Critical care science
Critical care science is about caring for patients who are critically ill.
As a healthcare scientist specialising in critical care, you have an expert knowledge of physiology and technology and the role they play in critical care.
Working life
As a healthcare scientist specialising in critical care, you’ll work as part of a multi-professional team delivering care to critically ill patients.
You’ll provide scientific expertise across several areas and be responsible for a range of life support monitoring and therapeutic systems. To do this, you’ll need specialist knowledge and understanding of relevant and up-to-date clinical, scientific and technical principles and practice and their application to broad areas of patient care (including complex and often non-routine intervention).
You’ll perform a number of key roles, such as:
- undertaking complex scientific and clinical roles, including those working directly with patients
- providing advice to medical, nursing and other staff working in a critical care setting about the safe and effective use of critical care technologies (spanning monitoring and supporting critically ill patients, diagnostic and therapeutic techniques)
- providing a first-line maintenance and troubleshooting service supporting the critical care team at the bedside with respect to all aspects of medical technology within the relevant areas, including:
- ventilators
- renal replacement therapy equipment
- physiological measurement monitors etc
- establishing and managing satellite laboratories and point-of-care testing, covering areas such as blood gases, co-oximetry, electrolytes, metabolytes, and haematology including coagulation profiles
- setting up and providing a renal replacement therapy service within the critical care areas, including setting up equipment and contributing to patient care programs
- providing software and hardware support for electronic patient databases in critical care; areas providing scientific support for the transfer and transport of critically ill and anaesthetised patients.
You’re also likely to be involved in:
- the quality assurance of diagnostic and therapeutic techniques and technologies including decontamination systems
- providing on-call services as a lone worker requiring autonomous working, including emergency call-outs to any critical care area, supporting patients on life support systems, and troubleshooting equipment essential to the safe running of each area
- the planning, delivery and evaluation of teaching, learning and assessment in areas of practice for staff working in a critical care environment and the wider health setting
- analysing and reviewing scientific, technical and medical literature
- clinically evaluating new critical care technologies and managing their introduction into clinical use.
Who will I work with?
You will work as part of a team that includes doctors specialising in intensive care medicine, nurses, medical engineers and healthcare science staff working in renal technology.
Want to learn more?
- Find out more about the entry requirements, skills and interests required to enter a career in critical care science
- Find out more about the training you’ll receive for a career in critical care science