With the economy struggling, employers across many industries are laying off workers left and right. Despite this, healthcare and medical jobs remain relatively secure. The reason that this industry has yet to be crippled by the same aliments that are plaguing others is simple: the services it provides are necessities.

The problem that is hurting this sector is of a different nature. With the population growing and the elderly making up a larger portion of it, there simply aren’t enough workers to fill many jobs in healthcare. Because of this, a lot of employers are beginning to seek out workers through less traditional arrangements.

One of the more popular medical jobs the shortage of healthcare professionals has created is travel nurses. These individuals are temporary help that work at hospital for an agreed upon time, usually ranging form four weeks to a year. At the end of this contractual period, travel nurses may go on to another facility in a different location or they may chose to take a permanent job offer if one is issued.

This career path has many perks. For starters, travel nurses are usually paid more than others in nursing, even though they provide the same services. In many situations, medical facilities also pay for their housing costs or provide a domicile. By nature it also provides the opportunity to travel, along with giving professionals the benefits they would receive in a more traditional setting.

Like all jobs, being a travel nurse does have its down points. Although you can request to only work at hospitals in a particularly area, fewer opportunities exist for those who limit themselves this way. Constantly being away from home can also be difficult for a variety of reason.
Another things that can be a down fall for some about this medical job is the fact that to be able to work in different states a travel nurse must be certified in all of the states that they wish to receive employment offers from.

For the most part, travel nursing agencies require that a medical professional have at least one year experience before they are willing to help them find employment opportunities. Those who think this is a viable but are just beginning their careers would have to get a little work experience before they would be able to start.

Labels: Healthcare Jobs

Medical jobs recently got a boost when the Atlanta Business Chronicle named Jackson Healthcare (JH) one of "Atlanta's Best Places to Work" for 2008, based on responses to an independent employee satisfaction survey. The healthcare staffing and technology company ranked seventh among 20 medium-size companies (101-500 employees), according to the weekly newspaper's September 26-October 2, 2008 issue.

The employee surveys were conducted for Atlanta Business Chronicle during the months of July and August by Quantum Market Research (QMR) of Wichita, Kansas. Ten large companies (501+ employees) and 20 small companies (10-100 employees) also made the list from among more than 300 companies applying.

"We are in the people business, and I recognize that our greatest assets walk out the door every evening," Jackson Healthcare Chief Executive Officer Richard L. Jackson said. "We try to recruit the best people and then create an environment that encourages associates to be the best that they can be, and so far that has worked well for us. In fact a significant number of our associates have been referred by other Jackson associates."

Atlanta Business Chronicle honored A+ Employer representatives with a breakfast in the Oceans Ballroom of the Georgia Aquarium on Friday, September 26, 2008.

Employees of nominated companies answered an online opinion survey conducted b QMR of Wichita, Kansas. To reach a 95-percent confidence level with a margin of error of plus or minus five percent, participating company employees had to respond in numbers proportional to their local employee base--from 85% of employees in companies of 50 employees or fewer to five percent of employees in companies with 5,000 or more employees. Fifty percent of employees in companies with 151 to 500 employees, including JH with approximately 400 Atlanta-based associates, had to log on and complete the survey for their employers to make the list.

Respondents answered questions covering 10 categories on a six-point scale from "strongly disagree" to "strongly agree." JH scored highest in the areas of "Trust in Senior Leaders" (94%), "Trust in Co-Workers" (94%) and "Retention Risk" (93%).

Founded by healthcare pioneer Richard L. Jackson, Jackson Healthcare addresses the two biggest challenges facing healthcare today: finding the right people and delivering the right information at the right time. The JH family of companies provides clinician staffing, anesthesia management and healthcare information technology solutions proven to improve clinical and financial outcomes and increase operational efficiency.

Labels: Healthcare Jobs

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick has imposed social services budget cuts that will affect jobs for the disabled and blind, as well as mental health programs in the state. Nonprofit advocacy groups are up in arms over the nearly 1,000 layoffs and $1 billion budget cuts, which are the result of the economic crisis.

Gov. Patrick has eliminated funding for Ferguson Industries for the Blind, a state-run business located outside of Boston, which provides legally blind persons employment opportunities in manufacturing. The facility, in business since 1906, will close its doors next month, eliminating the jobs of 25 blind workers.

The governor has also cut training programs for the mentally disabled. Stan Connors, president of Bay Cove Human Services, said these are the most dramatic cuts he has seen to people with mental disabilities. Bay Cove, which services 14,000 people with mental health disabilities, is losing over $3 million from its budget and must lay off approximately 40 people. Cuts are also being made to training programs for these constituents.

"Frankly, many of these people will end up in the hospital. Some will end up incarcerated, and, I believe, some will die,” said Connors.

Over $9 million in cuts to the state’s Department of Mental Health budget have been made. "I'm very concerned about every one of the cuts we put on the table," said Barbara Leadholm, commissioner of the Department of Mental Health. "We're cutting programs that we believe are important, effective, and support our consumers' recovery. That being said, we still had to make these cuts. We're having to prioritize in a way none of us wants to do."

Labels: Boston Jobs, Healthcare Jobs

This election year the reform of the healthcare system and universal coverage for all are huge issues among the candidates. Nationally, this industry is one of the fastest growing. Despite this, many medical facilities are struggling to fulfill patient needs because they understaffed. Many believe that if these political promises become new policies, then a good number of healthcare jobs will be hurt and the industry will have an even harder time bringing in new workers.

A recent anesthesiologist salary survey conducted by LocumTenens.com, a physician recruiting firm, found that 63 percent of the professionals believe that universal healthcare will negatively affect their personal incomes. This firm asked 427 anesthesiologist how they felt such changes would change their earnings and found that 29 percent believed that their salaries would remain the same. Only 8 percent of participants felt that universal healthcare would cause them to make more money each year.

“We surveyed physicians in four specialties on compensation-related issues and, overall, 42 percent of respondents predicted that universal healthcare would negatively affect their incomes, while the same number predicted no effect,” said Pamela McKemie, who is the Senior Vice President of LocumTenens.com. “Our anesthesiologist respondents definitely showed the highest rate of negativity about their professional outlook under a universal healthcare scenario.”

One reason that many of those with medical jobs feel that they would be losing money is because universal healthcare would meant they would receive Medicaid reimbursement rates. Some believe that this will significantly decrease the quality of patient care, because not as much money will becoming into medical facilities. Although more people will be able to afford healthcare, those with healthcare jobs will potentially be working harder for the same amount of money or less than they are now.

According to the firm’s 2007 survey, 40 percent of anesthesiologists reported that their income for the year was the same (27 percent) or less than (23 percent) than their 2006 income. Around half of the participants said that they earned more last year than they had during the previous year. Of these individuals, 28 percent reported an increase in their incomes of between 2 and 9 percent. A slightly smaller portion (22 percent) said that they experienced an income increase of 10 percent or more. For 2008 the annual salary for the average anesthesiologist was $336,374.70, which was about a 4 percent increase from last year.


Over half of this year participants, 54 percent, said they did not plan on changing jobs in the foreseeable future. Another 28 percent said that felt they would be seeking different employment within the next 12 months.

The main reason these medical professionals said they would be soon looking for a new jobs was the desire for higher pay, which 41 percent cited as the reason behind their response. Another 17 percent said that they would be job hunting in the near future in order to find a better community for themselves and their families.

On the Brightside, 73 percent of participants said that, if given the choice to start over, they would still pick medicine as their career.

Labels: Healthcare Jobs, Medical Jobs

With a national shortage of professionals to fill available healthcare jobs, many employers are becoming more open to creative ways of making sure they are fully staffed. The newest method of doing this is through travel nurse agencies. These firms are a lot like temping agencies, but usually involve longer terms of employment and the workers who take these assignments often move from state to state.

Individuals who become travel nurses usually have at least two years experience in a more traditional medical environment. Although a travel nurse may take on positions only in their own state, those who want to expand the number of healthcare job offers they receive have to be licensed to practice in every state they wish to work in.

The assignments that are offered can range anywhere from 8 to 52 weeks, but the average contractual work period is 13 weeks. Like with most temp agencies, at the end of this agreed upon time nurses can decide to extend their assignment, accept a permanent position or take another job.

Aside from getting to travel, nurses who have this sort of healthcare job receive many benefits. These individuals are usually paid a significant amount more than others with the same amount of training and experience. Many employers also pay for housing for those who have taken assignments away from their own homes. These individuals also often receive bonuses on top of these perks.

Because of the amount of travel involved, nurses who are best suited for these jobs need to have a flexible lifestyle and be okay with being away from home for extended periods of time.

Registered nurses aren’t the only ones who can begin this sort of untraditional career. Positions exits for RNs, LPNs LVNs, radiologic technologits, physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech language pathologists and many other healthcare positions.

Those who believe they would enjoy being travel nurses should research the various agencies that specialize in assisting employers with their staff needs.

Labels: Healthcare Jobs

Healthcare jobs in nursing are some of the most in demand positions in the nation. Due to the growing and aging population, the need of nurses is growing faster than colleges can train these individuals. To make matters worse for the businesses that employ these professionals, burn out and the difficult transition from school to nursing programs causes this industry to have a high turnover rate.

According to Nurse.com, many hospitals are finding that nursing residency programs boost competency and make these individuals more likely to stay with their new employers. One program that is having a particularly high success rate is the Versant RN Residency program that takes place in Illinois and seven other states.

This program usually lasts 18 to 22 weeks and was developed at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. Currently Versant is offered at almost 50 different hospitals, charging these medical facilities $5,000 for each resident.

Versant is based on Patricia Benner’s model of skill acquisition which has residents move in stages. New RNs begin as novices and move towards being labeled advanced beginner. After they have acquired certain skills they become competent, then move to the proficient stage, ending up as experts.

According to the program, the turnover rate for newly graduated RNs is somewhere between 35 percent and 60 percent during the first 12 months of employment. With in the first two years from hire, approximately 57 percent of nurses quit, according to a study published by the Journal of Nursing Administration in 2004. Hospitals that utilize the Versant RN Residency program have reported a 5.1 percent average turnover rate within the first year and 11.2 percent in the first 24 months.

Since few hospitals can stand to lose new nurses, considering the national shortage of such professionals, this program can stand to greatly help the industry.

Labels: Healthcare Jobs

The demand for individuals to fill healthcare jobs across the nation continues to increase for a variety of reasons. The usual include a growing and aging population and shortage of properly trained individual, but a new one has recently arisen. If new legislation is passed there will be an increase in the number of healthcare job for registered nurses in public schools.

HR 6201 was introduced by Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, a Democrat of New York, and is cosponsored by Rep Lois Capps, a Californian Democrat. If passed, the new bill will provide grant money to employ the larger number of nurses.

The bill, if passed, will amend the Public Health Service Act of 2008. This will provide grants through the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in order to provide new nurses for school districts that currently have fewer than one nurse per 1,000 public school students. This piece of legislation has been referred to the House committee on Energy and Commerce.

“For many children, contact with a school nurse is often the only consistent access to a healthcare professional available, especially for preventative care,” wrote McCarthy in a letter to other lawmakers.

“Currently more than 50 percent of public schools in the U.S. do not have a full-time registered nurse,” she went on to state, “despite their demonstrated role in facilitating learning as they handle students’ increasing complex health issues--from asthma to food allergies, obesity, vision deficiencies, prescription medications, and mental and behavioral problems.”

McCarthy, who has been a RN for 30 years, knows this from experience. Cosponsor Capps was a nurse and educator in health for over 20 years in Santa Barbara schools and successfully sponsored the Nurse Reinvestment Act.

Labels: Healthcare Jobs

A shortage of properly trained individuals means that there will continue to be plenty of healthcare jobs for new doctors. According to a recent report released by Merritt, Hawkins & Associates, which is a national physician recruiting firm based in Irving, Texas and part of AMN Healthcare, over 90 percent of physicians receive ten or more job offers during the course of their training.

The report also found that 80 percent of these individuals receive two dozen or more job offers. The firm asked 290 physicians who were in the last year of their training to figure out how many had been contacted by recruiters.

“Like blue chip athletes, new doctors are the subject of intense recruiting efforts,” said president of Merritt, Hawkins & Associates Mark Smith. “There are simply not enough physicians coming out of training to fill all the available openings.”

The survey found that 94 percent of the participants received 10 or more offers, while 80 percent were contacted by 26 or more different employers or recruiters. Of these, 40 percent said that they had 50 separate job offers, while six percent had more than 100 employers who wanted them to join their staff.

Smith says that a national shortage of doctors is likely the reason that doctors are receiving this many job offers. Over the last 20 years, the number of individuals being trained as doctors has remained basically flat. Since the population has grown in this time and the percentage of individuals that are elderly in the country has increased, this is a particular problem. The demand for doctors and others with a variety of healthcare jobs has rise while the supply is still limited.

Although the current job market is in favor of doctors, some are unhappy with their professional choices, Smith says. The survey asked participants if they would have studied medicine if they were able to go back and start over again or if they would have chosen a different career and found that 18 percent, or almost one out of five, would have pick a different field. The majority, 82 percent, said they would have made the same decision.

“Many doctors today are unhappy with how medicine is being regulated and reimbursed,” Smith concluded from the results. “Even new doctors are not immune to disillusionment.”

The survey also looked into where doctors are deciding to work and found out that news is not good for small town medical facilities. Only four percent of participants reported that they would prefer to take a job in a community with fewer than 25,000 residents. Most of those survey, 64 percent, hoped to practice medicine in area with a population of 100,000 or more.

Interestingly, only 1 percent of participants said that they liked the idea of a solo practice. The largest portion, 61 percent, wanted to be employed by medical groups or hospitals.

“The days of new doctors hanging out a shingle in solo practice are over,” said Smith. “Most new doctors want to focus on seeing patients, not on running a medical practice.”

Labels: Healthcare Jobs

Despite a number of highly publicized layoffs in June, the employment outlook for a variety of Medical Jobs seems to be looking brighter. In July Medzilla.com, a career website that specializes in healthcare employment, reported a gain of 33,000 new jobs. Of the new jobs posted, 21,000 were in ambulatory health care and 10,000 were announcements for positions in various hospitals. After June’s mass layoffs, this refreshing news has many breathing as sigh of relief.

One of the areas that seemed to take a drastic hit during the middle of the summer was the pharmaceutical industry. Despite a more positive outlook for medical jobs, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer and Schering-Plough all announced that they still planned to reduce the number of individuals they employed.

Layoffs may not seem like good news, but in a portion of healthcare that is often riddled with job losses, the news that no company announced that they would be letting go of more than 500 employees is seen as a move in the right direction. Many experts believe this maybe a sign that the pharmaceutical industry is stabilizing.

“Last month had the smallest number of layoffs in biotech and pharmaceuticals that I’ve seen in quite some time,” said MedZilla’s director of Marketing Michele Hopps. “The numbers for June and July have been promising, the time to reach for that next great jobs is around the corner.”
With an increase in medical jobs being posted online and a decreasing number of layoffs in pharmaceuticals, those searching for employment in healthcare have better chances of finding a job in the current economy than most. New talent seemed to be in particularly high demand in hospitals.

Massachusetts, where job announcements increased by 2.6 percent, had the greatest number of positions posted online. California also saw a significant increase. Employers there posted a full percent more jobs than they had in previous months.

For the most part, jobs announced online in July were for primary care professionals. Other areas that remained strong included positions for educator and business development. There was also a 3.5 percent increase in the number of sales positions posted in the medical field, which some believe is another positive sign that the pharmaceutical industry is on its way back up.

Labels: Healthcare Jobs, Medical Jobs

Although many parts of the economy are slowing down and many industries are cutting employees, more healthcare jobs are being added.

Although the national unemployment rate jumped to 5.7 percent in July, according to the United States Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics, the healthcare industry added 33,000 jobs. The industry added 34,000 jobs in June, while most other industries showed a decrease in employment.

Of the jobs added in July, about 10,000 were in hospitals and 21,000 were in ambulatory healthcare or outpatient medical office-based jobs. Since July 2007, the healthcare industry has added a total of 368,000 jobs nationwide.

Healthcare was the largest industry in 2006, employing 14 million people, and 7 of the 20 fastest growing occupations are healthcare related. Healthcare is expected to generate 3 million new wage and salary jobs through 2016, more than any other industry, according to an article by the BLS.

About 580,000 establishments make up the healthcare industry, varying greatly in terms of size, staffing and organizational structure. Of healthcare establishments, 77 percent are offices of physicians, dentists or other health practitioners. Although hospitals make up only 1 percent of all healthcare establishments, they employe 35 percent of all healthcare workers.

"The health care industry includes establishments ranging from small-town private practices of physicians who employ only one medical assistant to busy inner-city hospitals that provide thousands of diverse jobs," the article notes. "In 2006, almost half of non-hospital health care establishments employed fewer than five workers. By contrast, 7 out of 10 hospital employees were in establishments with more than 1,000 workers."

The healthcare industry consists of nine segments, including: hospitals, nursing and residential care facilities, offices of physicians, offices of dentists, home health care services, offices of other health practitioners, outpatient care centers, other ambulatory healthcare services and medical and diagnostic laboratories.

Labels: Healthcare Jobs

With the economy on shaky grounds, one of the best traits that a career can provide is job security. This is one of the most enticing aspects of jobs in healthcare. The increasing age and size of the population means that many medical facilities have to regularly make additions to their staffs.

The fact that many in the industry are nearing the age of retirement and there is a limited number of individuals being trained to take their place has caused a shortage workers. When a shortage occurs, jobseekers stand to gain because employers become competitive for talent and new opportunities arise.

One new option for those who are seeking jobs is healthcare are travel positions. This is particularly popular for nurses. With a shortage of workers effecting many medical facilities, employers are now hiring temporary help to maintain standards of care until a more permanent option can be found. Those who have travel jobs in healthcare take on assignments that last anywhere from a few weeks to a year. These individuals may work only at hospitals within a certain distance or they have the opportunity to take on assignments anywhere in the country. Jobs in healthcare of this nature often come with higher wages and paid housing.

Those that would enjoy traveling and have experience in the industry often use the internet as a resource to find out about new opportunities. One company, Onward Healthcare, which provides healthcare staffing solutions throughout the country, has recently launched an updated version of its site, www.onwardhealthcare.com.

In hopes of being able to provide better service to those with jobs in healthcare, Onward has conducted numerous usability test. The results are an upgraded navigational structure, a clearer design, and improved search capabilities. New features include a news and resource section, featured jobs RSS feeds, and a traveler photo gallery. Users are also able to apply for jobs in healthcare online via this site, but do not have to do so in order to access the other features of Onward’s website.

“Today’s healthcare professional is in high demand and has numerous choices on the web when searching for a career,” Steve Dobrowski, who is the director of corporate marketing for Onward Healthcare, said in a press release. “Our goal was to provide travel nurse and allied healthcare professionals with a one-top resource that allows them to best maximize their travel experience.”

Those interested in starting this sort of career can find instructional information on the company’s website. Users will also be able to locate information on salary and benefits for those with travel jobs in healthcare.

Labels: Healthcare Jobs