What Is Pathology?
Written by Tom Doerr on March 13, 2010 – 8:03 am -Pathological science is very diverse and involves the study of diseases. The discipline offers a variety of careers options and a number of different routes of training people can take. Being a pathologist could involve lab work, investigating outbreaks of diseases and studying their effects or work in a hospital running tests on blood samples of patients.
Examples of pathology can be found dating back as far as the 8th century in the Islamic golden age when doctors began to apply scientific information to the diagnosis of their patients by understanding links between the causes and results of diseases. Records can depict pathological methods of identifying diabetes by actually tasting a patient’s urine.
Physicians will usually use pathologists as consultants, they may not directly interact with the patient but they will be asked to examine things like biopsies and blood samples. They may help diagnose the disease and often recommend treatments. They may not ever meet the patient but they will act as an important part of their medical team.
When a person dies, the autopsy is performed by a forensic pathologist to establish their cause of death, this is sometimes considered more difficult than working with a live patient but the results are not needed so urgently.
There are numerous variations of the pathology profession such as a research pathologist who studies general issues affecting health and disease. Veterinary pathologists specialize in animal disease while botanical pathologists study disease in plants. There are some who specialize in the pathology of a particular aspect of a human such as speech pathologists so the variety of career options attracts a wide range of skills.
To become a pathologist involves extensive requirements, you need to have a great knowledge of medical subjects but also be able to operate a vast array of scientific equipment. Most pathologists are required to be certified doctors before undertaking a residency in pathology.
If you want a job in healthcare, then visit Nuffield Health for a list of Pathology Jobs in your region.
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