There was a recent news brief stating that the average internist generates about $2.4 million annually for the hospitals that they work for. While it’s no surprise that doctors help others make money, seeing a figure to your worth hammers home how much we sustain the health care system, often at our own expense.
This means that a hospitalist making $240,000 …
Work-life balance is hard, and that’s true for so many career options both in and out of the medical field. The topic is something that you consider as you choose a career path. It’s something that you struggle to achieve and maintain as you train for your job, and as I have found out over the past eight months, something that you have to invest energy into after finishing training …
Health care organizations are moving to address clinician burnout with a real sense of urgency. It is now commonly accepted that burnout is widespread among health care professionals and has serious repercussions for patient safety and the quality of care. A report released by several major Massachusetts health care organizations labeled the situation “a public health crisis” and warned about the adverse impact “on the health and well-being …
This article is sponsored by Careers by KevinMD.com.
It’s normal to daydream about living a life very different from our own:
We all do it …
Many physicians are looking for alternative sources of income and are looking for ways to diversify their investment portfolio from the volatility of the stock market. Some have heard of real estate syndications, but what exactly is a syndication? For those who have not heard of it, real estate syndications can be an attractive investment vehicle for busy professionals who do not have the time or experience to actively manage …
I’m a graduating fourth-year medical student, and as most physicians know, this has been one of the best years of my life. I just matched into my top choice residency and am one step closer to becoming a primary care sports medicine physician, my dream job. Many of my classmates have capitalized on this time of excitement by making the controversial decision to buy a home before they start residency. I have not. …
This article is sponsored by Careers by KevinMD.com.
Even the best of careers must end sometime. Sure, most doctors look forward to retirement, but not every retired physician wants to sit back collecting sea-shells for the rest of his or her life. Whether driven by financial constraints or by that persistent longing to change the world, any physician …
“Seriously, do you often/very often reflect on how your work helps make the world a better place?”
I was recently involved in an email exchange with a colleague when she sent me this line. We will get to the answer to that question at the end. I was disappointed, but not surprised because until about three years ago, I probably would have answered, “No.” However, I have had a paradigm shift …
“Happiness is when what you think, what you say and what you do are in harmony.”
– Mahatma Gandhi
Burnout among physicians is at an epidemic proportion. National data suggests that more than 50 percent of our workforce is burned out, and this trend has been across the board from physicians in training to practicing physicians. Some of the specialties are more affected than others. Repercussions of provider burnout on health care …
Recently the CEO of a large health care network stated: “Market forces don’t apply to health care.”
Of course, economic and political forces apply to health care. Big Medicine’s most powerful entities (insurers, hospitals, medical schools, pharmaceutical companies, pharmacies, and government agencies) formulate health care policy to enrich themselves at the expense of patients and small, independent medical practices.
As an independent family doctor, my practice’s existence is in jeopardy. Small physician …
This article is sponsored by Careers by KevinMD.com.
We live in a time when social media isn’t just about sharing pictures or ideas with a close circle of friends and family. Between our Facebook statuses, our Twitter profiles and especially our LinkedIn pages, we are always public, all the time — no matter what your privacy settings may have you believe.
For …
With burnout on the rise, many physicians are choosing to leave clinical medicine for alternative careers. Other physicians are wondering if it’s worth it to stay in a workforce that does not pull for the well being of their front line workers. Gone are the days where physicians stay stuck, suffering in a practice or career that is no longer fulfilling or worse, causing burnout. Those physicians are considered old-school …
There are some milestones that need to be appropriately celebrated. For the 80% of physicians who graduated with student loan debt, paying those loans off certainly qualifies as such a moment. Everyone has a different way of tackling their student loans. Today, I want to outline how we paid off $200,000 in student loans in 19 months, and then discuss what our plans are to rid ourselves of the rest …
Practicing medicine at the frontlines is hard. It’s damn hard. Every minute you need to be alert, ready to respond to a potential life or death situation, and be called to another important problem. The current medical practice environment — with excessive bureaucracy, suboptimal information technology, and extreme time pressure with patients — adds exponentially to the mix, and can make for a very stressful job. Make no mistake, even …
Wealth seems to be an elusive dream for many people. They desire to become wealthy, but feel they don’t earn enough money to reach that goal, as if earning more would make the difference. A study of 10,000 millionaires presented in Chris Hogan’s new book, Everyday Millionaires, showed that 69% of these millionaires reached that level of affluence on a household income of less than $100,000 a year. If all …
This article is sponsored by Careers by KevinMD.com.
“Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name.” So go the famous lyrics from the theme song for “Cheers,” the iconic sitcom of the 1980s. The name thing can get really personal in medicine — and everyone has an opinion — as evidenced by a plaintive blog posting …
For the past several years, I have been befuddled by patients calling me by my first name (Sara) instead of my professional title (Dr. Jones). At first, I ignored this, but as it became more common, I started telling some of these patients that I preferred being called Dr. Jones rather than by first name. This took some patients aback — probably thinking I was a snob — while others …
My wife and I once canoed across a glacial lake. There were twelve people in our 30-foot canoe. To reach the shore of the Mendenhall Glacier, we had to paddle two miles across a lake. All twelve of us had to paddle together to reach the shore. But what if we had different goals? What if the right side of the canoe wanted to paddle east and the left side …
There has been a disturbing shift in how medical professionals feel about their career. I almost cringe every time I’m at a party or social gathering now and tell people I retired early from my medical practice. I try not to bring it up.
I don’t cringe out of fear for how they will perceive me or whether they will look down upon me with condescending scorn about how I left …
The new Holy Grail of business, Customer Satisfaction — CSAT to her close friends — is a measure of how products and services supplied by a company meet customer expectations. In a marketplace where businesses compete for customers, CSAT is a key element of strategy.
Why?
Money.
Satisfied customers buy. They come back and buy more. They tell their friends, who’ll buy too. If satisfied, they’ll return and buy more. That’s gold for …
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