Accessing advanced practice as a biomedical scientist

Advanced practice is increasingly recognised as a key component of the future pathology workforce.^1-3 As diagnostic services expand in response to rising clinical demand, workforce pressures, and technological advancement, biomedical scientists are undertaking increasingly complex and clinically focused roles.^2,4 Advanced practice provides a structured pathway for experienced practitioners to extend their scope of practice, contribute to service transformation, and enhance multidisciplinary patient care.^5,6

Despite its growing strategic importance, access to advanced practice roles within biomedical science remains variable and incompletely understood.¹ While advanced practice is well established in professions such as nursing and allied health,^7,8 its implementation within biomedical science has developed more slowly and inconsistently across organisations and disciplines.¹ Despite this, no published literature has specifically examined barriers to accessing advanced practice positions for biomedical scientists, which limits understanding of the structural and professional challenges involved and, in turn, constrains the ability to effectively expand these roles in line with workforce priorities.

A recent mixed methods study – co-authored by Dr Alex Scott and Debbie Stevens-Gill, of the Department of Psychology, Keele University – explored the barriers and facilitators influencing access to advanced practice for biomedical scientists, across the United Kingdom, using the Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF) to examine the behavioural, organisational, and professional factors shaping career progression.^9,10 This article presents a condensed account of the key findings of the mixed methods study and their implications for workforce development.