Biomedical Science

lizardspock

Hi all,

Just looking for some opinions about where to study Biomedical science.
Right now I'm stuck between Biomed in Galway, Cork and DIT.
Also, any thoughts about the Biomedical, Health and Life Sciences course in UCD, and the Human Health and Disease course in TCD??

Thanks:)

aaabbbb

Only course that gives you professional accreditation with the academy at the end is the one in DIT so personally I'd go with that

Dingle_berry

lizardspock wrote: »

Hi all,

Just looking for some opinions about where to study Biomedical science.
Right now I'm stuck between Biomed in Galway, Cork and DIT.
Also, any thoughts about the Biomedical, Health and Life Sciences course in UCD, and the Human Health and Disease course in TCD??

Thanks:)

Firstly what aaabbbb posted is incorrect, please disregard it. The biomedical science course in UCC is recognised by the AMLS. I believe the Galway course is too. What aaabbbb may have meant to say is that the DIT course is the only course in the republic that is accredited by the IBMS. AMLS= Irish IBMS=UK

What I ask everyone who considers biomed is what is attracting you to the course?
In some ways it is a very broad course - you study biochemistry, microbiology, physiology, genetics, molecular biology, anatomy, etc. in other ways it is very specialised/narrow/focused - it's all human/mammalian biology that you study with a focus on pathology.
This not only makes for good Medical Laboratory Scientists but also good research scientists in fields like cancer research and pharmaceuticals.
I know very little about the Galway course. The UCC course is multi-disciplinary, in the DIT course you choose a major and a minor to focus on which can reduce your employment prospects (especially if CORU restricts practise based on qualifications).

The UCD, TCD and NUIM courses may have biomed in their titles but they do not qualify you to work as a medical laboratory scientist. That's the only fact I know about them.

Dingle_berry

There are a few other threads on biomedical science:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=83217423
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056259631
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=83410987
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=83669895

Feel free to ask me anything about Biomedical Science. Ill answer as best I can.

Turtle_Dove

As far as I'm aware the major differences are as follows:

The UCC/CIT and DIT courses are 4 years PLUS placement (5 academic years) whereas GMIT is completed in 4 years.

UCC/CIT go on placement for 9 months after they have completed 4th year whilst GMIT do 6 months placement in 3rd year, I'm not sure about DIT here.

However, the UCC/CIT placement and the GMIT placement periods are paid whilst the DIT one is voluntary.

UCC/CIT is multidisciplinary so they study each of the core areas in equal (ish) detail (Haematology/Transfusion, Biochemistry, Microbiology, Histology, Serology/Immunology). In GMIT and (as far as I know) in DIT you specialise in 2 areas after second year so this may affect your employment opportunities, particularly if you wish to work abroad as many countries require multidisciplinary training.

The most important thing to remember is that there are ONLY THREE courses that are recognized by the Academy and the Irish Medical Board, they are UCC/CIT, DIT and GMIT. Therefore, if you choose for example 'Biomedical Science' in NUIG you will have a degree and not be allowed to practice as a Medical Scientist in the lab. In order to convert this qualification into something to allow you to work as a Medical Scientist you have to do another years study and it is quite expensive as far as I'm aware. So stick to the I.T.'s!!