Part-Time (and Flex-Time) Physician Practice on the Rise

There's a great article in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) titled, "Part-Time Physician Practice on the Rise." More physicians are recognizing the importance of balancing work and family life. As a result, there's a growing phenomenon of physicians choosing to work part-time. Given that many full-time physicians are working over 40 hrs/week (more like 60+ hrs), those working part-time are working 35 hrs/week and taking regular call.

I know many physicians who have established a blended career model where they spend very little time in clinical practice and they spend a greater amount of time in some type of non-clinical career.

Are you looking for ways to spend more time with your family? Perhaps you're getting burned out and you don't want to work 60+ hours in the clinical setting. Pursuing a part-time practice could be a great option if you're able to find a hospital or group practice that is open to the idea of employing you as a part-time physician. Then again, maybe it's time to significantly reduce your clinical responsibilities and find non-clinical sources of income generation. There's also the idea of job sharing. This is also seen in the corporate setting where two women who are raising a family may share a single job and divide the roles/responsibilities during the week. If you want to share a clinical job, you'll need to find a "partner" who's willing to share the workload with you.

Click here to read the article in the NEJM.

Another reminder about the Medical Fusion Conference

This is a quick reminder about the upcoming Medical Fusion Conference that will be this November 5-7, 2010 at the Wynn Las Vegas. The event website is www.MedFusionConf.org.

The Medical Fusion Conference brings together physician leaders who have developed unique niche areas to further their careers. Concierge medicine, telemedicine, entrepreneurship, writing & publishing, medical tourism, living & working abroad, developing start-up companies, financial management, alternate income streams, clinical practice innovation, and internet marketing are some of the topics covered at the Medical Fusion Conference.

Faculty who are true experts in their fields are being brought in to discuss their careers and developing trends in medicine. Each day is designed to maximize learning and face time with faculty members including the scheduling of two "meet the faculty" sessions that allow sit down time between participants and the Medical Fusion speakers.  

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ISMPP Certified Medical Publication Professional Certification Exam

Have you heard of the ISMPP Certified Medical Publication Professional Certification Exam? Have you heard of the ISMPP? Let's start with the International Society for Medical Publication Professionals (ISMPP). This is a non-profit organization for medical publishing professionals. They offer a certification exam and you can learn about that exam by visiting:

http://www.ismpp.org/

The ISMPP Certified Medical Publication Professional Certification Exam

APPLY NOW: Log on to www.ismpp.org for details.
At this time, scrutiny surrounding the conduct of company-sponsored clinical trials and data reporting are at its height. The Certified Medical Publication Professional (CMPP) credential provides an important avenue of support for integrity, transparency, and accuracy in medical publications, based on passing a rigorously developed 150-question, 3-hour multiple-choice examination.

The goals of the credential are to:
• Provide a respected professional credential for medical publication professionals
• Support and drive defensible best practices
• Enhance credibility for medical publishing, especially pharmaceutical-sponsored publications

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MIT OpenCourseWare

If you're looking for some free business education, you should take a look at MIT OpenCourseWare. It's almost like free business school (but you won't get a degree or a certificate).

MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW) is a web-based publication of virtually all MIT course content. OCW is open and available to the world and is a permanent MIT activity.

TIME Magazine selects MIT OpenCourseWare as one of its 50 best websites of 2010.

In 2009, OCW's Highlights for High School portal was named a Landmark Website for Teaching and Learning by the American Association of School Librarians.

For business and management education, you can view the Sloan School of Management courses here.

http://ocw.mit.edu

Three Must-Have Cover Letters

Three Must-Have Cover Letters
Alesia Benedict, CPRW, JCTC
GetInterviews.com

Salt and pepper. Peanut butter and jelly. Resume and cover letter. Some things just go together. One of the three types of cover letters should always accompany a resume in job search activities. Cover letters come in different “flavors” depending on their use and target audience. Let’s go over the main three cover letters you need for your job search.

1 – General Cover Letter. This letter is written to support the resume and has the broadest use in job search. When contacting a company “cold”, a general cover letter is your best bet because the primary purpose is to introduce you and highlight some of the key points brought into the resume. Sometimes referred to as a “broadcast letter”, it can be used when sending your resume to many recipients at once in a mass mail, too.

While general in nature, the general cover letter should be “employer focused” meaning the wording shows the reader how the company could benefit from the job seekers experience. A general cover letter does not mention specifics such as salary requirements but may mention relocation if it is an issue. Just as objectives are not used on resumes, language that details the wants of the job seeker such as “I’m looking for a permanent position with a stable company” should be avoided. The cover letter is a sales document that grabs attention, communicates a professional, intelligent message, and shows the benefits of the “product” (the job seeker).

The general cover letter should always end on a proactive note stating the job seeker’s intention to follow up with the employer rather than closing with a passive “I await your call” message. End the letter with a specific message about when and how you will follow up and then make sure to follow through. The squeaky wheel gets the oil and the squeak starts right here in the cover letter. How many job seekers say “I will follow up with you by email next Wednesday” and then actually do it? Very few! That’s why it makes you stand out when you actually do what you say you will do.

2 – Targeted Cover Letter. When answering a specific job advertisement or responding to an opening for which you have details, a targeted cover letter is the one to use. A targeted letter can be morphed from a General Cover Letter but the content will change to some degree. First of all, the Targeted Cover Letter will mention the specific opening by job title in the first sentence so the reader knows it is a response to the advertisement. It is important for the reader to understand right away which position is being targeted.

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Employment statistics based on your education

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has published an interesting article comparing employment statistics (and unemployment statistics) based on your education. As expected, if you have a college degree or higher, then you're more likely to have a job and you're more likely to be receiving a higher salary. Some interesting statistics:

For the College Educated: Increasing Employment ...

... Lower Unemployment ...

... and Higher Earnings

You can read the entire story here: Back to College BLS Spotlight on Statistics

UIC receives CAHIIM accreditation

Chicago, IL (July 16) – The University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) is pleased to announce that the Commission on Accreditation for Health Informatics and Information Management Education (CAHIIM) has accredited its online Master of Science degree in Health Informatics. The UIC program is the first master level degree program to receive CAHIIM accreditation. Prior to receiving accreditation, UIC was one of only six master programs to be approved by CAHIIM.

"We are thrilled to receive CAHIIM accreditation for our online Master of Science in Health Informatics program," says Department Head Dr. Larry Pawola. "The CAHIIM accreditation process requires our program to meet a very high educational standard; our accreditation status reflects both the overall quality of our online master’s program, and our ability to deliver valuable advanced education in an online format. We are pleased UIC is recognized as being the leader in health informatics education."

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28,000 new jobs added in health care

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 28,000 new health care jobs were added in August. The largest gains were in ambulatory health care services (+17,000) and hospitals (+9,000). The unemployment rate remains at 9.6 percent (roughly unchanged). We still have 14.9 million unemployed people in this country.

When's the U.S. economy going to fully recover? The good news is that things don't seem to be getting much worse, so let's hope that things will slowly get better.

Professional Program in Biopharmaceutical Business

UC Berkeley Extension offers a program called the Professional Program in Biopharmaceutical Business. If you live near San Francisco, you may want to consider this program. Here's some information:

The Professional Program in Biopharmaceutical Business features a comprehensive curriculum that encompasses the specific business needs of the biopharmaceutical industries. Focusing on the aspects of business and development unique to biotechnology, medical devices, vaccines, and pharmaceuticals, the program provides the knowledge you need to start, develop, expand, and operate a successful business in the life sciences and pharmaceutical industry. Electives draw from other areas within this industry to ensure that professionals from all backgrounds can communicate easily and understand the roles of various functions within disparate business units.

Whether you are a businessperson or a science professional looking to enter the field of biotechnology, this program enables you to build on your current skills to succeed in biopharmaceutical business. The program is also ideal if you are a biotechnology professional wanting to become familiar with the functional areas in biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and contract research and manufacturing organizations.

Click here for more information.

Average salary for a Harvard MBA graduate: $114,400

Here's some interesting data. The average base salary for a Harvard MBA graduate in 2009 was $114,400. The average signing bonus was $20,000.

What if we broke that down by job function? 

Function (Class of 2009)	%	Median Base Salary
Business Development	8%	$100,000
Consulting	28%	$125,000
Finance	32%	$110,000
General Management	16%	$105,000
Marketing	9%	$97,000
Strategic Planning	4%	$109,000
Other	3%	$97,500

What if we broke that down by industry?

Industry (Class of 2009)	%	Median Base Salary

Consulting	26%	$125,000
Entertainment/Media	4%	$104,000
Financial Services	31%	$110,000
Non-Profit/Government	7%	$90,000
Retail	3%	$105,000
Other Services (incl. Real Estate)	2%	$100,000
Healthcare	7%	$105,000
Consumer Products	5%	$95,000
Manufacturing	8%	$112,500
Technology	7%	$110,000

A full-time MBA at Harvard takes 2 years. However, most full-time MBA students have a few years of working experience before they go to business school. Regardless, the long path to medicine probably doesn't make much sense if you're aiming to make 6 figures before you're in your mid-to-late twenties