Allied health professional manpower in Louisiana

In recent decades there has been a virtual transformation of medicine. A host of factors including technological change and increasing governmental intrusion and requirements as well as complex changes in the private sector have made the practice of medicine dramatically different than in the past. A concomitant change has been the virtual explosion in the number, complexity, and legal status of what are commonly termed the allied health professions. The following article was designed to present a historical overview of 10 of the most common such occupations and to discuss their unique training and employment status in the state. Implications for the future of medicine in the state are discussed.