Non-Clinical Physician Jobs, Careers, and Opportunities

NEJM: Leading Clinicians and Clinicians Leading

2013-05-21T20:00:00.000-04:00

Last month, the New England Journal of Medicine published a perspective article on leadership titled, "Leading Clinicians and Clinicians Leading."

Richard M.J. Bohmer, M.B., Ch.B., M.P.H. writes "Better organizational performance improves health outcomes, and clinical leadership affects performance. Calls for leadership are common, but the specifics of which clinicians need to do what remain unclear."

He then goes into saying " Leaders create conditions that enable and encourage others to achieve a shared goal through collective action — a challenge in health care, since most clinicians were schooled as individualists, don't necessarily view the goal as shared, and generally feel more accountable to professional bodies than local hierarchies."

He describes 4 key tasks that front-line clinicians leading local systems must achieve in order to be effective leaders. Read the full article here.

Richard Bohmer, MBChB, MPH, is a New Zealand trained physician on the faculty of Harvard Business School. He graduated from the Auckland University School of Medicine and has practiced hospital and primary medicine in New Zealand and England. In 1989 he was part of a clinical team that established and ran a surgical hospital in Sudan. He attended the Harvard School of Public Health on a Fulbright Scholarship, graduating in 1993 with a Masters of Public Health in Health Care Management, and joined the HBS faculty in 1997.

Social media marketing for physicians

2013-05-20T20:00:00.000-04:00

These days, even physicians are using social media to market their services, attract new patients, expand their referral base, and grow their practice. Several months ago, ZocDoc published a White Paper titled, "Marketing For Healthcare Providers" and you can get this free White Paper to learn how to leverage social media for marketing (you'll find comments from me on pages 3 and 6 in the White Paper). Get it here.

Find your next medical director job

2013-05-12T14:30:00.000-04:00

What does it mean to be a medical director? It can mean different things depending on the industry. Take a look at all the different jobs that come up when you search for "medical director" jobs on the NonClinicalJobs Job Board and enter specific search terms and geographic information to refine your search.

Small Business Survey Results: Infographic

2013-05-08T20:00:00.000-04:00

Thinking about starting your own small business? Take a look at this inforgraphic about small business:

Via: Business Banking

The HIMSS Virtual Career Fair

2013-05-05T20:00:00.000-04:00

The HIMSS Virtual Career Fair
Connecting Health IT Job Seekers and Employers
Produced by HIMSS Media
May 8, 2013 | 11am-7:30pm CT

A career in health IT encompasses many administrative, clinical and financial aspects, and skill sets acquired from previous careers and industries are often applicable and transferable to health IT careers. Build or enhance your skills portfolio by connecting with the health IT tools, resources and positions available today with our virtual job fair!

http://www.himssvirtual.org/2013_CareerFair/

BioSpace Pharm Country Career Fair

2013-05-01T20:00:00.000-04:00

Looking for a job in the biotech or pharmaceutical industry? How about with a contract research organization or CRO?

BioSpace Pharm Country Career Fair
Radisson Valley Forge
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
11am - 4pm

Learn more here.

In NYC for the 2013 ACPE conference

2013-04-26T17:00:00.000-04:00

I'm in NYC for the 2013 American College of Physician Executives (ACPE) conference. If you're here, I look forward to seeing you this weekend.

Not familiar with ACPE?

ACPE is the nation's largest health care organization for physician executives — doctors who hold leadership and management positions. Since its founding in 1975, the primary focus of the College is to provide superior leadership and management skills to physicians and encouraging them to assume more active roles in the leadership and management of their organizations. It has grown exponentially in that time, from 64 members to more than 10,000.

50 Most Influential Physician Executives - 2013 (Modern Healthcare)

2013-04-25T20:00:00.000-04:00

Modern Healthcare has a list of "50 Most Influential Physician Executives - 2013"

The honorees were chosen by readers and the senior editors of Modern Healthcare and Modern Physician for their leadership in the varied sectors of the industry, whether provider organizations, government agencies, associations, insurers or supplier companies. This year's program is sponsored by Cejka Executive Search.

You'll see many familiar names like John Kitzhaber, Eric Topol, Farzad Mostashari, Regina Benjamin, Gary Gottlieb, Atul Gawande, Reed Tuckson, Margaret Hamburg, Elliott Fisher, and many others.

I think it would be very interesting to put all these names on a map. We would probably see a heavy representation from the East Coast.

Physician Lifestyles and Burnout

2013-04-23T19:00:00.000-04:00

Experiencing burnout? You're not alone. You may be able to relate with the 2013 Medscape slideshow titled, "Physician Lifestyles -- Linking to Burnout: A Medscape Survey"

Healthcare Innovation and Entrepreneurship on Coursera

2013-04-22T20:00:00.000-04:00

There is a free online course on Coursera titled, "Healthcare Innovation and Entrepreneurship." The course started on April 15 and is from Duke University. It will run for 6 weeks, so there's plenty of time to jump in and get involved. This interdisciplinary course focuses on sustainable innovation, introducing entrepreneurial students to the realities of problem identification and solution design within the complex world of healthcare. Here's a brief description:

Healthcare Innovation and Entrepreneurship applies a focused approach toward sustainable healthcare innovation. Students will be introduced to definitions and concepts that include the innovation process, design thinking, “intrapreneurship,” entrepreneurship, six sigma principles of process improvement, regulatory issues, patent law, and the market forces that impact the healthcare innovation process. All students will gain confidence in the basic elements of the initial discovery phase in the healthcare innovation process, including

Defining and describing key components of the healthcare innovation process.
Becoming aware of challenges to the quality of healthcare delivery and the opportunity for improved patient care and cost reductions.
Learning and practicing a step-by-step “needs finding” process and a “needs filtering” process for identifying and prioritizing real clinical problems and opportunities for innovation.
Developing cross-disciplinary collaboration skills.
Strengthening communication and leadership skills in advocating health systems change.

Learn more here: https://www.coursera.org/course/healthcareinnovation

SoPE Event Greater DC Area on May 14

2013-04-21T20:00:00.000-04:00

The Society of Physician Entrepreneurs (SoPE) is a global biomedical and healthcare innovation network. If you live in the greater Washington DC area, don't miss this event on May 14:

The National Capitol Area Local Chapter of SoPE in concert with JHU Carey Business School, MedChi, Zanvyl Krieger School of Arts and Sciences Center for Biotechnology Education, Montgomery County Medical Society, and the Medical Society of Northern Virginia presents:

“Working with Industry in the Life Sciences - What does it Really Take?”

Tuesday, May 14th, 2013--6:00PM to 8:00PM

RSVP: (Also, please join SoPE and the National Capitol Area SoPE Local Chapter at www.SoPEnet.org.)
Jeffrey N. Hausfeld M.D., M.B.A., F.A.C.S.
jhausfeld@sopenet.net

Location: Johns Hopkins University, Montgomery County Campus, Building III – 9605 Medical Center Drive, Room 121

Health Policy DO Fellowships Available

2013-04-18T20:00:00.000-04:00

If you are a DO, you may be interested in this:

Health Policy Fellowship
Ohio University and NYIT

Applications are now available for the twentieth class of the Health Policy Fellowship. The Health Policy Fellowship is a collaborative effort between Ohio University and the New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) to train mid-career physicians and professionals closely associated with the osteopathic profession to become effective advocates for patients by learning the skills necessary to understand and influence health policy on the local, state, and national levels.

The AOA certificate program provides a series of ten on-site seminars in cities around the country. Each seminar covers a specific health policy topic, and the year culminates in the presentation of Fellows’ health policy briefs in Washington, DC.

Many HPF graduates go on to accept leadership positions in the profession and in medical education. A schedule for the 2013-2014 year, a description of the program, and a list of graduates is available in the Program Description and Schedule at this link: http://www.oucom.ohiou.edu/hpf/Apply2012.htm

From Clinical to Courtroom: What It’s Like to Work as a Law Firm Doctor

2013-04-16T20:00:00.000-04:00

Guest post by Dr. Charles Bowers

Most doctors don’t enter into the field of medicine to join a law firm. If you’re like me, then your journey likely began with a simple desire to help others and make a positive difference in society, and the medical field seemed like the best way to do so. However, there comes a certain point in your life and career that your expertise as a medical professional may provide you the opportunity to have a different positive impact on as great a number of people as one did in private practice. In my case, this opportunity was presented as the chance to be the in-house Medical (forensic) physician for a highly respected law firm Ross Feller Casey.

People often ask me what it’s like to go from clinical practice to law, and while there are many nuances, there are a few main points that help to provide an understanding:

• Lawyer stereotypes aside, doctors and attorneys are actually very similar – In my mind, these are the two most honorable professions. Both good doctors and good lawyers are studious, hardworking, and empathetic. They care about their patients and clients, and they help them using their own set of different but valuable skills.

• You’re still helping people, just in a different way – In clinical practice, you directly see the positive impact you have on people’s lives, whether by diagnosing and effectively treating an illness or performing a successful surgery. As in-house medical consultant, you help patients/clients and their families just as much, but it’s less direct. You use your medical expertise to give the attorneys the information and tools they need to effectively represent a client and argue for their rights.

• Many cases go far beyond the initial client/patient – In addition to serving justice for the individual client or clients involved, the results of a case are often far more reaching . For example, a settlement may not only stipulate compensation to the client /patients but also that the defendant changes their procedures in a way that ultimately protects many more patients/clients from being injured. So when you look at it this way, working with a single client can mean you have a positive effect on hundreds or even thousands of future clients/patients who may have been similarly injured if the situation had not been recognized and properly changed.
Read more »

Hope to see you in NYC for ACPE

2013-04-15T19:00:00.000-04:00

It's coming up, just a few weeks away! ACPE Annual Meeting in NYC April 26-30. Hope to see you there!

2013 Student Quality Leadership Academy

2013-04-14T19:00:00.000-04:00

The 4th Annual IHI Open School Student Quality Leadership Academy, sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, will be held on June 13-14, 2013 in Cambridge, MA.

The Student Quality Leadership Academy is a free, two-day program for students and residents designed to build the leadership competencies within all health professions.

2013 IHI Open School Student Quality Leadership Academy
June 13-14, 2013
Cambridge, MA

Participants will learn specific skills related to leading change, managing conflict, communicating effectively, and tackling other leadership challenges they currently face, or will face in their careers. A complete list of the program faculty and agenda will be shared within the next few weeks.

Learn more here.

Physician Executive Profile: Kenneth W. Kizer, M.D., M.P.H.

2013-04-12T19:00:00.001-04:00

Occasionally, we will feature a physician executive profile so that you can see how some of these individuals navigated their careers to an executive level. Today, we feature:

Kenneth W. Kizer, M.D., M.P.H.

Dr. Kenneth W. Kizer is Director of the Institute for Population Health Improvement, UC Davis Health System, and a Distinguished Professor in the UC Davis School of Medicine (Department of Emergency Medicine) and the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing.

Dr. Kizer’s professional experience includes positions in academia and the public and private sectors. His previous positions have included: President, CEO and Chairman of Medsphere Systems Corporation, the nation’s leading commercial provider of open source healthcare information technology; founding President and CEO, National Quality Forum, a Washington, DC-based quality improvement and consensus standards setting organization; Under Secretary for Health, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and chief executive officer of the nation’s largest healthcare system; Director, California Department of Health Services; and Director, Emergency Medical Services Authority, State of California. He has served on the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force and as Chairman of the Board of The California Wellness Foundation, the nation’s largest philanthropy devoted to health promotion and disease prevention, as well as on the governing boards of managed care and health IT companies, several foundations and various professional associations and non-profit organizations. He also has worked in various capacities over the years with numerous foreign countries on health-related matters.

Read more »

How Website Developers Help You get Hired

2013-04-11T19:00:00.001-04:00

Job-hunting in today’s downed economy is taxing and hectic. There are a number of employment resource sites you can turn to, but when making a transition from a clinical to a non-clinical role within the medical field, you often have to market yourself a bit differently from others.
Creating a website for the sole purpose of marketing your employability is advantageous and can help you secure that role, while providing a platform for your employers and colleagues to get to know you.

When creating a website there are two main things you will want to explore: the company that provides the website, and the product itself. By learning more about these areas you can find a quality company that provides a product as great as the people who bring it to you.

The company behind your website
Website companies are a dime a dozen. But finding a company that is run by dedicated customer service specialists and industry leaders is not so easy a task unless you know what to look for. When researching website developers you will want to look for companies that provide platforms for meeting its employees. After all, consumers want to know who is handling their online reputations. By doing a simple Google search you can read yodle reviews from employees and get a good feel for the company. After all, if people are passionate and excited about their roles in the company, you know you are getting a good product.

You will also want to know what their customers have to say about the website provider. Make sure to read reviews that attest to how easy the provider is to work with, and how satisfied the customer is with the overall product.

The website
You would never wear an old wrinkled suit to a job interview. Therefore if you are launching a website to gain employment you want to make sure your site is modern, has a clean look, and runs from the best technology available. Do not hire a company that offers generic cookie-cutter templates that resemble thousands of other sites out there. Make sure the design is professionally executed and bears the hallmarks of a custom website.

Read more »

Clinical Research Professionals Marketplace

2013-04-11T19:00:00.000-04:00

The Association of Clinical Research Professionals (ACRP) has recently launched the Clinical Research Professionals Marketplace.

This serves the clinical research enterprise and features searchable profiles and contact information for companies offering specialty services in five categories: Business Services, Contract Research, Educational Services, Information Technology, and Site Services.

The ACRP Clinical Research Professionals Marketplace serves the breadth and depth of the enterprise devoted to the development of new drugs, medical devices, and therapeutic approaches—from the needs of academic medical centers to training providers, institutional review boards to electronic data capture services, project management to translation professionals, patient recruitment to staffing specialists, laboratories to pharmacovigilance units, and more.

Doctors driven to bankruptcy

2013-04-10T18:00:00.000-04:00

Did you catch the article titled, "Doctors driven to bankruptcy" on CNN/Money? These physicians are not losing money from malpractice lawsuits. They are blaming the soft economy, shrinking insurance reimbursements, changing regulations, and the rising costs of malpractice insurance.

Medical students gaining experience in Quality Improvement (QI)

2013-04-09T20:00:00.000-04:00

I find it inspiring that medical students are getting experience in Quality Improvement. QI is not a normal part of the medical school curriculum. You may learn some basics around general QI concepts, but you don't generally get to work on a QI initiative.

Some medical students enrolled in dual-degree MD/MBA programs have worked on a QI project by applying business principles in a health care setting. After all, business principles related to process improvement can be applied in health care.

The IHI (Institute for Healthcare Improvement) Open School project has given today's medical students the resources and framework to work on a QI project. As an example: Colleen McCormick is a fourth-year medical student at Wright State University who will be doing her pediatrics residency at Northwestern University in Chicago, has written weekly posts for the IHI Open School blog. McCormick used the IHI Open School Quality Improvement Practicum to set up and execute her QI project.

If you're a medical student or resident interested in quality improvement, make sure to take get involved with the IHI Open School project.

Preparing Your Switch to Non-Clinical Employment with a Business Degree

2013-04-07T21:00:00.000-04:00

As a medical professional with years of experience in the clinical sector of medicine, making the transition from clinical to non-clinical roles can be challenging. You have the passion and the medical knowledge, but more often than not hospital administrations will hire graduates with business management degrees over doctors making the career transition. After all, you may know how to perform an appendicectomy, but taking on a time-sensitive workload that requires completed reports, reviews and governing departmental mandates is something medical school never taught you.

Most physicians will start to slow down their clinical work while pursuing online degrees in business management from accredited schools like Potomac College. Business management degrees prepare professionals for high demands in business sectors and cover a wide range of training in all associated aspects of the industry.

The validity of an online degree

It is safe to say that as a working professional your time to complete course work is limited to odd hours. Therefore the online option is advantageous. Some critics have questions whether an online degree is just as valuable as one obtained from a traditional campus setting. Not only are they equal, in many cases an online degree might be even more beneficial in the eyes of some employers.

There are many reasons why employers value online degrees over ones traditionally obtained. If you are going to be fulfilling an IT role within business administration, your online degree will attest to your mastering of computer based communication skills. Look at it this way: when you were in medical school you learned about the human body with cadavers and not department store dummies. Learning while being plunged in the instrument itself offers a richer experience than a group lecture.

Read more »

Isenberg Online MBA American College of Physician Executives

2013-04-07T20:00:00.000-04:00

Are you an ACPE member? The Isenberg Online MBA at the University of Massachusetts Amherst offers physician executives the flexibility to pursue your studies completely online without sacrificing academic challenge and rigor. With this specialized degree, students learn up-to-date knowledge and skills for today's complex healthcare environments. The AACSB-accredited degree is delivered with the same curriculum and accomplished faculty as our onsite classes, and it has no residential requirement.

Isenberg has partnered with the American College of Physician Executives (ACPE) to offer you an exclusive educational opportunity. Thanks to your affiliation with ACPE, you are eligible for the following benefits:

10% discount on all Isenberg Online MBA courses
Exempt from foundation courses
Exempt from elective courses
Waiver of GMAT/GRE
Automatically earn transfer credits for your ACPE prerequisite curriculum coursework
A dedicated advisor specifically trained to work with ACPE students

Your ACPE affiliation enables you to earn your degree more quickly. You can transfer 9 credits from your completed ACPE prerequisite curriculum and apply them directly to your 43-credit MBA.

Learn more here.

Hope to see you in NYC for the ACPE Annual Meeting & Spring Institute

2013-04-05T20:00:00.000-04:00

In a few weeks, ACPE will be having their Annual Meeting & Spring Institute in NYC. If you'll be there, I look forward to seeing you! There's still time to register.

ACPE Annual Meeting & Spring Institute
April 26-30
NYC

More information here.

The American College of Physician Executives is the nation's largest health care organization for physician executives — doctors who hold leadership and management positions.

LegalZoom for legal business document services

2013-04-02T20:00:00.000-04:00

The other day, a physician approached me and asked, "how do you recommend I file my legal paperwork to start a company?" I said, "well, you could either fill it out yourself, hire an expert, or try an online legal business document service like LegalZoom. The person decided to try LegalZoom and so far everything has been smooth sailing (but the process isn't over yet).

Seems like a relatively simple concept, right? Get attorneys and other business experts to form an online company where everything can be done "virtually." Want to form an LLC? Incorporate as an S Corp or a C Corp? How about filing paperwork for a DBA? Maybe you're a social entrepreneur and you have an idea for a non-profit.

Have you used online legal business documenting services?

Didn't match into a residency spot?

2013-04-01T18:00:00.000-04:00

Ever year, I get a series of emails in March when 4th year medical students do not match into residency. In some circumstances, the graduating student may have a "red flag" in his or her academic history. In other cases, it's a matter of bad luck or not applying to enough residency spots.

In general, I tend to give the same advice:

1. Find a research opportunity during your transition year. This will be highly instrumental in boosting your chances of getting into a residency next year. Do your best to get something published.

2. If you have the funds and the time, you can get a one-year MPH. Do you have the time and money to make that investment and to be in school for yet another year?

3. Enjoy that year. Travel. Spend time with family. Play. You won't get this type of break again anytime soon unless you quit working.

4. Finally, there is the practical issue of finances: what do you do if you really need to generate income that year? You'd be surprised to hear what some people have done to make ends meet during that year. You can work at a restaurant, but you will always be tired because of long work shifts. Sounds like residency, doesn't it? You could do some tutoring or teaching with test prep companies. You could work for a library, a public health organization, or a You could also find a "regular" job, but most companies will know that you are probably only interested for a year of employment, so who's really going to hire you? Some consulting firms may. Or, you may get some traction finding a corporate internship within a pharmaceutical or technology company, but these jobs don't usually pay very much. Finally, there are a growing number of startup companies that may have the financial resources to employ a medical school graduate for a year. Look in SF, NY, or Boston for these tech startups.

No matter what happens, do not give up and do not lose heart. You have made it through 4 years of medical school. If you plan properly, you should be able to get into a residency so that you can pursue a clinical career. As a last resort, you can also choose to pursue a non-traditional, non-clinical career and find enjoyment and fulfillment in such a career path. There are plenty of job opportunities for MDs and DOs who did not do a residency.