Medical Technology Improves Patient’s Life

     Some discussions in the medical world highlight the fear that medical technologies have the power to make physicians unnecessary. Today’s norm places such high importance on x-rays, scans, and lab tests, which some fear undercuts the education and the skill of physicians which is indispensible in the medical world.

     However, this article reaffirms the need for human interaction. Trevor Prideaux, a 50 year old man from England was born without his left forearm and wears a prosthetic arm. With the help of medical experts, Prideaux became the first patient to have a smartphone dock in his prosthetic arm. Before the smartphone dock was created, Prideaux struggled to balance his smartphone on his prosthetic arm while using one hand to text. Optimal use of smartphones cannot be achieved with one hand. However, modern day simplicities such as texting are now an easy part of Prideaux’s life. He is now able to use his right hand to text, play games, or search the internet while his phone sits securely in its new docking system. As the role of doctor and patient interaction continues to be a topic of heated discussions in the industry, Prideaux’s story reminds us that the innovation that only doctors can bring to healthcare is needed to positively impact patients.

     Prideaux hopes this revolutionary medical technology will aid the life of other patients with prosthetic limbs.

     What are some of your thoughts regarding medical technology?

     Have you entered our iPad 2 sweepstakes yet? Visit us on Facebook to enter.

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Get to Know Fidelis Partners and Medestar!

Dan Guvvala

Career:
     • Dan is a Senior Search Consultant at Fidelis Partners where he uses his years of experience to find the right candidates to fulfill opportunities with clients nationwide. Dan enjoys impacting families positively by matching physicians with opportunities providing the highest quality of life for their families.
     • Dan’s perseverance and his tenacity are his greatest professional strengths. He uses these qualities to benefit both providers and facilities by continually searching until the right match is found and placed successfully. He sets the standard for quality recruiting and was recently honored with Recruiter of the Quarter at Fidelis Partners.

Personal:
Background Information:
     • Dan grew up in India and has been in the United States for 20 years now.
     • His perseverance has led to his three college degrees—Dan has two undergraduate degrees in both accounting and chemical technology as well as a Master’s in Business Administration degree.

In His Free Time:
     • In his free time, Dan enjoys playing Tennis as well as playing and listening to music.
     • Dan plays the guitar and often uses his talent to lead worship.

Dan's daughter Anjali

Interesting Things You Probably Didn’t Know:
     • Dan never gave up on his dream, and strives to work hard and make himself better each and every day.
     • He has a loving family including his wife, Neena and ten year old daughter, Anjali.

Contact Dan for:

-        Permanent placement opportunities

Connect with Dan:

-        Apply to jobs

-        Email Dan

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Get to Know Fidelis Partners and Medestar!

Todd Cadenhead

Career:
    
• Todd is a senior recruiting consultant here at Medestar. In his role, he recruits, builds relationships and consults with physicians to help them meet their professional and personal goals. He enjoys being able to discuss the many advantages of locums work with providers.
    
• His favorite part of his job is being able to build solid and lasting relationships with his providers as well as his coworkers. He enjoys the team effort behind successfully placing a provider in a facility.

• Todd always treats people the way he would want to be treated if the tables were turned which is perhaps one of his greatest strengths. He is respectful to all, extremely trustworthy, and has a strong work ethic and commitment to all aspects of his career and personal life.
    
• Todd has been recognized many times as recruiter of the month throughout his five years in the industry, but perhaps his greatest reward is receiving the unexpected compliments from one of his physicians.

Personal
Background Information:
    
• Todd grew up in the Dallas area. He graduated from Texas A&M University with a bachelor’s degree in sports management with a minor in business. Upon graduation, Todd returned to the Dallas area where he now resides with his family.
His Free Time:

    
• In his free time, Todd enjoys spending time with his wife, and two sons.
    
• He also loves playing disc golf, bass fishing, watching and playing soccer, as well as snowboarding and playing the guitar.
   
• He and his wife also enjoy leading musical worship sessions together, with Todd on the guitar and his wife leading vocals.

Interesting Things You Probably Didn’t Know:
    
• Todd and his wife are expecting their third child in December!
    
• He has been to the emergency room three times for a dislocated knee.
   
• While helping fix a fence at his in-law’s ranch, Todd slipped and fell dislocating his knee. A volunteer fire department put him on a stretcher attached to a rope and pulley to get him down a rocky hill side. His pictures from that experience were later used for training purposes!

Contact Todd For:
     -Locum tenen opportunities
Connect with Todd:
     -LinkedIN profile
     -Apply to jobs
     -Email Todd

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Emergency Medicine Physicians and Medical Liability Reform

According to an article from Kaiser Health News, the number of emergency room visits rose by about ten percent, or 13 million visits, to more than 136 million visits in 2009. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates this to be the largest increase ever. One factor contributing to this increase has to do with the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act passed in 1986. This act requires hospitals to provide emergency services to all patients, regardless of their ability to pay for medical services rendered. The law, in and of itself, has driven up the number of patients seeking out emergency rooms and thus the number of overcrowded emergency departments in the nation. Another concern for emergency physicians comes from the Affordable Care Act which will require hospitals to reduce their readmittance rates by coordinating care or be financially penalized. This means physicians will be pressured by hospitals not to admit patients who cannot pay because the hospital will not receive payment from those patients. On the other hand, physicians will also feel pressure from their own conscience, from the family members of patients unable to pay, and from the continual specter of lawsuits.

All of these factors have led some emergency room physicians to focus on a possible means to reduce the nation’s health care costs—medical liability reform which they believe will discourage defensive medicine practice. One of the issues being discussed at the annual American College of Emergency Physicians conference this week is how many emergency physicians would like reform that would include indemnification based on recognized guidelines, caps on non-economic damages, and medical courts where providers would be judged by their medical peers. One important piece of evidence against medical liability reform is a study showing the number of congestive heart failure patients discharged from the emergency department dropped by sixty-three percent between 2006 and 2010 likely due to an increase in concerns about medical malpractice litigation.

What are your thoughts regarding medical liability reform?

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Get to Know Fidelis Partners and Medestar!

Angela Stockford

Career:

• Angela is a Senior Search Consultant here at Fidelis Partners, and strives to match each candidate with the best opportunity for them. She most enjoys being able to help others make positive changes in their lives by fitting them with the right opportunity.

• Angela has been in the industry for five years, and has been a valued member of the Fidelis team for more than a year.

• Her greatest professional strengths are her ability to adapt to any situation, and her immense integrity. Angela’s adaptability and integrity has allowed her to considerably help those around her including clients and co-workers alike.

Personal:

Background Information:

• Angela grew up in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in hospitality management from the University of North Texas.

In Her Free Time:

• In her free time, Angela most enjoys spending time with her husband and two children.

• She also enjoys baking and cooking, going for walks, shopping, and even interior decorating.

Interesting Things You Probably Didn’t Know:

• Angela greatly enjoys sociology, and is extremely observant.

• She feels as though she has had such a high success rate in this industry because of her observant nature and her ability to use her observations when interacting with clients and candidates.

Contact Angela For:

                -Permanent placement opportunities

Connect with Angela:

                -LinkedIN profile

                -Apply to jobs

                -Email Angela

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5 Best and Worst States to Practice Medicine

The Best States to Practice Medicine:                   The Worst States to Practice Medicine:

5.) Georgia                                                             5.) Rhode Island

4.) Texas                                                                4.) Connecticut

3.) Arkansas                                                          3.) New York

2.) Mississippi                                                        2.) Maryland

1.) Oklahoma                                                         1.) District of Columbia

          Based on four separate criteria, and with the help of “Physicians Practice,” we have compiled a list of the 5 best and worst states in the United States to practice medicine. The factors taken into consideration include the cost of living index, the tax burden per capita, medical board disciplinary actions, and physicians per 1,000 residents, or the amount of competition in that area of the country. The cost of living index is one of the most important factors for some physicians, and on this graph is scaled with zero being the lowest and 16 being the highest. The next factor taken into consideration is the tax burden per capita represented by thousands in the graphs below. For example, Mississippi’s tax burden is $2,678 represented on the graph as 2.678. The third criterion is the disciplinary actions taken by the medical board measured per 1,000 physicians—the lower the number the better it is for physicians. To illustrate, in Maryland, for every 1,000 physicians, there are 2.55 disciplinary actions taken against practicing physicians. Lastly, we took the level of competition into consideration, or the number of physicians present per 1,000 residents in that area. In Texas, for instance, there are just over 2 physicians for every 1,000 residents.   

          The best and worst states to practice in were determined by taking the average of scores of all four categories. For instance, Oklahoma has an average score of 4.8 across all categories, the lowest of all while the District of Columbia has the highest average at 7.67. They are as follows: 

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Get to Know us: Nick Rogers, Director of Recruiting

For this week's team member biography, we'd like to introduce you to Nick Rogers, Director of Recruiting at Medestar.

Nick Rogers

Career:

• As Director of Recruiting at Medestar, Nick not only maintains his relationships with his current providers, but he also continually searches for new providers looking for locum tenens work. Perhaps his most important role as Director of Recruiting is helping lead his team toward success and being a source for other recruiters to turn to when they have questions.

• Nick’s favorite part of his job is building relationships with his providers as well as his fellow co-workers. He also enjoys being able to help shape this company into a powerhouse by finding the right opportunity for all the providers he has the pleasure of speaking with.

• During Nick’s impressive career, he has been one of the top producers for Medestar since its inception, and reached the President’s club in 2010. He is also on track to place 50 new providers in 2011!

• Nick has many strengths, but perhaps his two greatest are his loyalty and his ability to build and maintain relationships.

Personal:

Background Information:

• Nick grew up in the Buckeye state, watching Ohio State University football.

•  He received his bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology from the College of William and Mary where he also played football.

His Free Time:

• In his free time, Nick enjoys working out (which he often does during lunch time) and playing sports. Currently he is on a softball team that plays a couple times a week.

• One of his favorite pass-times is spending time with his friends and family.

Interesting Things You Probably Didn’t Know:

• Nick got married in September!

• Nick is extremely organized - the clothes in his closet are even color coordinated.

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Nontraditional Treatment Approach for a Nontradtional Man

     As the news of Steve Jobs’ passing continues to be a trending topic worldwide, it also brings attention to his health issue.  The co-founder of Apple, Inc. was the visionary behind many technological devices we use daily: the personal computer, the iPhone, the iPad.  While Jobs created a larger than life Apple empire, he maintained a low profile concerning his fight against pancreatic cancer.  In 2003, he was diagnosed with a rare form of pancreatic cancer.  Known for his nontraditional style business, Jobs approached his cancer treatment similarly.  

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

     

     Jobs had a neuroendocrine tumor in his pancreas.  Neuroendocrine tumors are uncommon, with new cases occurring in no more than five people in every 100,000 each year.  In 2009, he received a liver transplant.  Research has shown that a liver transplant can prolong the life of those with his rare form of pancreatic cancer.  However, the research regarding this treatment is still being developed.  Patients who take this progressive approach to pancreatic cancer, risk many complications according to Simon Lo, director of endoscopy at Cedars-SinaiMedical Center in Los Angeles.  New medications were cleared in the U.S. this year to treat this aggressive cancer.

      

     What do you all think about Steve Jobs and his personal fight against cancer? Do you wish he would have shared more of his illness with the public, or do you think the revelation of Steve Jobs’ battle with cancer would have hurt the success of Apple, Inc.?

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