Conduct diagnostic tests to determine patient health

Little of this can be handed to software today.

This happens in the physical world, so software agents do not touch it. Automation here means robotics and machinery, which is a different market from the one mapped on this site, on a much slower clock.

Key facts about this work activity
How automatableBarely automatable
Kind of workPhysical, manual and inspection work
Jobs that do it8 occupations
Tool categories that applyNone
O*NET activityInspecting Equipment, Structures, or Materials (4.A.1.b.2)

What this looks like on the job

Not our paraphrase. These are real task statements recorded against this activity, spread across the 8 occupations that perform it.

  • Assess clients' cognitive abilities and physical and emotional needs to determine appropriate interventions.
  • Diagnose cardiovascular conditions, using cardiac catheterization.
  • Select, request, perform, or interpret diagnostic procedures, such as laboratory tests, electrocardiograms, emergency ultrasounds, and radiographs.
  • Perform allergen provocation tests such as nasal, conjunctival, bronchial, oral, food, or medication challenges.
  • Perform annual gynecologic exams, including pap smears and breast exams.
  • Perform routine laboratory tests and sample analyses.
  • Perform routine laboratory tests or diagnostic tests, such as taking or developing x-rays.
  • Conduct hemoglobin tests to ensure donor iron levels are normal.
  • Conduct standards tests, such as blood alcohol, blood culture, oral glucose tolerance, glucose screening, blood smears, or peak and trough drug levels tests.

What we would actually use

Nothing in our landscape addresses this work. That is the honest answer rather than a padded list: this activity needs a person present, or a machine rather than a software agent.

Our pickBuy nothing

Nothing on this site applies. Automation here is robotics and machinery, a different market on a much slower clock, and no software subscription moves it.

Chosen for the cheapest thing that does the job, not the best funded. Nothing on this site is sponsored, and the full landscape is there when you want to disagree with us.

Work that goes with it

O*NET groups these under “Administer diagnostic tests to assess patient health”. In practice they tend to be done by the same person, in the same sitting.

Related work activities
ActivityJobs
Test biological specimens to gather information about patient conditions10
Test patient heart or lung functioning6
Test patient vision5
Administer screening tests to determine abilities or treatment needs4
Test patient nervous system functioning4
Test patient hearing3
Administer drug screening tests2

Method. The activity, its taxonomy placement and the occupations that perform it come straight from the public-domain O*NET 30.3 database. The automatability band is ours: we map each of O*NET’s 41 generalized work activities to how much of its output current software can produce, assuming a person still reviews and owns the result. It is a coarse three-way judgment on purpose. A precise-looking percentage here would be invented.