Blowing Smoke

Profit motive—and scant evidence—propel dire warnings about surgical fumes.

from STAT

The claims sound terrifying: Just breathing the air in an operating room where hot surgical tools are being used to slice and cauterize tissue—emitting puffs of caustic smoke in the process—is said to be the equivalent of smoking up to 30 unfiltered cigarettes a day. The smoke contains an array of carcinogenic toxins. And nurses regularly exposed to it report they are twice as likely as the general public to suffer congestion, coughing, and asthma.

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Disclaimer: The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.

8 Things That Excellent Hospital Doctors Do

Growing competition for new customers is inspiring American hospitals to focus on providing a more positive patient experience — and hospitals expect their doctors to do their part.

from STAT

We wanted to know what defines great physicians in the hospital setting, both in terms of their interactions with patients and how they teach the next generation of doctors — residents and medical students — as they go about their hospital rounds. To do this, we identified 12 doctors from around the US who are recognized as outstanding teacher-physicians. We scrutinized their bedside behavior, did semi-structured interviews with them, and talked with current and former members of their hospital rounding teams.

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Disclaimer: The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.

Clinicians in the C-Suite

Leveraging physicians and nurses who care as much about the healthcare business as they do patients.

from HealthLeaders Media

Healthcare leadership is evolving in a way that must merge the silos of clinical care and administration, resulting in a growing minority of C-suite positions occupied by physicians and nurses. There are numerous industry drivers of the clinician leadership trend, not the least of which includes mounting industry emphasis on value and quality. And amid various financial pressures and a need for clinicians to help facilitate change, it behooves organizations to close the gap between providers of care and executive leadership.

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Disclaimer: The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.

Doctors Are Human Too

One doctor openly discusses the often-overlooked epidemic of suicide among physicians, and what can be done to stop it.

from The New York Times

When I started working as a doctor last year in a metropolitan public hospital in Sydney, rotating through the emergency department and the surgical and medical wards, as all doctors do in their first year of practice in Australia, my experiences were no better or worse than those of any of my colleagues. Nor are they dissimilar to the experiences of junior doctors around the world. But we are speaking about these things now, where I am from, because my colleagues are killing themselves.

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Disclaimer: The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.

The Striking Gender Gap in Doctors’ Pay

Nationally, female physicians make an average of 26.5 percent, or $91,000, less than male physicians.

from STAT

If you’re a doctor in Charlotte, N.C., you’re ideally situated to benefit from the highest pay in the health care business. There’s just one catch: If you want that big money, you can’t be a woman. That’s because the city also has the biggest gender wage gap in the nation. Female physicians in Charlotte make an average of 33 percent less than their male counterparts, a difference of $125,000 per year, according to a new report by the social media site Doximity.

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Disclaimer: The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.

Does Telemedicine Save or Cost Money?

Telehealth companies have long asserted that increased access to physicians via video or phone saves money by reducing office visits.

from KevinMD

Over 1 million virtual doctor visits were reported in 2015. Telehealth companies have long asserted that increased access to physicians via video or phone conferencing saves money by reducing office visits and Emergency Department care. But a new study calls this cost savings into question. Increased convenience can increase utilization, which may improve access, but not reduce costs.

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Disclaimer: The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.

Rethinking Institutional Metrics of Success

Financial and productivity metrics are critically important in any business. But for physicians, medicine is a profession, not a business.

from WellnessRounds

Recently, I was talking to a superstar surgeon who had travelled to Africa for two weeks to operate and teach. Lives were saved, a gift was given, but when he returned he was told that the two weeks he had spent in Africa resulted in not meeting his RVU target for the month… which he now had to “make up.”

Are you kidding? I can’t think of any physician that would think this is okay.

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Disclaimer: The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.

8 Secrets to Landing a Locum Tenens Job

Here are a few insider tips and best practices that will help you throughout your locum tenens job search.

from KevinMD

Having worked as a locum tenens recruiter for over 15 years, I have seen consistent trends in how the best clinicians are able to stand out and book jobs. Especially now that there are tech-driven alternatives to agency recruiters, it’s more important than ever for providers to lead their own searches, present themselves in the best light possible, negotiate top pay rates, and ultimately win the positions they want.

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Disclaimer: The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.

Strategies for Reducing Physician Burnout

The fastest growing ailment seen in doctors’ offices across the country may be the rising rate of physician burnout.

from Physicians Practice

The American Medical Association (AMA) and the Mayo Clinic conducted multiple studies of more than 6,000 physicians in 2011 and 2014 on the topic of burnout. In just three years, the rate of physicians who reported at least one symptom of burnout went from 45.5 percent to 54.4 percent.

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Disclaimer: The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.

One Man’s Desperate Quest for a Brutal Surgery

The operation is so terrifying some call it MOAS: the Mother of All Surgeries.

from STAT

The operation is so terrifying some call it MOAS: The Mother of All Surgeries. It can take 16 hours. The risk of complications is high. And after 30 years of research, doctors are still arguing about how well it works.

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Disclaimer: The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.