Five reasons to consider travel nursing

Wed, 16 Jan 2013 16:49:06 GMT

Travel nursing is becoming a popular choice as more nurses discover this always-interesting, non-traditional approach to their careers.

Instead of working as a full-time staff nurse at one hospital, travel nurses work for hospitals all around the country on a temporary, contract basis. Hospitals employ travel nurses to fill in for nurses who are on maternity leave, to add supplemental staff to a new unit or to a unit in the hospital that is expanding, or to temporarily deal with sudden turnover in a unit.

Travel nurses typically find work through staffing agencies that partner with hospitals around the country.

"Every day we are basically recruiting for our pipeline of nurses," says Alison Radcliffe, recruitment manager at Randstad Healthcare. "There are tons of jobs out there out there. One nurse could have five different options at once."

If you are a nurse looking for a challenging change of pace, here are five reasons to consider travel nursing:

1. Travel. The first reason is obvious -- travel nurses get to explore and discover cities all over the country.

"Some people get bored, and want to keep things spicy," Radcliffe says. "With travel nursing they can be traveling to a different city every three months."

While travel nursing is a permanent career choice for many nurses, some nurses use it as a way to try out different cities and hospitals before settling on a more permanent place to live and work.

"Many times you get an assignment for 13 weeks, and there could be the opportunity to extend the contract, from six months to a year," Radcliffe says.

2. Flexibility. Travel nurses can decide if and when they can take an assignment, and whether they would like to do assignments back-to-back or take breaks in between.

"They have that luxury of thinking 'I'm going to take two weeks off between the next two assignments.' You can plan when you do work and when you don't," Radcliffe says.

3. Great pay. Travel nurses often enjoy higher rates than those of full-time staff nurses.

"The hospitals that we partner with typically offer some higher rates because it's a short-term contract and they're in a bind," Radcliffe says.

Some assignments can also include opportunities for overtime, and travel nurses also enjoy some tax benefits.

"If you maintain a home base, you could qualify for some tax benefits -- deductions for meals, incidentals," Radcliffe says. "With that, in addition to hourly wages, they can take home some great pay."

According to CBSalary.com, the U.S. national average salary for a travel nurse is $66,267.

4. Career growth. Travel nurses enjoy the opportunity to work for specific hospitals and in particular roles that they may not have access to back home, or that may otherwise take several years to cultivate in a traditional staff nurse position.

"As a travel nurse you can get into some of these well-known facilities and teaching facilities that you might not have a chance to be able to otherwise," Radcliffe says.

5. Professional development. Working in different hospitals all over the country can also provide a great learning experience.

"It just makes you a well-rounded nurse, and eventually your resume looks great," Radcliffe says. "You've been exposed to so many procedures, so many types of patients."

But, travel nurses do need to be experienced to get their foot in the door with an agency like Randstad, which typically requires at least one year of clinical experience.

"We want [nurses] to feel comfortable from a clinical standpoint, because when you're a travel nurse, your orientation is pretty minimal. If your contract is 13 weeks, orientation is usually one week," Radcliffe says. "They expect you to hit the ground running."

Q&A with a PT regional director

MiracleWorkers — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 16:36:09 GMT

Dan Baughan is a physical therapist and senior regional director for ATI, a physical therapy company with clinics in several U.S. states.

CareerBuilder: How would you describe your job to someone you just met?

Dan Baughan: I'm what is called a senior regional director. I oversee the clinical operations for about 15 clinics. I stopped treating patients about a year and a half ago, but up until that point I was treating full time.

CB: What do you think is the most rewarding aspect of working in physical therapy?

DB: Obviously the biggest part from a reward standpoint is being able to change people's lives and qualities of their lives, to help them get back to doing a particular activity or job or sport. You feel like you made a difference in people's lives, and that's a pretty cool feeling. The situation I'm in now, because I oversee how the company has expanded, there's a pride that comes in delivering that service to communities that didn't have it before.

CB: What are some of the challenges of working in physical therapy?

DB: Challenges from a physical therapist standpoint would be time management and organization. The outpatient setting is a lot different from the inpatient or rehab setting, because you have to see multiple people at a time. You have to be able to multitask and keep your thoughts organized. And you have to be able to deliver a message to patients that can make them believe you have the skills to make them better. If you don't exude confidence, then that particular patient won't have confidence in themselves getting better. There are a lot of personal skills involved that they don't necessarily teach you.

CB: What do you look for when hiring physical therapists for ATI?

DB: I take a look at the affiliations they have from school. Most schools want you to do affiliations or internships in a variety of settings. We look for how they did in the outpatient setting, where was it, how does it compare to us? And then you're trying to surmise from that information what type of clinical skills they have. Then, through the interviewing process you're trying to

see what kind of personal skills they have, and if they have the customer service skills to provide the type of service we deliver.

CB: What kind of customer service skills do you look for?

DB: The biggest thing that I see is that physical therapists come out of school and think because they have a knowledge base they can just make a person better with the knowledge they have. There is so much more to physical therapy. You're spending time two to three times a week with this person, for about an hour a session. You have to get along and create a rapport with that person. Most people, if they put their mind to it, they can do that. Other people who might have a hard time with that need to be working on those skills as a volunteer prior to going to school.

Two out-of-the-drugstore pharmacy specialties

MiracleWorkers — Fri, 21 Dec 2012 14:58:44 GMT

Most pharmacists can be found in drug stores and pharmacies, working behind the counter dispensing drugs and guidance to patients. But, there is a substantial portion of pharmacists that work outside the retail setting.

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 62 percent of pharmacists work in retail settings, including drug stores, grocery stores and general merchandise stores. Other pharmacists -- like clinical pharmacists and consulting pharmacists -- work in specialized fields that take them out of the traditional drug store.

The job outlook for both these specializations, and for pharmacists in general, is very strong. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the employment of all pharmacists is set to increase by 25 percent through 2020. The bureau points to several factors that will drive this boost in employment, including scientific advances that will lead to new drug products, a growth in the number of people obtaining insurance coverage for medications, and an increasingly aging American population that will need the expertise and guidance of pharmacists.

Because of their roles in direct patient care, clinical and consultant pharmacists -- two pharmacists that work outside the retail setting -- will play large roles in the growing future need for specialized pharmacists.

Clinical pharmacists

What they do: Clinical pharmacists spend most of their time in direct patient care, working in hospitals and other health care settings. Their main role is to work with patients and health care providers to provide information about the effects of prescription drugs, the dosage amounts and potential side effects, and to help plan drug therapy programs. Their job might include going on rounds with doctors and recommending medications to give to patients, or counseling patients on how and when to take their medications. Many clinical pharmacists are also clinical pharmacist researchers. According to the American College of Clinical Pharmacy, these clinical pharmacists generate, disseminate and apply new knowledge in the field of clinical pharmacy.

How to be one: After obtaining their Doctor of Pharmacy degree, people hoping to become clinical pharmacists complete a one- to two-year residency, and become licensed to practice.

Salary: According to CBSalary.com, the average national salary for a clinical pharmacist is $136,594.

Consultant pharmacists

What they do: Consultant pharmacists advise health care facilities or insurance providers on how to make pharmacy services more efficient. They also sometimes work directly with patients, giving pharmacy-related advice, such as helping seniors manage their prescriptions. Consultant pharmacists may also help patients design health plans, fill out insurance paperwork or learn how to use medical devices. According to the American Society of Consultant Pharmacists, these specialized pharmacists originally worked only in nursing homes, and helped improve the use of medications in these facilities. Today, they work in a wide variety of settings, including subacute care and assisted living facilities, psychiatric hospitals, hospice programs and in-home and community-based care.

How to be one: Like pharmacists in general, consultant pharmacists require a Doctor of Pharmacy degree and a license to practice.

Salary: According to CBSalary.com, the average national salary for a consultant pharmacist is $88,157.

The difference between medical coding and medical billing

MiracleWorkers — Fri, 21 Dec 2012 12:34:42 GMT

Medical billing and medical coding are different professions, but they share much in common. Both work on the administrative side of the medical industry and even share many of the same job tasks and skill sets.

"There's a lot of overlap between the two," says Raemarie Jimenez, director of education for the AAPC, a national medical-coding training and certification association. "In order to be a good biller you have to have knowledge in coding, and in order to be a good coder you have to have knowledge in billing. If they do have two separate positions, in some cases an employer might be looking for someone who can do both."

Both jobs fall under the umbrella of medical records and health information technicians, and both are set to experience strong job growth in the future. According to the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment for these professions is expected to increase by 21 percent through the year 2020, as demand for health services grows with an aging population.

Medical coders review medical records and translate the information contained in them, assigning codes to the procedures and diagnoses performed by health practitioners. Using these codes, they create claims to be paid.

Coders verify the work that has been done for a patient by checking a variety of sources, including transcriptions of the doctor's notes, ordered laboratory tests, requested imaging studies and other sources.

Medical billers come into the picture after the coder's work is done.

"[Billers] make sure that the data entered is correct, and are in charge of transmitting the claim," Jimenez says. "Once the claim goes, it gets paid. If not, there's a denial or a rejection. In those cases, the billers will follow up and make sure claims are paid correctly. If there's a problem, they're in charge of fixing it and resubmitting it."

Medical billers might also contact patients regarding billing errors or past due bills. Their job can also involve collecting payments, making adjustments, interpreting explanation of benefits, handling denied claims, and processing appeals.

In many cases, the medical coder and medical biller are the same person. If the jobs are done by separate people, they usually work closely together to make sure all invoices are paid properly.

In terms of training, people interested in medical coding have a variety of programs to choose from, varying in length from a few months to an entire year. Although there are no industry-wide minimum training standards, the AAPC does report that coding professionals strengthen their career prospects by earning bachelor's and master's degrees.

Medical coders and medical billers must have two very important skills: attention to detail and critical thinking.

"A lot of what we do involves reading insurance policies and applying the policies. From a coding perspective and even a biller's perspective, understanding medical terminology -- anatomy and medical terms -- is very important," Jimenez says. "If you don't know what a doctor did, you can't translate that to a code."

And, coders and billers must be willing to adapt to a constantly-changing industry.

"In our industry, things change so frequently that you have to be a good researcher, and always be looking for new information and applying new information. We have code updates every year," Jimenez says. "If you're someone who doesn't like change, this is not for you. But it's a great position for someone who likes to be challenged."

According to CBSalary.com, the average national salary for a medical biller is $23,037, while the average salary for a medical coder is $48,281.

Two Interesting Careers in Alternative Medicine

Marla Caceres — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 11:18:13 GMT

A career in alternative medicine can provide a fulfilling experience for health care professionals looking to practice a non-traditional, holistic approach to medicine.

According to the National Center for Alternative and Complementary Medicine, complementary and alternative medicine -- known as CAM -- is defined as a group of diverse medical and health care systems, practices and products that are not considered part of conventional Western medicine.

The CAM field takes a more holistic approach to patient care. The patient is seen and treated as a whole person, not just a set of symptoms, and a focus is often placed on prevention and the body's natural ability to heal itself.

There are different distinctions within the field of CAM. "Complementary medicine" refers to the use of CAM approaches together with conventional medicine. An example would be if a patient uses acupuncture in addition to usual care to help lessen pain. According to the National Center for Alternative and Complementary Medicine, more Americans use complementary medicine than any other approach within the CAM field.

"Alternative medicine" refers to use of CAM treatments in place of conventional medicine. "Integrative medicine," also sometimes referred to as "integrated medicine," combines treatments from conventional medicine and CAM.

Millions of Americans turn to CAM for their health care needs. According to the 2007 National Health Interview Survey by the National Center for Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 38 percent of adults use some form of complementary and alternative medicine.

If you are interested in a career in complementary and alternative medicine, two popular specializations -- acupuncture and chiropractic -- are a good place to start.

Acupuncture is considered the oldest, most commonly used medical procedure in the world, originating in China more than 3,000 years ago. According to the National Certification Commission of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine, acupuncture is defined as the stimulation of specific points on the body by insertion of very fine, sterile, stainless steel needles to elicit a predictable physiological response. Specialists also use mild electrical stimulation (with or without needles), pressure techniques with the hands (acupressure) or the application of heat by various methods.

Becoming an acupuncturist involves training and, in order to practice in most states, certification. Schools accredited by the Accreditation Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine require at least two years of undergraduate study, such as community college, prior to enrollment. Many schools prefer that applicants have a bachelor's degree in a related field. Programs typically take three years to complete.

Currently, 43 states require acupuncturists to be certified by the National Certification Commission of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine or pass examinations administered by the commission to practice.

According to CBSalary.com, the national average salary for an acupuncturist is $49,869.

Chiropractic care is used most often to treat neuromusculoskeletal complaints, like back pain, neck pain, pain in the joints of the arms or legs and headaches, according to the American Chiropractic Association.

The most common therapeutic procedure performed by doctors of chiropractic -- also known as chiropractors or chiropractic physicians -- is known as "spinal manipulation" or "chiropractic adjustment." The purpose of this procedure is to restore joint mobility by manually applying a controlled force into joints that have become restricted in their movement as a result of a tissue injury.

Educational requirements for doctors of chiropractic are among the most stringent of any of the health care professions, according to the American Chiropractic Association. Applicants to chiropractic colleges are typically required to have a pre-medical undergraduate education. Once in chiropractic college, they train for an additional four to five years, including many hours spent in hands-on clinical training.

Before they are allowed to practice, doctors of chiropractic must pass national board examinations and become state-licensed.

According to CBSalary.com, the national average salary for a chiropractic doctor is $111,675.

Top 5 Most Recent WM Articles

Five reasons to consider travel nursing

Q&A with a PT regional director

Two out-of-the-drugstore pharmacy specialties

The difference between medical coding and medical billing

Two Interesting Careers in Alternative Medicine