Medical | Medical Benefits

Considering Med School? Here are Your Options

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To become an M.D., your career doesn’t end with “becoming a doctor.” There are five major specialties to choose between. Chances are, you will select one of these five major specialties in your fourth year of medical school in order to begin applying to residency programs in your specialty of choice. Don’t stress too much if you’re just starting out. You’ll have the opportunity to sample each of the five specialties so you can choose what’s right for you. Here are some basic facts and information about two of the most hospital-based specialties, surgery and internal medicine.

1.) Surgery.
Surgery is a highly competitive field that certainly isn’t for everyone. Surgery involves highly precise procedures, early hours, constant call, but is a relatively high-paying profession. Most people go on to specialize in order to become more proficient in a smaller number of procedures (heart surgeon, brain surgeon, etc). Surgery tends to be a very demanding and fast-paced profession that is never dull. Some doctors prefer surgery as a specialty because it’s a hands-on, technical profession that keeps them physically active and challenged. Medical students need to have done very well in anatomy and their surgery clerkship in order to consider a career in surgery.

2.) Internal Medicine.
Internal medicine is a hospital-based profession for complex adult medical care. Some sub-specialties of internal medicine can be incredibly competitive (cardiology, gastroneurology, etc.) Internal medicine is a diverse specialty that varies greatly based on which sub-specialty you choose. Certain sub-specialties have strenuous call schedules and difficult cases, whereas others follow more of a “9 to 5” schedule or act on a consultant basis. While internal medicine tends not to be as “hands on” as surgery, some consider internal medicine more mentally challenging and stimulating. Medical students must have done well in their internal medicine rotations and have strong letters of recommendation from their internal medicine advisors in order to do well in an internal medicine residency.

Filed Under: General, Medical Tagged With: Internal medicine, Medical school, Surgery

Questions about Erectile Dysfunction Drugs

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You may have seen the commercials about erectile dysfunction drugs, such as Cialis, Viagra, and Levitra (the three most common ones), but you may still have some questions about them. While you can always do your own research, if you’re like most people, sometimes you like to just have a resource that gives you a few questions and answers—perhaps some of the more common ones, as well as a few that you just want to know for your own curiosity.

For example, you may be wondering if erectile dysfunction drugs are new or if they’ve been around for a while. Viagra was the first erectile dysfunction drug to be introduced, and the year was 1998. The year 2003 saw the introduction of both Cialis and Levitra. So, as medications go, these drugs are still rather new.

On the commercials, they give you the side effects. However, many times, the voice-over announcer rattles them off so fast that you only catch a few, and these are usually the more serious ones. So, you may be wondering what side effects, if any, erectile dysfunction drugs may have.

Some of the more common side effects of tadalafil, which is the medication in Cialis, include headache, indigestion, back pain, muscle aches, flushing, and stuffy or runny nose. The back pain and muscle aches may not come on immediately; rather, if they are going to occur, they will do so within 12 to 24 hours of taking the medication.

There is one serious side effect that is indicative of all three types of erectile dysfunction products. That is an erection that lasts more than four hours. Yeah, yeah, go ahead and say what you’re thinking: this is a problem, how? Well, it is. Ischemic priapism (the proper name for it) can actually cause permanent damage because it cuts off the oxygen supply to the penis, which can cause scar tissue.

Filed Under: General, Medical Tagged With: Erectile dysfunction, Medicine

Becoming a Doctor: Tips for Saving Money on Your Residency Interviews

When you’re a fourth year medical student thinking about your upcoming residency interviews, you’re probably focusing on the pressure to perform well. You’re planning your schedule. You’re reading up on tips for interviews or potential interview questions. You’re researching the programs you’re interviewing at. All of these things are important things to concern yourself with when you’re planning these trips. Yet you’re forgetting one thing: money.

Money should be the last thing on your mind with all of these other concerns. Planning trips and hotel stays can be extremely costly if you’re not careful about it. Think about it: you’ll have constant food expenses and hotel room stays, dry cleaning bills for your interview clothes, child care or kennel fees, and numerous transportation concerns. Are you going to drive? Fly? Take the train? Which hotel are you going to stay at? When do you need to leave? Before you get all stressed out about these impending details and travel concerns, don’t fret. These tips can help you reduce cost and stress while you’re traveling for your residency interviews.

Bring your own food. Bread and lunch meat make excellent on-the-road meals that are easy to transport and keep cold with hotel ice. If you think to bring some aluminum foil or parchment paper, you can make toasted sandwiches with the hotel iron by wrapping your sandwich in the foil or paper and then pressing the sandwich. Don’t forget that you can make anything with hot water using the coffee maker in the room. Think oatmeal, Stove Top (bring butter), or condensed soup. If you’re a foodie who can’t bear to think of visiting a city and not sampling the local cuisine, at the very least bring your own beverages to the hotel to avoid $3 vending machine drinks.
Utilize cheaper hotels. Budget chains like Best Western or La Quinta Inn provide all the necessities (coffee maker, iron, wake up calls, free internet) and offer free breakfasts to guests. Many higher-priced hotels make guests pay for breakfasts, internet, or both. Ask for a quiet room when you make your reservation.

Filed Under: General, Medical Tagged With: Interview, Residency

Becoming a Doctor: Tips for a Successful Residency Interview

Are you a fourth year medical student about to embark on your residency interviews? Don’t fret too much. A little preparation and planning will go a long way in making sure you have the best residency interviews possible. Remember, how you perform on your residency interviews will affect where you learn, work, and live for the next few years. Take this time of your life seriously.

Take Time Off

If your course schedule allows it, take time off for your interviews. You’ll be a lot less stressed and (budget permitting) you can spend more time in each city. While the residency program should be your focus, you also need to consider where you’ll be living. If you’re a country girl and you adore the Beth Israel residency program, you need to spend a significant amount of time in New York City before you can determine if you could live there. Schedules permitting, plan your interviews with plenty of time between each city. No one performs well after back-to-back traveling and interviewing. Don’t bring that stress upon yourself.

Arrive in Town Early

Don’t plan on rolling in at midnight the night before you interview, even if you have back-to-back interviews. Arrive early so you can unpack, get dinner, and unwind. Another option is to arrive in town a day early. Since interview season takes place in the winter, you’ll be able to cushion your trip for flight delays or inclimate driving conditions.

The Evening Before Your Interview

Make sure you go to bed early. As tempting as it may be to experience the local nightlife (after all, you may be living there someday), don’t. Have a quiet evening. Go out to dinner or see a show, but be in bed early. Many residents use internet resources like TripAdvisor, Urbanspoon, or Yelp in order to find the best takeout in the area and order that on the night before their residency interviews. You’ll still be getting a taste of the area, but you can use the night before to prepare your dress clothes (shoe shine, lint roller, etc.) for the morning.

Filed Under: General, Medical Tagged With: Interview, Residency, TripAdvisor

The Constantly Moving Life of Traveling Nurses

When you go to a hospital or care center you are usually treated by a doctor, but more than likely your patient needs are more commonly met by the nurse in attendance at the time of your visit or stay. There are many people who are unaware that the nurses attending you may not even from the area you are in. These nurses are known as traveling nurses and they make up almost 10 percent of the nursing population. That may seem low but when you consider how far they travel it is significant. This is a typically unknown segment of the health care profession that is often times neglected.

Traveling nurses are just what the name implies — they travel to work as nurses. At times this can be within their home state, but other times they travel great distance for long periods of time to do the profession they love. Traveling nurses can acquire contracts with hospitals and clinics around the United States and around the world. Traveling nurses are required to have at least one year of specialty training in their area of expertise.

A typical travel nurse contract is from 13 weeks or three months to one or two years depending on the location. Often times these assignments make it hard on the family of these nurses. As anyone who has moved can attest that moving is hard work and dealing with everything from moving quotes, packing, unpacking and loneliness can be stressful. All these factors, on top of having to adjust to a new work environment in a very short period of time and be able to perform, can be intimidating.

So next time you are being cared for remember that the person who is attending you and seeing to your care is also an individual who may need some help and care themselves.

Filed Under: General, Medical Tagged With: Health care provider, Nursing, Travel nursing

Becoming a Doctor: What to Expect From Your Residency Interviews

If you’re a fourth year medical student, you’re no doubt getting ready for interview season. Don’t blow these interviews off: how you do will determine where, how, and with whom you’ll spend the next few years of your life with. Your residency is a huge step in your path to becoming a doctor.

It’s Not All Fun and Games…

Maybe you’re looking forward to these interviews. It’s an excuse to travel, right? While your residency interviews will indeed take you to a variety of different and exciting places, don’t get this trip confused with a vacation. Is it a getaway? Strictly speaking, yes. It is. However, you need to think of this as a business trip. While you may have time to eat at one of the city’s top restaurants, you will not have the leisurely experience of a vacation. You’ll be getting up early. You’ll be coming home from your interview exhausted. The last thing you’ll want to do after your interview is go on an intense exploration of the town you’re in. While you may go out and explore, you’ll probably just want to take a nap.

You may be dreading the upcoming interview season for the money, time, and stress it will require. Don’t be too stressed about the experience. Your interviewers recognize how hard the interview season is. You can still prepare yourself ahead of time to ensure you’ll have the best possible interview experience.

…But There IS a Game Involved

Residency interviews are like a twisted form of courtship. You want to show off your skills, experience, and personality in order to sell yourself to the residency program. The residency program is trying to show off its research opportunities, money, and technology (among a thousand other things) in order to sell itself to you. Yes, the residency program sells itself. It wants to attract the best doctors. It also wants to get an idea of the best and brightest doctors who will also rank the residency program highly. Why should the Harvard program throw away its top spot on someone dead-set on going to Yale?

Filed Under: General, Medical Tagged With: Interview, Medical school, Residency

Paying For Med. School

There are many options for people that are striving to have a career in medicine. Costs associated with a PhD program can cost as much as $200,000 dollars. For the everyday person this is an insane dollar figure. For many Doctors that are in hospitals, or regular primary care office, they have these costs compiled into student loans. This could mean an average monthly payment of nearly $2,400 dollars per month. The expectation of these costs can be almost enough to deter someone from entering the field. However, there are ways to receive help in programs that are much like what is offered teachers. There is a bill that has helped public servants, teachers and doctors, pay off their student loans, and begin to capitalize on their income based on their education.

Title I grants have allowed many new graduates work in low income areas for a certain amount of time, and qualify for government subsistence with their education loans. An area that qualifies a low income would an area that has a certain range of socio-economic status, or a certain rate of crime. The hospitals that are ranked Title I pay less than other hospitals, but the trade off is that you are usually working in a facility with other bright minds, with good equipment, and this can usually be done immediately after your residency is completed. This means that if you were to take advantage of your Title I opportunity, you could have completed your qualifying time limit only 24 months post graduation. For many medical students this a chance of a lifetime.

The Title I grant usually requires a 24-36 month contract, and the entitlement after completion for Doctors is nearly half of the unsubsidized or Staffard loans forgiven. That cuts that $2,400 dollar payment to a manageable $1, 200 dollar payment, and that is for 10 years.

Filed Under: General, Medical Tagged With: Medical Field, Medical school, School

Medical Administration

: Image by Getty Images via @daylife

One of the growing fields in the job market is the medical field. Many think that the medical field is restricted or reserved for jobs that involve direct patient care, but that’s not the case. There are far more jobs out there than doctors, nurses, and staff technicians. These days, one of the biggest fields for jobs is in the medical administrative office. It’s a great field to get into and is something that an individual can be trained in.

These days, the hospitals are a big business, and so part of the administration field is dealing with the hospital from a financial and clerical perspective. Those working in the field would be expected to update hospital records, keep track of inventory, and check to make sure that patients were billed correctly for services incurred. These things are just a few of the things that this field offers.

For those looking to get into the field, universities, both online and on campus, offer programs for this field. Many times, the program is a year to two years. There are some colleges out there that will offer full bachelors degrees for a general expertise in the field, but specialized training may often come in the form of a certificate.

There are a lot of reasons why those looking to get into a field should consider studying this online. Many online schools offer a break from the regular schedule of the university. They offer their students a chance to learn in their own method and at their own hours. This gives students the flexibility to work. Many students are not comfortable with the traditional university, and therefore, they are better suited chasing their degree online.

Sites like elearners.com are great resources for finding the right online school. There are a wealth of schools all over the country that are offering the medical administrative degree from home. It’s a growing field that is well worth looking into.

Filed Under: General, Medical Tagged With: Administration (business), Bachelor's degree, Education, Health care, Hospital, Medicine, United States, Virtual school

The Right Education For You

If you are considering a position with medicine, or in the medical field in general, but you are finding that programs are just not working within your schedule, you might find that you have some options. In fact, many programs that are offering certification in different areas in basic medical practice are available online. This means that while you are training to be a licensed practitioner of phlebotomy, or to be certificated as an LVN, or CNA, you can still maintain your current employment. This means that usually within a year or so, while remaining employed, you could be working on your licensure with an accredited online institution. Most of the institutions also have highly regarded reputations within the community and can assist with job placement after graduation.

If you crave the conventional brick and mortar school, there are also options for you to get your foot in the door for your new medical career. Aside from community colleges, which most offer classes for these types of licensure programs, and are usually very affordable, you can also investigate your local ROP program. Many school districts sponsor these programs because they were initially designed for high school students that were not planning on attending college, but still wanted to learn a specific trade or skill. These classes are usually sponsored by local businesses and they also open up for internship. This means that you can more than likely expect to find a job directly after completion of your program. These programs are typically held on the campus of a continuation high school, or vocational technology school. There is child care provided, and the costs tend to be minimal due to the community sponsorship provided. There might be a brief test conducted at the beginning to make sure that you are ready for such a program.

Filed Under: General, Medical Tagged With: Colleges and Universities, Education, High school

Careers In The Medical Field That You Can Do

There are some any options for people to work in the medical field. If this is something that you are interested in, you will be pleased to find that you do not have to aim to be a doctor in order to participate in this exciting field. There are different levels of medical care staff, and some positions can be easily achieved through basic education. For some programs such as LVN, or CNA, the education requirement is nothing more than an 18 month training for certification. Phlebotomy is much quicker than that, and can be a fulfilling career. If you are not sure what these careers are, it is best to fully research all of the available medical profession certifications. Once done with that, simple complete an internet search on where those types of jobs have openings, and you will be amazed at the opportunities that are available.

Some of the institutions that have openings for all levels of medical staff include basic doctors offices. These types of positions require front office and back office support, and this would also entail that initial chart completion with taking blood pressure, and getting a basic idea of the complaint for the doctor when he arrives to see the patient. There are many types of doctors offices, and having skills in this area means that you could find placement in a variety of different specialties like pediatrics, oncology, or general medicine. Hospitals require a large amount of staffing in these areas because of the amount of patients that they deal with in a given day or week. This means that a simple six month program could mean a high quality, fulfilling, and well-paying job in a prestigious career. That is truly a career in the medical field that you can do, and your family will benefit from all of your hard work.

Filed Under: General, Medical Tagged With: Career, Health care, Medical Field