Tired of laboring long hours? Pulled enough hair out every time your computer crashes and loses information crucial to a patient’s care? Are promises to be at your child’s soccer game or dance recital impossible to keep?

Then you’re not alone. If a better work/life balance is something you’ve been thinking about, than you may want to look into what many of your colleagues are already doing. In fact, by 2013, it is estimated that two-thirds of physicians will be employed by a health care system. The trend of private practices being sold is gaining steam, and it is estimated the current two percent conversion rate during the last 20 years will increase to a five percent conversion from private practice in the next three years, according to the American Medical Association.

More and more physicians are seeing the appeal of having a hospital administration that relieves them from day to day administrative responsibilities, allows greater access to better information technology, helps them maintain a more manageable patient load and gives stability in uncertain economic times and in the healthcare world.

“It has gotten incredibly difficult to be a physician in practice,” said Erica Drazen, Managing Director of the Global Institute for Emerging Healthcare Practices at CSC. “A lot of these guys went into medicine because they wanted to take care of patients. Now they are taking care of paperwork half the time.” Drazen said practices need to change in order to facilitate a greater coordination of patient care.

Hospitals are pushing the trend of hiring doctors because of government controlled healthcare reform, but they also foresee a coming physician shortage and a subsequent shortage of customers, or patients! Hiring more doctors now means a well-staffed hospital and steady stream of patients in the future.

This practice may sound familiar because it is. Twenty years ago, hospitals tried owning and managing practices but found it was not as lucrative as they had hoped so they retreated. The big difference between now and the late 80s and early 90s is the interest from private practice doctors wanting to be “employed.”

Additionally, Drazen said, the impact of Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) on the horizon is making hospitals a little nervous about the competition nabbing doctors and patients. “In some sense,” Drazen said. “It’s a land grab.”

Being on a hospital payroll, former private physicians now have a steady but workable stream of patients and they can focus on healthcare with state of the art facilities and equipment, rather than downed computers and overwhelming paperwork. In return, the hospitals lock in valuable physicians and can ensure the workload (patients), are there.

You may have started a career in medicine with the idea of owning your own practice where you took care of your patients, and eventually, your patient’s children and their children’s children. But in today’s world that just doesn’t happen as often. If you want stability and like the idea of being “employed” with retirement benefits, regular hours and vacation pay, then working for a hospital may just be for you. To see current job openings, please click here to see what’s available through Hospital Dream Jobs.

High unemployment and an uncertain economy have many people thinking about career opportunities and job security. Many wonder if a change of career is for them. And it is certainly clear that students in high school and college would be wise to focus their career choice on what is going to be hot.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Medical Assistants will be highly sought after for the next seven years or so. In fact, the job prospect for this career is considered “excellent.” There are about half a million Medical Assistants working nationwide and that number is expected to increase by 34 percent through 2018.

A Medical Assistant job is similar to that of an administrative assistant in an office environment. Medical Assistants handle administrative and clinical duties and typically report to an office manager or directly to the physician, depending on the size of the practice. Medical Assistants who assist clinically can expect to take medical histories of patients and record vital signs like blood pressure, heart rate and pulse. Other tasks might include explaining treatment procedures to patients, preparing patients for exams and even assisting the physician during exams, among other things.

Most Medical Assistant jobs are located in a doctor’s office but other opportunities can be found in hospitals, clinics and ambulatory care centers. There is a great deal of time spent with the general public, some who may be sick with any number of issues. A Medical Assistant needs a lot of patience, a caring attitude and a big heart.

One benefit of a Medical Assistant career is you don’t necessarily need a college degree. While most only need to complete a one or two year program, some Medical Assistants are trained on the job. However, with the competition for these jobs increasing, having certifications or a degree is preferred by many employers and will get you noticed over someone without these credentials. Additionally, most doctor offices prefer a certified assistant.

The ideal Medical Assistant will have completed a postsecondary program that lasts for a year, which results in a certificate or diploma, or two years which gives the student an associate’s degree. Courses covered include anatomy, physiology and medical terminology. For a list of accredited schools, visit www.medicalassistantnow.com/schools.

According to medicalassistantnow.com, there are two well-respected certifications available for medical assistants. The CMA is a Certified Medical Assistant, which is offered by the American Association of Medical Assistants (AAMA) and the other is RMA, which is Registered Medical Assistant from American Technologists agency (AMT).

If you are interested in a career as a Medical Assistant the work will be challenging but highly rewarding as you assist people with their healthcare! You will definitely see the fruits of your labor in your patient’s smiles and will be an irreplaceable member of a healthcare team. To view current listings for this type of position use our job search engine and search for listings under Allied Health: Medical Assistant Staff.

It’s hard to put a price tag on ethics and very few of us can tout degrees on the subject, but we know it’s important to be “ethical” and we want to be seen as such by our employers or prospective employers. We know they notice and appreciate employees who demonstrate the ability to make good choices even in tough situations.

Yet it is increasingly difficult to define ethics, especially for healthcare professionals, when what is considered “the right thing” may be different depending on who you talk to – patients, peers, hospitals, clinics. But here are a few descriptors most would agree on: Honesty, integrity, carefulness, confidentiality, respect, non-discrimination, competence, legality and patient protection.

Most of us think these are no-brainers. We were raised on the “Golden Rule”, right? But start scanning healthcare headlines – the not so pretty ones – and ask yourself, “What would I do in that situation?” What at first glance may seem simple gets more complex when you put yourself in someone else’s shoes. For all that I was taught growing up and all that I believe, I’m not sure I would do right by everyone, including myself, if something unusual and unforeseen occurred.

That’s why I’m so impressed with the American Nursing Association’s continuing efforts to promote workplace ethics for. If you haven’t yet attended one of their ethics conferences, consider this the year. Enrollment is still open for the 2011 National Nursing Ethics Conference March 24-25 in Universal City, California.

The conference is open to Clinical Nurses, Nurse Administrators and Managers, Nurse Educators, Advanced Practice Nurses and Social Workers. While the definition of ethics could be debated forever there is a Code of Ethics for Nursing and this conference will give you a chance to review, discuss and dissect it with your peers. According to the American Nurses Association you will also “gain valuable information on how to balance your values and the values of the profession with appropriate goals of care, limited resources and professional responsibility and advocacy.”

There are 6 clearly defined topics/objectives that will be covered at the conference including advocacy, leadership practices and ways to incorporate self-care strategies. I very much appreciate that last one as it is very easy to neglect one-self when trying to do right by others.

This should be an intriguing and informative event that will add to your tool belt as you strive to be a valuable asset to your employer while being true to your morals, values and beliefs.

Planning to attend? Attended in the past? Tell us more in the comments section below.

One of the challenges of pursuing a medical career is having to choose a specialty. But it must be done. Or must it? One opportunity exists for nurses yet to determine their area of practice: Float Nursing. A Float Nurse, also known as a Float Pool Nurse or Contingent Nurse, is employed by a hospital or healthcare network to provide support as needed when workloads are unusually heavy or a nurse is absent. Like temping or substitute teaching, you don’t always know where you’ll be sent next. It could be ER, ICU, Labor and Delivery, Surgical and more.

For some, this would be a nightmare, but as someone who temped for many years, for me it would be the perfect route. When I was younger, before I knew what I wanted to be “when I grew up,” I enjoyed temping. I liked the flexibility, the challenge of change, continually meeting new people and the impressive set of career tools under my belt thanks to working in a wide range of situations. And eventually I was able identify my ideal career. 

Now don’t get me wrong. Float Nursing is not necessarily for the gypsy who can’t make a decision and commit! I recently read about a Float Nurse who worked for several years each in Neuro, Cardiac and Intensive Care before choosing to float. And she absolutely loves it. Another reason some people choose to float is to be able to establish a better work-life balance than is sometimes possible in a traditional nursing role.

I wasn’t aware until recently how prevalent floaters are, but it certainly makes sense to have them in place. No patient wants to be in a short-staffed hospital! Thinking back on the birth of one of my children, one of the maternity nurses wasn’t a “maternity” nurse at all, but a floater. But you wouldn’t have known it which is just as it should be. Nurses have to be knowledgeable, compassionate, organized, able to work long hours on one’s feet, and more.

For a Float Nurse, add to that list the ability to be highly adaptable, to step into someone else’s shoes without a moment’s hesitation and provide top quality medical support and patient care. Fortunately, Float Nurses are considered valuable members of the healthcare team, enjoying some of the same benefits as the regular staff nurses including continuing education and certification opportunities.

So if you’re undecided on a specialty area or simply desire the challenges and benefits, Float Nursing may be for you. Check it out!

First, all of us at Hospital Dream Jobs would like to wish you a happy, healthy New Year. We are grateful for the opportunity to provide the information and inspiration you need to follow your dreams as you pursue a career in healthcare. 2011 is sure to be memorable as a new legislative session gets under way in Washington and healthcare reforms begin to take shape. This week I decided to take a look at what is going on in the world of Physician Assistants.

In November, PA Karen Bass made national headlines when she was elected to Congress, the first PA to serve at this level. No stranger to the spotlight, Ms. Bass made history in 2008 when she was elected to be the Speaker for the California Assembly – the first African American woman in the country to serve in this legislative role. The American Association of Physician Assistants (AAPA) issued a press release after Bass’s election saying they looked “forward to the patient-centered health care perspective Bass is likely to bring to both the U.S. House of Representatives and the impending debates about health care reform implementation.”

Bass was a PA at the Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center where she practiced in an integrated team-based model of health care delivery that allows physicians, PAs and other non-physician providers more time with patients. This approach is considered by some to be the wave of the future as our healthcare system struggles under the burden of ever-rising costs, decreasing numbers of physicians and burgeoning numbers of patients.

As licensed and certified health care professionals, PAs practice medicine with physician supervision and bring a wide array of knowledge and skills to patient care. They perform a variety of procedures from conducting physical exams to diagnosing illnesses to assisting in surgery and more. In a survey conducted by the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA) 94% of PA’s employers reported that PAs helped increase the number of patients seen and 91% said that PAs enabled them to allow patients more time to ask questions during their office visits. In this same survey, 99% of the employers raved about the high-quality, compassionate care provided by their PAs.

 In 2010 the Six Key Elements of a Modern Physician Assistant Practice Act (elements address licensure, prescriptive authority, scope of practice, supervision requirements, chart co-signature requirements and the number of PAs a physician may supervise) was introduced.  Many state PA chapters hope to emphasize these elements to their state policy makers as the states look at making these and other changes to the delivery of patient care in advance of implementing federal health care reform.

This is going to be a groundbreaking year, not just for PAs, but for everyone working in healthcare and we at Hospital Dream Jobs look forward to accompanying you on the journey as you forge ahead in your healthcare careers!

Last week the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) reported that the number of minorities enrolling in med school is rising, something schools around the nation have been pushing for a long time. Sounded good to me, and I moved on. But then I got to thinking, “Why is this important news?” So I started surfing the net looking at different facts and figures and realized the importance of this upswing.

By the year 2050, it is projected that 50% of our country’s population will be made up of ethnic and racial minorities. But less than 10% of our doctors are minorities. Furthermore, the CDC stated in a March 2010 report on Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention these two disconcerting facts:  “The cost of cardiovascular diseases in the United States, including health care expenditures and lost productivity from deaths and disability, is estimated to be more than $503 billion in 2010 . . . [and though] overall, death rates for heart disease and stroke have decreased in the United States in recent decades . . rates for incidence and death continue to be high among some populations, including members of certain racial and ethnic groups [and] people with low socioeconomic status.” According to AAMC President and CEO Darrell Kirch, “Improving the diversity of U.S. medical students will be a driver of excellence in our health care system.”

Statistics have shown that patients search for doctors within their own racial or ethnic group and decline care if they can’t find one. Whether they need someone who speaks their language or simply desire someone to whom they can relate and who understands where they’re coming from, it is important that there are doctors representing the different groups to help ensure their health and well-being. And minority doctors (and nurses) may be more motivated to go into underserved areas where there is a great gap in the quality of healthcare available to racial and ethnic minorities and those of a low socio-economic status.

We can all encourage this particular improvement in American healthcare by becoming corporate sponsors of or individual mentors within undergrad pipeline organizations such as the National Network of Latin American Medical Students  or the Student National Medical Association, a student-run organization dedicated to the needs and concerns of medical students of color. It is especially important that those of us in the healthcare profession continue to promote diversity so that we may see quality healthcare options available to all sectors of the American population because a healthy nation is a strong nation!

One way to stay ahead of the competition in this tough job market is to continually expand your specialized knowledge and skills. This is true of all fields, but in particular for people in the medical field. Even doctors will only stay employed or keep their practice open if they have a consistent number of patients who are happy with services.

Recently, I signed up for a new health plan and was given a huge directory of doctors. I went through those names one-by-one narrowing it down to 3 or 4.  Then I hit the internet to learn more about them. I was looking for the standouts.

To be a standout, you should:

1. Expand your knowledge and skills, keep your resume and bio current, and make sure that any directories and marketing materials that include your bio are kept current as well.
2. Try to regularly scan the headlines of your favorite publications, and schedule time each week to go back and read the articles that seemed most relevant.
3. Follow your peers and various organizations on Twitter and Facebook. This can also help keep you in the loop.
4. Don’t just go to whatever seminar flies across your radar that fits into your schedule and fulfills your CEUs. Instead, try to be proactive and stay aware of current trends that are relevant to your client base.
5. Consider some new types of education. This week I read about the University of Carolina’s Nutrition in Medicine program, now available online and accessible to med students and practicing physicians across the nation. This fills a void left by med schools that offer little or no nutrition education and could help you be a standout.

How important is it to be a standout? Do you have other ideas on how to be one?  Let us know in the comments section. We look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Recently I met with Allison Rapaport, founder of Hospital Dream Jobs to learn more about her and why she started Hospital Dream Jobs. I don’t know about you, but I am always curious about the behind-the-scenes happenings with new businesses. I often find that founders have unique reasons for starting a business or cause, and often it is the result of something in their background, a story of something that happened in their personal life or the discovery of a passion for an industry that was previously undiscovered.

J-What motivated you to start the site?

A- In 2008 I found myself in the middle of the economic crisis which was unfolding. The company I was working for as VP of Communications was changing hands and moving many headquarter employees to New York. I suddenly found myself in a unique position surrounded by a department of analysts and managers who were quickly going to be on the job market, many for the first time in decades. Colleagues were asking for my advice on how to search for jobs, to critique/rewrite their resume and help them figure out how to search for positions on the Internet. Word spread and it was overwhelming how many people asked for advice. This was the first time I had shared the job search tips I had used for myself and was surprised to realize how much knowledge I had acquired over the years about how to market myself.

J- What happened next?

A- When the job ended, I finally had a little breathing room. I considered my own business, but was not sure which direction to go. Then my mother suggested an online job board. The more I thought about it, the more sense it made and the more passionate I became about the idea.

As I thought about a website and researched the competition, I saw that there was an opening for another job board – one that is focused only on healthcare, one that listens to job seekers and hospitals and can evolve quickly (small enough to do that, but large enough to have the capability) and one that helps people find their “dream job” whatever their definition of a dream job is.

J- What do you want to convey on the site?

A- It is important to me to convey that you can create your future – through considering possibility, establishing goals, learning something new, and asking for what you want. I thought our site could be a place that serves as a sort of cheerleader for job seekers. I know that searching for a job can be tough and I want to make it as supportive as possible.

J- Why healthcare?

A- Many happy memories! I am now the third generation involved in the healthcare industry. Both of my grandmothers were nurses and my mother ran a healthcare recruitment company for over 30 years. I grew up surrounded by the healthcare industry. I remember my grandmothers’ white uniform with a white cap, hearing the stories of the patients they helped during the day and seeing an occasional off-color comic strip. I also remember working in my mother’s recruiting firm, Hospital Recruiters, cutting out ads from newspapers all over the country and pasting them in a book. She would use these ads to call applicants and place them in jobs. This was before the ease of the Internet.

J- Sounds like you indeed are following your passion, Allison! Thanks for sharing!

“I think the needs of both the job seekers and employers are in getting lost in the current environment,” says Hospital Dream Jobs founder, Allison Rapaport. “My goal is to listen to their needs and have the website evolve to meet these needs.”

In 2008, Rapaport brought together her experience in web development, communications and job searching with her interest in healthcare to develop Hospital Dream Jobs.  Because she also had contacts in the healthcare and technology field, there was a natural fit with developing content for the site as well.

The response has been overwhelmingly positive. Hospitals/Employers are excited about the ability to search for qualified leads to fill positions and receive alerts from Hospital Dream Jobs with links to the resume of interested parties. They also enjoy the added coups of being featured via video clips on the site and on the Hospital Dream Jobs blog. The ability to set up a profile page with more about their facility is another popular option.

For job seekers, the site is a virtual goldmine as it not only lists jobs listed with Hospital Dream Jobs but also pulls in listings from other healthcare job sites. In addition, there are numerous job resources, including lists of top hospitals, educational podcasts, links to educational facilities/hospitals and a list of recruitment and staffing agencies. The site has 400 job categories and thousands of listings. The job seeker also enjoys the ability to upload their resume/cover letter, send and receive messages, save job searches, create job alerts and learn more detail about the particular hospitals that interest them.

The goals for Hospital Dream Jobs include:

1. Provide quality and a high quantity of healthcare job listings from all parts of the country.

2. Support job seekers as they progress in their career. Offer job listings, tools to track their job search, career advice and resources, and information to stay current.

3. Offer hospitals and recruiters great advertising for their organization and the ability to attract the best in personnel.

4. Maintain an environment that is personable and responsive for all users.

Join us today by signing up for a Job Seeker or Employer account!