited dietetic program completed within the last 3 years
• Minimum GPA of 75%
• Need to have taken statistics and research methods, possibly other prerequisites (check out the school websites)

For more information on how to become a registered dietician, please click here

Cytotechnology

This is yet another healthcare career that I've never heard of. Check it out!

What Does a Cytotechnologist Do?

•  Study cells and cellular anomalies
• Using a microscope, they examine slides of human cells for any indication that a cell is abnormal and/or diseased (i.e., cancerous or precancerous lesions, infectious agents or inflammatory processes)
• Often play a crucial role in helping patients to recover from illness by identifying a disease while it is still at a treatable stage
• Examine slides microscopically, mark cellular changes that indicate disease and submit a report to the pathologist for final evaluation

How Do I Become a Cytotechnologist?

• Michener is the only school in Ontario that offers this program. Cytology programs are also offered at SIAST, Rosemont, NAIT, Dalhousie. I'll list the prerequisites for the Michener program here
• You must be a Canadian certified Medical Laboratory Technologist or have an undergraduate degree in science
• If you have an undergraduate degree, you must have taken 1.0 courses in anatomy, and 1.0 courses in physiology with a minimum grade of 70%
• You must have a minimum GPA of 70%
• Top-ranked applicants are invited to an interview
• Admission offers are determined using the following formula: CGPA (35%), professional and academic experience (15%) and the Multi Mini Interview (50%)
• Application for Michener is due February 1st on the Ontario Colleges website

Genetic Counselling

What Does a Genetic Counsellor Do?

• Genetic counseling is a process to evaluate and understand a family’s risk of an inherited medical condition
• A genetic counselor is a healthcare professional with specialized training in medical genetics and counseling
• For A LOT more information, click here

How Do I Become a Genetic Counsellor?

• Toronto offers a Masters program. Application is due early January here
• The minimum GPA required is a B+
• Must have a 4 year university degree
• 2 letters of reference

I've tried to find a few other programs in Canada that offer a Masters in Genetic Counselling, and this is what I got:

• UBC
• McGill

Speech-Language Pathology

What Does A Speech-Language Pathologist Do?

• Assessment and treatment of language disorders to improve ability to understand spoken and written language, convey ideas verbally and in writing, and communicate in social situations
• Assessment and treatment of cognitive communication disorders to improve the reasoning, problem solving, memory, and organization skills required to communicate effectively
• Assessment and treatment of speech disorders to improve articulation (pronunciation) and to help those who stutter improve their fluency Assessment and treatment of voice disorders to improve vocal quality, pitch, and loudness
• Assessment and treatment of swallowing disorders to ensure that patients/clients are on safe diets and not at increased risk for choking or food/liquid build-up in the lungs
• Patient/client and caregiver counseling on communication and swallowing disorders, patient/client abilities and challenges, and strategies to improve function and help compensate for difficulties
• Consultation with other professionals to provide comprehensive programs of care (e.g., audiologists, dietitians, nurses, occupational therapists, physicians, physiotherapists, psychologists, social workers, and teachers)
• Clinical and academic research to investigate complex processes underlying human communication, explore the impact of various factors on communication and swallowing, and develop new approaches to treat people with communication and swallowing disorders.

How Can I Apply?

• Western and Toronto are the two schools that offer this program in Ontario. Application is due early January on ORPAS
• You need a 4 year university degree
• You need the following prerequisite courses:
• child development/psychology
• general linguistics
• phonetics
• elementary statistics and/or research design
• human physiology
• 2 academic references
• A statement of intent
• 14 hours of clinical experience (minimum)
• A clinical reference