Biomedical Science career options

necromundia

Hello to everyone at the forum

I have just graduated with an honours degree in Biomedical Science and am currently on the job hunt. I am open to working in sectors outside the hospital lab. Also would anyone that would have graduated from this course work out foreign. How does one go about working out foreign?

Alpha_Helix

necromundia wrote: »

Hello to everyone at the forum

I have just graduated with an honours degree in Biomedical Science and am currently on the job hunt. I am open to working in sectors outside the hospital lab. Also would anyone that would have graduated from this course work out foreign. How does one go about working out foreign?

Hi there, and congratulations on your degree in Biomedical Science!!

Sorry, but this is going off your topic, but I just wanted to ask a biomed graduate; how did you find the course, did you graduate from DIT, what tips would you give while on the course, was it really tough, and what subjects will need a lot more attention??

I ask this as, I am about to start 1st year biomed in DIT as a mature student. I did my A levels in biology while on DIT's access programme this year. I took structural biochemistry as an elective from 1st year biomed, and did well in my exam, even though I didn't do any chemistry, but that was the only contact I had with the degree. Just looking for a heads up before I start really.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Cheers!

necromundia

Alpha_Helix wrote: »

Hi there, and congratulations on your degree in Biomedical Science!!

Sorry, but this is going off your topic, but I just wanted to ask a biomed graduate; how did you find the course, did you graduate from DIT, what tips would you give while on the course, was it really tough, and what subjects will need a lot more attention??

I ask this as, I am about to start 1st year biomed in DIT as a mature student. I did my A levels in biology while on DIT's access programme this year. I took structural biochemistry as an elective from 1st year biomed, and did well in my exam, even though I didn't do any chemistry, but that was the only contact I had with the degree. Just looking for a heads up before I start really.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Cheers!

Party on, thanks for the congratulations. I went to CIT myself, 2 years of college, a year of work experience followed by 2 years jointly taught between UCC/CIT. I would not know how the other biomedical science courses are taught through out the country but I assume that they are all to the same standard because the AMLS (academy of medical sciences) which you have to join to work in a lab, recognize all the biomedical science courses throughout the country. From my experience I taught that 1st and 2nd year were taught very well, when I was in the course there was only a class of 30 so the lecturers knew us by name, however I have since found out that the average class size nowadays is close to 90, my education was very personal you could say. There were 2 modules, 21st century health and environmental science that were a complete joke but apart from that all the other modules were interesting in their own right and the institute of technologies always have very good laboratory facilities. UCC was lacking in practical aspects of the course to be honest, CIT excels in this respect (can you detect the slight bias towards CIT?). As for the course material I completed Biology and Chemistry for Leaving certificate and liked them, this made the first year of the course a lot easier, a lot of the modules in 1st and 2nd year depend soley on them. 2nd year I must say I was up the wall with exams but CIT is semesterised so you get a month off between semesters.

In my 3rd year I did 9 months placement in a hospital covering Haematology, Histology, Biochemistry, Transfusion science and Bacteriology for 6 weeks each. I also did a research project validating a new blood analyzer and completing a literature review of prostate cancer diagnosis. I was treated very well during work experience, everyone was so nice to the noob. One has to complete practical exams during work experience but they are grand out.

In the 4th and fifth year of the course, the majority of the modules are taught by UCC, I despised these modules, it was like the leaving cert again, I was interested in the course material but their method of examining you, up to 9 months after the actual course material was taught was a source of contention for me. Also as discussed earlier for the UCC modules you are thrown in with other classes hence the large class sizes and therefore the impersonal teaching experience, I felt that some of the lecturers didn't care if we all failed. I had 9 summer exams, which I was not used to since my first two years, but I got through. For final year thankfully CIT took over for most of the teaching again. We also had to juggle a literature dissertation on a research topic assigned to us in October which had to be finished by December, I researched isolation of antimicrobials from marine bacteria and fungi. I taught that this part was easy, I was interested in the area and I perfected the art of referencing articles (if you have any questions just ask). After the christmas exams we started the pracitical work for the research project, although things were a bit hairy towards the end of the 8 week project I got there in the end. My supervisor and the other people working there were spot on and made life a whole lot easier. I must say after the 8 weeks of the practical work I sat on my arse for a bit and rushed the write up for the project, I was satisfied with the finished project but I was given plenty of time to complete it comfortably, woops.

We had to give a presentation on our project which was mighty craic, it was fun describing all that went well during the project with all my hard work. The summer exams were grand out.

As for completing structural biochemistry I first started that subject in 2nd year, 1st year is really designed to allow anyone and everyone to become acquainted with biomedical science, with each following year specializing more and more.

I hope my life story helps:)

Alpha_Helix

necromundia wrote: »

Party on, thanks for the congratulations. I went to CIT myself, 2 years of college, a year of work experience followed by 2 years jointly taught between UCC/CIT. I would not know how the other biomedical science courses are taught through out the country but I assume that they are all to the same standard because the AMLS (academy of medical sciences) which you have to join to work in a lab, recognize all the biomedical science courses throughout the country. From my experience I taught that 1st and 2nd year were taught very well, when I was in the course there was only a class of 30 so the lecturers knew us by name, however I have since found out that the average class size nowadays is close to 90, my education was very personal you could say. There were 2 modules, 21st century health and environmental science that were a complete joke but apart from that all the other modules were interesting in their own right and the institute of technologies always have very good laboratory facilities. UCC was lacking in practical aspects of the course to be honest, CIT excels in this respect (can you detect the slight bias towards CIT?). As for the course material I completed Biology and Chemistry for Leaving certificate and liked them, this made the first year of the course a lot easier, a lot of the modules in 1st and 2nd year depend soley on them. 2nd year I must say I was up the wall with exams but CIT is semesterised so you get a month off between semesters.

In my 3rd year I did 9 months placement in a hospital covering Haematology, Histology, Biochemistry, Transfusion science and Bacteriology for 6 weeks each. I also did a research project validating a new blood analyzer and completing a literature review of prostate cancer diagnosis. I was treated very well during work experience, everyone was so nice to the noob. One has to complete practical exams during work experience but they are grand out.

In the 4th and fifth year of the course, the majority of the modules are taught by UCC, I despised these modules, it was like the leaving cert again, I was interested in the course material but their method of examining you, up to 9 months after the actual course material was taught was a source of contention for me. Also as discussed earlier for the UCC modules you are thrown in with other classes hence the large class sizes and therefore the impersonal teaching experience, I felt that some of the lecturers didn't care if we all failed. I had 9 summer exams, which I was not used to since my first two years, but I got through. For final year thankfully CIT took over for most of the teaching again. We also had to juggle a literature dissertation on a research topic assigned to us in October which had to be finished by December, I researched isolation of antimicrobials from marine bacteria and fungi. I taught that this part was easy, I was interested in the area and I perfected the art of referencing articles (if you have any questions just ask). After the christmas exams we started the pracitical work for the research project, although things were a bit hairy towards the end of the 8 week project I got there in the end. My supervisor and the other people working there were spot on and made life a whole lot easier. I must say after the 8 weeks of the practical work I sat on my arse for a bit and rushed the write up for the project, I was satisfied with the finished project but I was given plenty of time to complete it comfortably, woops.

We had to give a presentation on our project which was mighty craic, it was fun describing all that went well during the project with all my hard work. The summer exams were grand out.

As for completing structural biochemistry I first started that subject in 2nd year, 1st year is really designed to allow anyone and everyone to become acquainted with biomedical science, with each following year specializing more and more.

I hope my life story helps:)

Cheers thanks for that very helpful, yeah DIT is near enough the same structure except we just have different names for the five streams: clinical chemistry, medical micro, cellular pathology/clinical cytology, then transfusion, and haematology.

In DIT the course is no longer 5 years, it's now 4, so that's why structural biochem is taught in 1st year, so we will be ready for our work placement in 3rd year.

Which modules did you find the toughest? I hear transfusion science is meant to be quite tough.

necromundia

Would you have known what they taught in the extra year at DIT, was the extra year for a masters or just the honours degree? If one has an interest in a subject it makes life a whole lot easier, I was interested in all the areas I was taught in so I would rate all areas equal in regards difficulty or ease for that matter.

Tree

I did the last two years of the five year DIT course (I did my first three years in CIT). I don't think there was anything extra compared with the new course, it was just spread over a more manageable time.

CIT/UCC didn't allow specialisation in major/minor subjects teh way DIT did. So a Cork student would study all five areas, where a Dublin student would specialise in two. Whether or not this is better depends on the person. Personally I loved that I could ditch histology and microbiology. Transfusion science was probably my favourite part of my final year (I majored in haematology/TS and minored in clin chem, though i sat in on some extra clin chem modules i didnt need to).

FYI on the careers thing, I did the MSc in Biomedical Diagnostics after my degree and am now doing a PhD on glycobiology (which the transfusion science modules were surprisingly useful for).

Moon Dice

Hi just found this discussion while googling.
My girlfriend is currently in her final year of biomedical science in UCC/Cit. She has told me she has to do a further two more years of portfolio work and exams before she can even work in the uk. That would be 7 years in college altogether. She is very upset over this and i'm just wondering does anybody know what the story is? Thanks

necromundia

Happy Friday Moon Dice,

I have never heard of such an excess of study. To work in a Medical Laboratory in Ireland one has to join the Academy of Medical laboratory Sciences (AMLS). To work in the UK one has to be a member of the Institute of Biomedical Sciences (IBMS). To join both organizations, one has to pay the fee, complete the four years of the Biomedical Science course and complete work experience in all the disciplines of Biomedical Science. UCC/CIT organize all the work experience for you after completion of the four years of college. Biomedical Science as taught in GMIT and in England allows you to major in one Biomedical Science Discipline and minor in another. Your girlfriend is at a distinct advantage in UCC/CIT in that she can work in any discipline of Biomedical Science.

Dingle_berry

Moon Dice wrote: »

Hi just found this discussion while googling.
My girlfriend is currently in her final year of biomedical science in UCC/Cit. She has told me she has to do a further two more years of portfolio work and exams before she can even work in the uk. That would be 7 years in college altogether. She is very upset over this and i'm just wondering does anybody know what the story is? Thanks

I looked into emigrating back in 2009 after I finished up. To work in the UK you need to prove that your primary degree is equivalent to a UK one. This is done through UK NARIC (for a fee!). You then send this letter with almost every other bit of paper you can find about your degree to the HPC to apply to be accepted onto the register (another fee). If you are accepted to the HPC register you must do CPD or you will not be able to re register. Easiest way to do this is by joining the IBMS. For a fee! Also indemnity/liability/malpractice insurance is a good idea.
EDIT: your girlfriend may have been looking at the clinical specialist scientist positions in the NHS. They require an MSc and clinical training. Similar to a perfusion scientist. She's in a good position having an Irish degree as they are about 60 ECTs above other EU biomed qualifications. Just the documentation is a pain!
For anyone working in Ireland a similar system is coming within 18 months through CORU. If you are a member of the AMLS it will hopefully be a direct transfer and fee of €295. Again CPD will be compulsory to re register.

In response to a previous post, to get jobs you need to check ALL the individual websites weekly. HR will take down posts when the CVs start flooding in. Don't turn your nose up at jobs in private labs, vet labs, lab aide work or related fields. Experience isn't just discipline related its also personal development etc etc etc. if there is nothing out there volunteer somewhere that interests you - but if you volunteer do not become a free lab aide. And for those still reading I've heard rumours of a bio/metabolic locum coming up in temple st and a micro and a haem job in holles st to be advertised shortly

Moon Dice

Thanks for all the information. Much appreciated

Moon Dice

Dingle_berry wrote: »

I looked into emigrating back in 2009 after I finished up. To work in the UK you need to prove that your primary degree is equivalent to a UK one. This is done through UK NARIC (for a fee!). You then send this letter with almost every other bit of paper you can find about your degree to the HPC to apply to be accepted onto the register (another fee). If you are accepted to the HPC register you must do CPD or you will not be able to re register. Easiest way to do this is by joining the IBMS. For a fee! Also indemnity/liability/malpractice insurance is a good idea.
EDIT: your girlfriend may have been looking at the clinical specialist scientist positions in the NHS. They require an MSc and clinical training. Similar to a perfusion scientist. She's in a good position having an Irish degree as they are about 60 ECTs above other EU biomed qualifications. Just the documentation is a pain!
For anyone working in Ireland a similar system is coming within 18 months through CORU. If you are a member of the AMLS it will hopefully be a direct transfer and fee of €295. Again CPD will be compulsory to re register.

Sorry could you explain what cpd is please? Thanks

Dingle_berry

Moon Dice wrote: »

Sorry could you explain what cpd is please? Thanks

It's Continuous Professional Development. In other words, continuous learning to stay informed about new techniques, etc. Different CPD points are awarded for different "activities" like a meeting or training someone might be a point, attending a conference or an MCQ might be 5. You have to gain a certain nimber of points in a period like 150 in 3 years. Professional bodies like AMLS and IBMS run distance courses for members.