Dear friends, good luck to all who are taking the ABR friends including my live-bloggin' friend over at http://radiologygeek.wordpress.com! Awesome post about your first impressions of KY!
Again.. my best wishes, wish of luck, hugs and kisses,
radgirl
please let me know how you'all did!
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Guest Post: Job Outlook for Radiologists During the Recession
Guest Blog Post:
Job Outlook for Radiologists During the Recession
There are some jobs that are seen as recession-proof; no matter how badly the economy is doing, these jobs are always available as they are the ones that satisfy the basic needs of people. Medicine is one such discipline where the layoffs are not going to be as bad as they are in other fields. But even though the International Labor Organization (ILO) predicts that over 20 million jobs, in construction, retail, financial services, and the automobile industry, will be lost in the year 2009, the healthcare industry is expected to do well because the need for skilled and qualified nurses, doctors, therapists, psychologists, medical assistants, and other medical personnel is not going to decrease.
But are radiologists and their jobs secured too? If we look at the radiology field as an extension of medicine, at first glance, we would think that the job prospects for these imaging technicians are good and that they don’t need to worry too much, recession or not. And although the US Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that the employment opportunities for radiologists are expected to grow faster than normal, there are warnings that all is not well in this industry.
Doctors may not be out of a job, but with hospitals facing financial setbacks, they have been forced to reduce the salaries of their staff. Besides this pay cut, radiologists are the ones who are likely to bear the brunt of the cascade effect that the layoffs in other sectors have set off. With people being out of a job or on reduced salaries, they’re not going to see their doctors as often as they did before. And even if they did, they’re not filling out their prescriptions.
While they may take the medicines prescribed, they’re going to forgo scans and other costly imaging procedures, especially if they’re really not necessary at the present and if they’ve lost their insurance and have to pay for the tests themselves. And those with insurance will opt not to cover radiologic procedures in their plan if it means higher deductibles because they’re trying to reduce spending more money than they absolutely have to. And this in turn means that radiologists will have less to do, and will eventually have to face the possibility of a pay cut, or worse, a layoff.
If patients are allowed to choose to have imaging procedures at a later date, they are going to defer, and the ones that are forced to undergo the tests because of their medical circumstances will build up the bad debt in a radiology practice. As hospitals and other healthcare facilities come to terms with this bleak outlook, radiologists can look on the bright side and take up a course related to their job; preferably something in the medical sector that will allow them to continue in the same field until the economy starts looking up. The additional qualification will give them a competitive edge both during the recession and after it.
By-line:
This article is written by Kat Sanders, who regularly blogs on the topic of radiology tech schools at her blog The Heath Tech's Blog. She welcomes your comments and questions at her email address: katsanders25@gmail.com.
Job Outlook for Radiologists During the Recession
There are some jobs that are seen as recession-proof; no matter how badly the economy is doing, these jobs are always available as they are the ones that satisfy the basic needs of people. Medicine is one such discipline where the layoffs are not going to be as bad as they are in other fields. But even though the International Labor Organization (ILO) predicts that over 20 million jobs, in construction, retail, financial services, and the automobile industry, will be lost in the year 2009, the healthcare industry is expected to do well because the need for skilled and qualified nurses, doctors, therapists, psychologists, medical assistants, and other medical personnel is not going to decrease.
But are radiologists and their jobs secured too? If we look at the radiology field as an extension of medicine, at first glance, we would think that the job prospects for these imaging technicians are good and that they don’t need to worry too much, recession or not. And although the US Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that the employment opportunities for radiologists are expected to grow faster than normal, there are warnings that all is not well in this industry.
Doctors may not be out of a job, but with hospitals facing financial setbacks, they have been forced to reduce the salaries of their staff. Besides this pay cut, radiologists are the ones who are likely to bear the brunt of the cascade effect that the layoffs in other sectors have set off. With people being out of a job or on reduced salaries, they’re not going to see their doctors as often as they did before. And even if they did, they’re not filling out their prescriptions.
While they may take the medicines prescribed, they’re going to forgo scans and other costly imaging procedures, especially if they’re really not necessary at the present and if they’ve lost their insurance and have to pay for the tests themselves. And those with insurance will opt not to cover radiologic procedures in their plan if it means higher deductibles because they’re trying to reduce spending more money than they absolutely have to. And this in turn means that radiologists will have less to do, and will eventually have to face the possibility of a pay cut, or worse, a layoff.
If patients are allowed to choose to have imaging procedures at a later date, they are going to defer, and the ones that are forced to undergo the tests because of their medical circumstances will build up the bad debt in a radiology practice. As hospitals and other healthcare facilities come to terms with this bleak outlook, radiologists can look on the bright side and take up a course related to their job; preferably something in the medical sector that will allow them to continue in the same field until the economy starts looking up. The additional qualification will give them a competitive edge both during the recession and after it.
By-line:
This article is written by Kat Sanders, who regularly blogs on the topic of radiology tech schools at her blog The Heath Tech's Blog. She welcomes your comments and questions at her email address: katsanders25@gmail.com.
Twitter Voyeur: See what the world is saying right now
Check this out...
http://search.twitter.com
If you want to see what the whole world is tweeting about...
look up phrases like...
"sleeping" - to see who is sleeping
"good night" - to see who is saying good night
"radiology" - to see who is talking about radiology.. hear our patients calling us nurses and stuff, their opinions about radiologists, and some pretty insightful comments
"auntminnie" - find some news from auntminnie
"radiologist" - see who mentioned us
"MRI" "CT" or your favorite modality! just for kickerz
anyway.. yes, I am still addicted after a few days... please help me stop...
how can I stop?!?!?!? I have to read the Primer or something. I am so going to fail my boards. Oh wait, I should have tweeted that.
http://search.twitter.com
If you want to see what the whole world is tweeting about...
look up phrases like...
"sleeping" - to see who is sleeping
"good night" - to see who is saying good night
"radiology" - to see who is talking about radiology.. hear our patients calling us nurses and stuff, their opinions about radiologists, and some pretty insightful comments
"auntminnie" - find some news from auntminnie
"radiologist" - see who mentioned us
"MRI" "CT" or your favorite modality! just for kickerz
anyway.. yes, I am still addicted after a few days... please help me stop...
how can I stop?!?!?!? I have to read the Primer or something. I am so going to fail my boards. Oh wait, I should have tweeted that.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
My latest non-radiology obsession
Alrighty... my latest web confession. I am totally addicted to reading people's tweets. Well yes I am also going to post more tweets but it is crazy what people say out there. Also there seems to be more of a radiology following--my blogosphere friend, Dr. Dalai is on there! (shout out)
I am not sure how often I will use it, but for now it is a novelty and it seems like everyone is on there. Oprah, blah blah, so I guess I had to try it out.
I encourage you to at least check it out.
I may tweet from anywhere.. the reading room, line at pete's coffee, bathroom, shower, beach you name it... see you on the twittersphere too!
oh yeah, my address on twitter is... http://www.twitter.com/rad_girl
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Pandora! The best thing ever for call!
Has anyone ever heard of Pandora Radio?! It's the best thing ever for the reading room! It is an amazingly cool internet radioplayer, "music genome project" that can basically play you music you like. It is almost scary how it can determine what you like. It has all the top and latest songs too.. and guess what, there is an iPhone version!
As radio-logists, we gotta love this new innovation in online radios. ok, sorry for my bad joke but just wanted to shake you guys up.
Anyway, I encourage all my readers to try it. http://www.pandora.com
xoxo
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Check this out--wow, my blog was featured on the Top 50 Blog List at this site
Check this out--wow, my blog was featured on the Top 50 Blog List at this site:
Suzanne Smith, the webmaster who runs this blog mentions "Deciding on a career path is a journey. By choosing to become a radiologist or sonographer, you’re launching yourself into a lucrative and rewarding career field. Or are you? These blogs by radiologists, sonographers and industry professionals reveal the ups, downs and nitty gritty details that you would want to read before making a huge decision such as a career path. Check out these top 50 blogs and see if diagnostic imaging is in your future." I am along side of other cool websites in radiology like auntminnie, etc!
Top 50 Radiology and Sonography Technician Blogs
Suzanne Smith, the webmaster who runs this blog mentions "Deciding on a career path is a journey. By choosing to become a radiologist or sonographer, you’re launching yourself into a lucrative and rewarding career field. Or are you? These blogs by radiologists, sonographers and industry professionals reveal the ups, downs and nitty gritty details that you would want to read before making a huge decision such as a career path. Check out these top 50 blogs and see if diagnostic imaging is in your future." I am along side of other cool websites in radiology like auntminnie, etc!
Top 50 Radiology and Sonography Technician Blogs
Friday, May 8, 2009
ARRS 2009
I was at the ARRS 2009 and I must say it was simply awesome! Much better than the RSNA. Well I will likely go to RSNA 2009 too though. Gotta go to those parties .. er, I mean gotta go to the refresher courses at RSNA. Anyway, that's it for now.. this was a micro blogpost :) Stay tuned for more on my twitter acccount too... seems like the thing to do these days.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
