Health care reform changes will drive more physicians to leave clinical medicine

It’s hard to find many physicians who are excited about the upcoming health care reform changes. Most physicians are complaining and some are preparing for early retirement. There are a growing number of physicians who are actively preparing for a non-clinical career transition so they can escape patient care and go into administration or business. If we could graph physician enrollment into MBA programs, we’d probably see a noticeable increase that started in 2009 or 2010. Many physicians are pursuing an MBA so they can get prepared for the non-clinical world of business.

Recently, I’ve also been speaking with a growing number of physicians who are looking for opportunities to get involved in non-clinical opportunities while they continue to practice medicine. These physicians are blending their clinical career with a parallel non-clinical career. I know some physicians who are working in business during the day and moonlighting in the ER on the weekends. Others are working part-time in the hospital and consulting on their non-clinical days.

Organizations like the Society of Physicians with Non-Clinical Careers are seeing significant growth in membership.

If you’re considering a possible career transition in the near future, I encourage you to receive our updates from NonClinicalJobs.com so that you can learn about the different types of job opportunities that are possible. Jumping out of clinical medicine isn’t an easy transition for most physicians. You probably won’t make the transition overnight, so get informed so that you’re prepared when that transition day arrives.

10 technology travel tips for the business traveler

Over the past few months, I’ve been traveling more than usual. I’ve been on the train and the plane. I’ve worked from the airport. I’ve used my smartphone as my WiFi hotspot to access the Internet. I’ve taken different computers on my trips: sometimes I carry my heavier convertible laptop tablet PC. Sometimes I just go with my Apple iPad and an external keyboard and I leave my laptop at work.

Today, I’m using an old tablet PC called the Samsung Q1 Ultra UMPC. From a distance, it may look like the Samsung Galaxy Tab. However, this is a really old machine that runs Windows 7. The main reason why I’m using this is because: 1) I need something really light (1.5 pounds); 2) I need USB ports (this one has two), and 3) I need to run Microsoft Windows. If I didn’t need the USB ports, then I’d have my iPad and I’d access my Windows PC using remote desktop connection (via LogMeIn Ignition) so that I can run all my Windows-based applications. This Q1 Ultra has exceptional battery life, so I get to compute all day without looking for a power outlet.

ACRP 2011 Global Conference & Exhibition: Innovation & Global Health

Today is Day #2 of the ACRP (Association of Clinical Research Professionals) 2011 Global Conference & Exhibition in Seattle. This year’s program includes more than 125 sessions covering 13 topic areas – all delivered by leading speakers.

You can catch one of the sessions later today as a streaming video:

Innovation & Global Health
Monday, May 2
10:30 am - 12:00 pm PDT

There are great disparities in healthcare throughout the world. Nearly 8 million children die each year from conditions that could be prevented or treated easily. To address these problems, there needs to be political will to address them, commitment of financial resources and, most importantly, innovation. Hear Tachi Yamada, MD, President, Global Health Program, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, address Innovation and Global Health.

CDC Public Health Informatics Fellowship Program

CDC Public Health Informatics Fellowship Program

Goal

To provide training and experience in applying computer and information science and technology to real public health problems.

Description

PHIFP is a 2-year paid fellowship in public health informatics. The competency-based and hands-on training allows you to apply information and computer science and technology to solve real-world problems.

You will have the opportunity to

• learn about informatics and public health
• work with teams involved in research and development of public health information systems
• lead an informatics project
• design, develop, implement, evaluate, and manage public health information systems

What are the prerequisites?

We look for motivated persons with diverse interests. We select applicants who have

• A strong interest in applying information and computer science and technology to the practice of public health
• A strong desire to pursue a career in public health informatics

You should have a master's or higher degree in an appropriate discipline, including, but not limited to

• Public health, medicine, health care, health-services research
• Computer science, information science, or information systems
• Statistics
• Epidemiology
• Public health informatics, or related discipline

You must have documented training or experience in certain fields (such as informatics, information systems, computer science, public health, or a related healthcare profession).

Learn about non-clinical careers here on NonClinicalJobs.com

Are you interested in learning more about different types of non-clinical careers? It’s a paradigm shift to move away from direct patient care and to enter the business world. Making a paradigm shift isn’t easy or comfortable.

Here on NonClinicalJobs.com, you can explore a variety of non-clinical careers by doing the following:

1. Reading different job descriptions associated with specific jobs
2. Connect with other physicians who are working in those industries
3. Participating in conference calls where we will discuss the specifics associated with different industry positions
4. Reading stories about physicians who are working in different non-clinical industry sectors
5. Learning about networking events, conferences, and other types of meetings where you can explore non-clinical careers
6. Asking questions related to specific industry positions
7. Meeting executive recruiters and others who may know of potential job leads
8. Receiving individualized career coaching services from mentors and career coaches who specialize in helping physicians transition out of clinical medicine

I encourage you to visit NonClinicalJobs.com frequently and to subscribe to updates via email. You can meet other physicians by joining the Society of Physicians with Non-Clinical Careers. Membership is free and you can interact with others on the closed, private forums or by participating in open discussions on public social networking sites like LinkedIn.

Physicians on Sermo discussing the value of an MBA

Author: Riley Alexander, MD, MBA

For those of you on Sermo, I suggest you head here (login to Sermo required) and check out the comments and questions on physicians obtaining an MBA.

If you're unfamiliar with Sermo, it's a physician-only (US medical license required to join) "social network." They have a great deal of interesting medical related topics on there and it provides a nice physician-only forum for doctors to discuss (and complain) about topics related to physicians...both medical and non-medical.

UYRW (Update Your References Week)

What is UYRW you might ask? UYRW stands for Update Your References Week and May holds a unique opportunity for professionals, especially those immersed in a job search. May 1st through the 7th is International Update Your References Week, a great chance to re-engage with former colleagues to help support each others current or future job hunts.

As professionals move from one job to the next, we sometimes loose track of them and thereby the chance to exchange colleague-based references, which are often heavily weighted by hiring managers in their evaluations when skill sets of candidates are equivalent.

International Update Your References Week
May 1-7
More information here.