Biomedical science

Leinsterview

Am researching this course and have a few overriding questions:
If you decide not to go down the postgrad route and to earn a living 4 years later with your basic degree what are the job prospects like generally? More spefically are there jobs in the state system
All answers/insights would be greatly welcome.

Tree

At the moment the hiring embargo means many (already qualified) graduates can't find jobs in Ireland, happilly they are well qualified for work abroad and many have gone away to gain experience.

What the situation will be like in four/five years time, noone can say, but the course is a solid introduction to laboratory science and would stand to you whether you went into research or quality control in an industrial setting.

(FWIW I went on to do a PhD, but that was always my intention, after my year's work placement I decided hospital laboratories were not for me)

anto3473

Jobs are hard to come by in any discipline these days, no matter what sort of science degree you have.

As Tree said the HSE recruitment embargo made things difficult but there is still work, things like maternity leave, sick leave, the voluntary redundancy scheme do leave staff shortages have to be accounted for.

I qualified last year, had no relevant work for 9 months after graduation then got offered 2 jobs at once.

I'm currently working full time as a Medical Scientist and the majority of my classmates have goten work, much of the time these jobs are short term (a few months) but ive heard of temporary agency staff being kept on in places for 3-4 years, so be prepared to up and move to a new hospital if ever an opertunity arises.

So far I have only heard of 1 person in my class getting a permanent post

There are temporary jobs out there and a lot of people I know have moved around different hospitals quite a lot, I even know someone who has two part time jobs in different hospitals alternating every week.

The pay, for someone right out of college though is good, and with moving around you gain all different types of valuable experience.

If you are considering the course dont be put off by the HSE recruitment ban, because things are bad everywhere and having a Biomed degree doesn't limit you to hospitals, whereas you do need one if you want to work in a hospital lab

Triona00

Hi,

does anyone know can you branch into this area of employment with a nursing degree?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Dingle_berry

Triona00 wrote: »

Hi,

does anyone know can you branch into this area of employment with a nursing degree?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

No, to work as a Medical Scientist you need to have a qualification approved by the Academy of Clinical Science and Laboratory Medicine (ACSLM). Similar to a nurse having to register with an bord altranis.
There are non-standard routes to membership of the ACSLM but they are expensive and have been suspended until 2016.

There are nursing roles that cross over with or are closely allied with the lab, such as Haemovigilance and infection control.
What is it about medical science that attracts you?

Banaba

Hey sorry to hijack the thread. seeking advice on what to do,, I am second year general nurse but since I started nursing I fell in love with biological sciences. I know what we do is only skimming what biomed science does but its my best subject and I just love physiology and learning how everything works and why it works. I am contemplating trying to transfer in to biomed science as I actually want to go on and do medicine after my degree regardless, but Im just wondering if anyone can give me some info re the course and how difficult it is etc. i really dont know whether to just stay going or transfer

Dingle_berry

The difficulty of the course depends on the person. You'll be in college full time plus have to study with less self-directed learning than a course like English literature.
The biomed degrees are essentially a BSc in pathology so would be useful to a Med student. I wouldn't say they would be more useful than a nursing degree though, definitely not more useful than gaining ward and clinic experience?
I know people have transferred from nursing to biomed in cork but haven't heard of it elsewhere

Banaba

Thank you dingle you have been a great help