When looking for a hospital to treat your cancer, you should take into consideration multiple factors.
Treating cancers is complex as every cancer is different and may respond differently to treatments. Cancer occurs when normal cells in the body become "abnormal" and begin to replicate in your body without control. An analogy I use with my patients is: cancer is like having unwanted weeds in the garden. If left unchecked, the weeds will overgrow any garden. Not all cancer will result in death, so proper follow-up with your doctor is very important!
Depending on where these cancer cells grow in your body, your symptoms may be minimal or very severe. For example, if new cancer cells grow on your skin, you may not notice any problems until later when the cancer cause abnormal bleeding or non-healing sores. On the other hand, the same amount of cancer cells in the eye can result in significant vision loss or in the brain can result in seizures.
Consider the following when looking for a cancer center for treatments:
Clinical and surgical volume at the cancer center
Reputation
Mortality index (may not be helpful if the cancer center deals with a significant number of rare or advanced cancers)
Nurse to patient ratio (lower the better, that is, one nurse tending to few patients)
Is the hospital a "Nurse Magnet Hospital"?
Is the hospital involved in cancer research?
Is the hospital associated with a University Hospital?
According to the US News and World Report, the following are the top ten cancer hospitals in the U.S.
University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston , TX
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York , NY
Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore , MD
Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Rochester , MN
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston , MA
University of Washington Medical Center, Seattle , WA
Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston , MA
University of California, San Francisco Medical Center, San Francisco , CA
Stanford Hospital and Clinics, Stanford, Palo Alto , CA
Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles , CA
Cancer in the news:
Obesity may be linked to higher rates of ovarian cancer Los Angeles Times, CA - Obesity has long been associated with higher rates of breast cancer, but a recent study has noticed a possible link between excess weight and ovarian cancer ...
Medicare proposes wider cancer scan coverage Reuters - CMS currently allows the scans for cancer patients enrolled in Medicare but requires doctors and patients to enroll in a special registry, ...
What is the average college and medical school debt?
The cost of education is climbing. The average college graduate owes on average $20,000. According to the American Medical Association, the average medical school student owes $140,000.
Are the financial and personal sacrifices worth it? This is something you can only answer yourself after considering your personal and financial goals, your family priorities, and how hard you are willing to work. A financial statistic to consider is that the more you invest in your education, the higher your potential income. According to the 2006 US Census, people who do not graduate from high school make mean incomes of $20,980/year. High school grads make mean incomes of $30,249/year. For college grads, this group receives mean incomes of $57,519/year. Master degree holders demand mean incomes of $70,242/year. The highest mean incomes of $95,359 - $117,386/year were seen in individuals holding professional or doctorate degrees.
Another statistic to consider is an average college debt of $20,000 will result in yearly mean incomes of $57,519/year whereas an average medical student debt of $140,000 will result in yearly mean incomes of $119,000-$299,000 per year.
For medical students with significant debt, consider these resources:
How much doctors make depends on their specialty, practice, and where they work. In general, physicians are the highest paid in the United States and are in the top 5% of earners according to the US Census. In order to make the high salary, doctors make a huge financial investment (e.g., an average of $140,000 in school debt vs. the average debt of $20,000 for college graduates), at least 11 years of schooling and training after high school, and significant personal sacrifices. A medical career is rewarding, and there are benefits unable to be measured by money, such as satisfaction with helping others and job security. I advise students to find a career they love and that money is icing on the cake.
Physicians who do not do surgery make an average of $119,000 - $205,000 per year. In contrast, surgeons make an average of $192,000 - $299,000 per year.
Are the financial and personal sacrifices worth it? This is something you can only answer yourself after considering your personal and financial goals, your family priorities, and how hard you are willing to work. A financial statistic to consider is that the more you invest in your education, the higher your potential income. According to the 2006 US Census, people who do not graduate from high school make mean incomes of $20,980/year. High school grads make mean incomes of $30,249/year. For college grads, this group receives mean incomes of $57,519/year. Master degree holders demand mean incomes of $70,242/year. The highest mean incomes of $95,359 - $117,386/year were seen in individuals holding professional or doctorate degrees.
Another statistic to consider is an average college debt of $20,000 will result in yearly mean incomes of $57,519/year whereas an average medical student debt of $140,000 will result in yearly mean incomes of $119,000-$299,000 per year.
For medical students with significant debt, consider these resources:
How do I market my medical practice on the internet?
The Internet is a powerful tool to reach out to your patients. Utilize the Internet to market your expertise and services. When used effectively, Internet marketing increases your patient referrals, maximizes your return on investment (ROI), and is cost effective.
During medical school, I started an electronic commerce business that generated more than $500,000 in yearly sales on eBay and Internet shopping sites, working just a few hours each day before classes and clinic rotations. As an ophthalmology resident, I co-founded a case report and clinical information Web site (www.eyerounds.org) for the department of ophthalmology at the University of Iowa. This website has received more than 2 million visitors, attracted new patients to the University of Iowa, and offers hundreds of clinical cases and articles about ophthalmology. With more than 10 years of expertise in e-commerce, publishing and Web marketing strategies, I teach internet marketing courses at the American Academy of Ophthalmology Annual Meeting and write articles to help physician practices bolster their marketing efforts.
This article discusses pearls to help you get started in marketing your medical practice on the Internet.
Internet Marketing Pearls
Pearl #1: have a professionally designed website for your practice. Your website is your electronic business card. A professionally designed and graphically pleasing website conveys professionalism, expertise, and value.
Pearl #2: organize your website into basic pages, such as a homepage, frequently asked questions, contact, practice information, and landing pages for specific services. There should be a universal navigation bar to allow access to any web page from every page.
Pearl #3: use Google Adwords to have common search terms lead potential patients to your landing page. Google allows your practice to place your ad in the "sponsored links" areas on news websites, blogs, and on Google search results. You only pay for clicks that bring patients to your landing page. You also set your monthly budget so that you can invest as little as you want or as much as you want for online advertising. If this form of marketing works for you, then increase your monthly budget. The cost-per-click (CPC) depends on the search term and how much your competitors are bidding for the same search term. For instance, the term "LASIK" may cost on average $5.00 per click. If you budget $1000 per month, then you may receive 200 patients to your site. Once you get the patient to your landing page, the page should captivate and encourage patients to request more information. If you recruit one percent of the visitors to your site as new patients, or two patients, then you will more than pay for your $1000 per month investment in Google advertising. With GeoTargeting (a service included in Google Adwords), only internet users in your area will see your ads; thus, this increases your number of potential patients.
Pearl #4: Use advertising on social network sites, like Facebook. Facebook reports 140 million users, and your practice can target ads to specific demographics (e.g., men and women 25-35 years old living in Oregon). Facebook is more affordable than Google with clicks costing less than $1.00 per click.
Pearl #5: the landing page should be divided into two main columns with a professional and graphically pleasing layout. In the left column, consider streaming a professionally produced 30 second video about you, your practice, and your medical service. People prefer watching and listening to a video than reading a sales pitch. In the right column of the landing page, place a form for patients to contact your practice for more information.
Pearl #6: follow-up with all leads. Call the patient and send them a personalized letter. Enclose a brochure and information booklet for reference. The key is to follow-up all leads on the internet with a phone call and personalized letter.
The internet is one of the most cost-effective ways to market your practice. Use it to your advantage.
These occasions may involve alcohol and hangovers if there is too much consumption.
Here are some tips from the National Institutes of Health (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/) on how to reduce your chance of developing a hangover, and how to treat a hangover if you wake up with one.
Hangover Prevention Tips:
Take your time drinking, and pace yourself if the party is long.
Make sure you drink on a full stomach. Eating a full meal before drinking will help to prevent the hangover.
Smaller people experience effects of alcohol consumption greater than larger people, so pace yourself if you're smaller.
Between drinks containing alcohol, drink a glass of water. Alcohol is a diuretic, which increases urination and dehydration. Drinking water will help you drink less alcohol and decrease dehydration associated with alcohol consumption.
Drink in moderation. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism recommends that women have no more than 1 drink per day and men no more than 2 drinks per day. One drink is defined as a 12-ounce bottle of beer, a 4-ounce glass of wine, or a 1 1/2-ounce shot of liquor.
Hangover Management Tips:
Get plenty of rest and sleep. Most hangovers subside within a day.
Keep in mind that in the morning, even if you feel fine after heavy drinking, the residual effects of alcohol will diminish your ability to perform at your best. Eating well will help with your hangover.
Eating soup is good for replacing salt and potassium depleted by drinking alcohol.
Drink fruit juice or eat foods with honey, which contain fructose. There is some evidence that fructose will help your body get rid of the alcohol faster.
Avoid taking any medications for your hangover that can damage the liver, such as drugs containing acetaminophen (e.g., Tylenol). Medications with acetaminophen may cause liver damage when combined with alcohol.
Hangovers in the news:
Hangover Helper: What Works, What Doesn't ABC News - If you drink alcohol, you've probably had a hangover at least once in your life -- the pounding headache, nausea, cotton mouth, exhaustion. ...
A Brief History Of: Hangover Cures TIME - If so, don't worry; you wouldn't be the first person to endure a hangover, and although it may feel like it, you won't be the last. ...
One of the most common New Year's resolutions is smoking cessation. According to the National Cancer Institute, tobacco use is the most common preventable cause of death. About half of the people who don't quit smoking will die of smoking-related problems. Quitting smoking is important for your health and provides many benefits. Soon after you quit, your circulation begins to improve, and your blood pressure starts to return to normal. Your sense of smell and taste return and breathing starts to become easier. In the long term, giving up tobacco can help you live longer. Your risk of getting cancer decreases with each year you stay smoke-free.
Here are some tips from the National Cancer Institute (www.cancer.gov):
Counseling Methods: People who have even a brief counseling session with a health care professional are more likely to quit smoking. The ASK, ADVISE, ASSESS, ASSIST, and ARRANGE model was developed to help health care professionals with their patients who smoke. Using this model, the physician asks the patient about their smoking status at every visit; advises the patient to stop smoking; assesses the patient’s willingness to quit; assists the patient by setting a date to quit smoking, provides self-help materials, and recommends use of nicotine replacement therapy (such as the nicotine patch); and arranges for follow-up visits. Childhood cancer survivors who smoke may be more likely to quit when they take part in peer-counseling smoking cessation programs. In these programs, trained childhood cancer survivors offer support to other childhood cancer survivors who smoke. More people have been able to quit with peer-counseling than with self-help programs. Childhood cancer survivors who smoke can speak with their doctors about peer-counseling programs.
Drug Treatment: Various drug treatments are successful in helping people quit smoking. These include nicotine replacement products such as nicotine gum, the nicotine patch, nicotine nasal spray, nicotine inhalers, and nicotine lozenges. Nonnicotine medications such as bupropion, an antidepressant, and varenicline, a drug that mimics the way nicotine acts in the body, have also been studied and approved as aids to help people quit smoking. People who use drug treatments, no matter which kind, are more likely to be successful in their effort to quit smoking after 6 months and 12 months than those who use a placebo or no replacement at all.
Smoking Reduction: When smokers fail to completely quit smoking, they may still benefit from reducing the number of cigarettes they smoke. The more a person smokes, the higher his risk of developing lung cancer and other smoking-related cancers. Therefore, using medications or other means to smoke less may reduce smoking-related harms. Studies show that smokers who cut back are more likely to stop smoking in the future. However, smoking less should not be seen as a substitute for quitting smoking altogether, and is harmful if the smoker inhales more deeply or smokes more of each cigarette to try to control nicotine cravings. Nicotine replacement products have been shown to help smokers reduce the number of cigarettes smoked, but this effect does not appear to last over a period of years.
Smoking, weight, money top New Year's resolutions MSNBC - Slimming down, stopping smoking and reducing debt almost always top the list of annual New Year's resolutions and, according to some Chattanoogans, ...
Smoking Ban in Oregon Also in Bars Starting in 2009 MSNBC - Oregon joins Washington on the smoking ban and some aren't too lit up about it. "I think they're stepping on our rights, everybody has rights as an American ...
Although the variant was found in members of the genetically homogeneous Old Order Amish community in Pennsylvania, it is carried by about one of every five white Americans, said Yen-Pei Christy Chang, assistant professor of medicine, epidemiology and preventive medicine at the University of Maryland. Chang is a leader of the research group reporting the new finding in the current issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. (Article: US News)
The National Institutes of Health has useful guidelines on how to reduce and control your blood pressure (www.nhlbi.nih.gov). It is important to take steps to keep your blood pressure under control. The treatment goal is blood pressure below 140/90 and lower for people with other conditions, such as diabetes and kidney disease. Adopting healthy lifestyle habits is an effective first step in both preventing and controlling high blood pressure. If lifestyle changes alone are not effective in keeping your pressure controlled, it may be necessary to add blood pressure medications. Other ways to control your blood pressure are:
Following a Healthy Eating Pattern
Reducing Salt and Sodium in Your Diet
Maintaining a Healthy Weight
Being Physically Active
Limiting Alcohol Intake
Quitting Smoking
High blood pressure in the news:
Gene Linked to High Blood Pressure Discovered Washington Post, United States - Dec 29, 2008 HealthDay News) -- Researchers have identified a gene variant that may make people more likely to develop high blood pressure. Although the variant was ...
Hypertension Might Hinder Thinking Washington Post, United States - Dec 15, 2008 (HealthDay News) -- Sudden surges in blood pressure could make seniors with chronic hypertension a little less smart, new research suggests. ...
