Abstract
M.Tech. (Somatology)
The medical aesthetic industry has shown tremendous growth over the past decade with non-invasive treatments increasing in popularity. Increasing numbers of medical practitioners are entering this market with medical aesthetic clinics, offering non-invasive rejuvenation treatments on the rise. Together with this, medical practitioners are now relying on somatologists to complement their offerings in the medical aesthetic clinic by performing a very large array of treatments under the medical practitioner’s supervision. With the addition of these more advanced technologies associated with the medical aesthetic industry, an exploration of the perceived competency of the somatologist was undertaken to identify if there was a competency gap between the preparedness of the three-year qualified somatologist and the expectations of the medical aesthetics industry.
The aim of this study was to explore and describe the perceived competency of somatologists working in the medical aesthetic industry.
The objective was to describe the perceived competency of somatologists working in the medical aesthetic industry by conducting a survey by means of two self-constructed semi-structured questionnaires to obtain mainly quantitative information from somatologist working in the medical aesthetic industry and the medical practitioner (general practitioner, plastic surgeon or dermatologist) working with the somatologist at a medical aesthetic clinic. Both questionnaires were peer reviewed and a pilot study was conducted to ensure validity and reliability of the measurement tools. A purposive sampling method was used with a total of 110 somatologists and 29 medical practitioners participating in the study. A low response rate (43% of somatologists and 19% of medical practitioners) was identified as one of the limitations of the study.
Through the data collected from these questionnaires, the researcher could identify if there was a competency gap between the preparedness of the three-year qualified somatologist and the expectations in the medical aesthetics industry...