(Page 7)

Tax time is around the corner and locum tenens offers a new type of freedom with many benefits to those in the medical field. From schedule flexibility to traveling all over, the possibilities are endless. Accepting temporary contracts through locum tenens also provides an opportunity for supplementing your income.

While locum tenens professionals work with a staffing agency, they are not employees of that agency or the healthcare facilities they work in; they are independent contractors. This brings its own fiscal responsibilities, so we have compiled some tips for being money-smart while working locum tenens jobs.

Set Aside Funds for Taxes

Locum tenens workers are compensated in gross, which means that they are paid in full for the hours they work without any state and federal tax deductions. You are still responsible for paying taxes on your income earned during each contract. Most contract workers and financial advisors suggest that you set aside a portion of each paycheck to account for tax payments. That way, when April 15 rolls around, you won’t be caught off guard with a hefty tax bill. The IRS has a helpful form, IRS Form 1040-ES, that helps you calculate how much you will owe in taxes. 

Pay Estimated Quarterly Taxes

Most state tax agencies and the IRS encourage contract workers to make estimated payments every quarter, which means paying them in April, June, September, and January of the following year. There could even be late fees applied for missing these deadlines. It is also essential to know that contract workers are required to pay self-employment tax. This tax covers social security and medicare, and this payment typically occurs when filing your annual tax return.

Contribute to Retirement Accounts

A great idea to make sure that you have a retirement fund set up. An easy way to make sure that you pay into it is by putting away some money when paying your quarterly taxes. Not only are you helping to set yourself up in the future, but most of these contributions can be considered tax-free, thus lowering your overall taxable income. 

Keep Track of Records While on the Road

Conveniently, locum tenens staffing companies take on the cost of housing and transportation for assignments. While they take care of the basics, you are going to inevitably have some expenses while on contract, including meals. The IRS allows you, as a contract worker, to deduct costs of doing business away from home that are not typically reimbursed (i.e., meals). 

You should be keeping track of your receipts for the purchases made while you’re on contract. Still, you should also maintain a record of healthcare insurance premiums, licensing, and professional services, such as hiring a lawyer or accountant. These can be submitted as deductions, which are typically done with a profit and loss statement in your tax return. 

Dailyfinance.com states that contract workers who claim less than $5,000 in business expenses and who do not report net losses can use the Schedule C-EZ Net Profit From Business form.

Whenever taxes or finances are involved, it is always a good idea to be safe and check in with a tax specialist or a certified financial advisor, to make sure that you are on track.

While a locum tenens lifestyle requires you to assume a more proactive approach to managing finances, it is also true that this lifestyle can provide an impressive return on your investment in it. 

Who are we? MedCare Staffing is a small, veteran-owned, family-oriented team. We start every day with gratitude because we LOVE what we do! We are a team on a mission to make a positive difference in the lives of our clients and providers.

What we do: We place Physicians, Dentists & Advanced Practitioners in Locum Tenens, Contract Positions and Permanent Jobs

To contact MedCare Staffing call 888.474.3380 or visit or website by clicking here!

Outside of South America, the US has the largest Latino population at 17% of the total population. Around 16 million people in the US speak Spanish at home. Most have limited English proficiency, speaking English less than “very well,” with approximately 9 million reporting that they speak English “not at all” or “not well,” according to the Language Data from the American Census Bureau. With this being said, it can often be hard for them to navigate the health care system where communication with doctors and clinicians is crucial. These language barriers can invoke dread in clinicians. That is why having clinicians who can speak Spanish is vital to our health care system.

Many medical schools are moving in the right direction by offering a Spanish curriculum. A study done by JGIM says that around 75% of medical schools either offer or plan to provide a Spanish curriculum for their medical students. Currently, there isn’t a uniform way of testing proficiency in the language, and this can lead to significant deficiencies. Many healthcare facilities are working towards fixing the insufficient testing methods.

One way that healthcare facilities are working towards changing this is by ensuring that they test all of their bilingual speaking professionals yearly. This sort of testing will help to ensure that not only are Spanish speaking professionals certified but that they can communicate effectively with their patients.

Being able to speak to a patient in their native language can mean the difference between receiving quality care and care that fails to meet the standards. This also helps to ensure that not only the patient understands their diagnosis and treatment options, but that their family understands as well. Those who can effectively communicate with their patients in their native tongue could connect with non-English speaking patients in a more meaningful way than they could if they utilized a translator. The importance of being able to speak and understand Spanish also helps to ensure that you can understand your patient’s needs.

Not only can adding another language aid in improving communication and patient care in your current role, but it can also help to expand the scope of opportunities for your career. Bilingual healthcare professionals are in growing command, even in locum tenens positions. Knowing a second language, mainly Spanish, is an invaluable asset today and can help set you apart from the crowd.

If you are fluent and capable in the Spanish language, there are a multitude of locum tenens positions open to you. Working as a Spanish-speaking locum tenens physician can help to expand the number of opportunities and locations that are offered to you. Feel free to contact us here at MedCare Staffing to find a place where your skills will be put to good use!

Who are we? MedCare Staffing is a small, veteran-owned, family-oriented team. We start every day with gratitude because we LOVE what we do! We are a team on a mission to make a positive difference in the lives of our clients and providers.

What we do: We place Physicians, Dentists & Advanced Practitioners in Locum Tenens, Contract Positions and Permanent Jobs

To contact MedCare Staffing call 888.474.3380 or visit or website by clicking here!

When you’re traveling with locum tenens assignments, it can be hard to stay healthy. Simple things like changing your routine, eating new foods, being in a new time zone, can cause your immune system to be lowered.

We all know germs are prevalent in airports and airplanes, but did you know that research suggests that changes in your sleep cycle (i.e., when you are jet-lagged) can throw off your circadian rhythm, which can affect your immune response. The stress of travel also has a significant effect on your immune health, as well. Here are some travel tips to help keep you on top of your game.

Before you go

To help prevent jet lag, you can pick up some melatonin at your local grocery store or pharmacy. The best way to use the melatonin is to take it at a time that you would typically go to bed but in your new time zone. Taking this step can help with getting you accustomed to a new sleep routine as quickly as possible.

Checking the Travelers’ Health section of the Center for Disease Control (CDC) website for travel health warnings, vaccination recommendations, and preventive health tips can help prepare you for what might happen in your new location. 

On your way there

If you suffer from motion sickness, a natural and safe remedy is ginger. You can take ginger powder with water, ginger capsules, ginger root tea, or ginger chews. Ginger, unlike Dramamine, will not make you tired, making it is okay to take at any point.

Antibacterial wipes are a great product to carry with you so that everything you touch is clean. The best way to ensure that you stay clean is to wipe down everything you might contact on a plane, especially the tray table in front of your seat as it does not always get wiped down after every use.

When you arrive

Making sure that you do some sort of exercise after getting off the plane is a sure-fire way to ensure that you get the blood flowing again. Doing this will also help to knock out any sickness you might have caught on the journey.

Vitamin C is crucial to keeping your immune system in tip-top shape and can help ensure that you don’t feel terrible after a long journey. You can drink it in juices, a water-soluble powder or gummies and chews. 

Making sure you are taking care of your health is one way to ensure that your locum tenens assignment is as enjoyable as possible. When you feel healthy, you are able to help your patients do the same. 

Who are we?MedCare Staffing is a small, veteran-owned, family-oriented team. We start every day with gratitude because we LOVE what we do! We are a team on a mission to make a positive difference in the lives of our clients and providers.

What we do: We place Physicians, Advanced Practitioners, Dentists and Pharmacists in Locum Tenens, Contract Positions and Permanent Jobs

To contact MedCare Staffing call 888.474.3380 or visit or website by clicking here!

It can be hard to continue your medical education without the proper tools and resources. When it comes to being a locum tenens physician, it can be hard to find continuing education classes that fit your life. Being in a new location with your locum tenens placement can make finding classes near impossible, but there is a solution. The following five resources can help make sure that you stay on top of your continuing education and the latest medical trends. 

UPMC Physician Resources

UPMC Physician Resources helps to provide access to over 200 courses that cover all aspects of care. The classes they offer cover many specific topics that allow you to explore areas that can benefit your career and your patients. You can move through the courses at your convenience and use the provided reading material to explore those topics even further. After using the free course materials, you have the opportunity to log in and take evaluations to test your knowledge.

American College of Physicians

The American College of Physicians has designed its CME courses to fit your busy schedule. You can log in at any time to earn credits by watching course material, attending live lectures, and going through the online activities. Throughout their courses, they explore how care practices and technology will continue to evolve through a variety of fascinating topics. Their specialized courses give you access to virtual patient modules, various learning tools, and conference recordings.

MyCME

At MyCME, you have access to a wide array of continuing medical education courses that cover all specialties. When you make an account with them, you will gain access to all the courses you need to accelerate your locum tenens career. They provide personalized recommendations on courses, all of which help to keep you informed of industry changes. Their courses also help to give you all the information you need to know about maintaining your licenses in every state.

Mayo Clinic School of Continuous Development

Through their online CME system, the Mayo Clinic wants to make sure that continuing education courses are accessible to all clinicians, physicians, and others working in the medical field. All you have to do is register for courses that pique your interests and work your way through the learning materials at your own pace. When you complete a course, you are not only gaining crucial knowledge but credits as well.

AMA Ed Hub

The AMA Ed Hub platform offers courses in clinical, practice transformation, and professionalism, plus many more. This site grants you access to a vast number of informative courses that explore trends and proven practices across the medical field. You can sign up for an account to test your knowledge and track the credits you earn with the completion of each course. When you sign up for an account, you gain the opportunity to test your knowledge, as well as keep track of the credits you earn by taking the courses. They also help by providing state CME requirements to ensure you comply with all regulations. 

Who are we?MedCare Staffing is a small, veteran-owned, family-oriented team. We start every day with gratitude because we LOVE what we do! We are a team on a mission to make a positive difference in the lives of our clients and providers.

What we do: We place Physicians, Advanced Practitioners, Dentists and Pharmacists in Locum Tenens, Contract Positions and Permanent Jobs

To contact MedCare Staffing call 888.474.3380 or visit or website by clicking here!

It is National Nurse Practitioner Week, and if you are a NP we here at MedCare Staffing would like to thank you for all that you do! National NP Week is celebrated from November 10-16, and is the perfect time to thank a NP for all of their hard work and dedication.

Nurse Practitioners have been helping to provide primary, acute, and specialty health care to patients of all ages for nearly half a century. They can assess patients, make diagnoses, order and interpret diagnostic tests, manage treatment plans, and even prescribe medications. Millions of patients choose to have NPs as their health care provider, with patient visits totaling more than 1 billion annually.

NPs emphasis on the health and well-being of the whole person is what sets them apart from other health care providers. Their focus on disease prevention, health promotion, as well as health education and counseling. NPs have a knack for guiding patients in making smarter health and lifestyle choices, which can help to lower patients’ out-of-pocket health costs.

Nurse Practitioners offer a new outlook inpatient care and relations and have made an impact on those they care for. We thank you for all that you do! If you want to learn more about everything that NPs do visit aanp.org.

We want to thank all of our locum tenens NPs for the work they do in supporting the facilities they work in. You are a vital role in our healthcare system!

Who are we? MedCare Staffing is a small, veteran-owned, family-oriented team. We start every day with gratitude because we LOVE what we do! We are a team on a mission to make a positive difference in the lives of our clients and providers.

What we do: We place Physicians, Advanced Practitioners, Dentists and Pharmacists in Locum Tenens, Contract Positions and Permanent Jobs

To contact MedCare Staffing call 888.474.3380 or visit or website by clicking here!

It’s hard to deny that technology plays an essential role in the medical field. Without technology, we wouldn’t have the advancements that we do now, so what’s next? We have compiled three of the most influential trends to look out for in medical technology for 2020.

Telemedicine

Telemedicine is one of the most extensive growing technologies in the U.S. healthcare system. In a vast country where access to healthcare providers is often limited, and telemedicine is helping to bridge that gap. In urban areas, underserved communities face problems from growing wait times, which have increased from 18.5 days to 24 from 2014, according to a 2017 Survey of Physician Appointment Wait Times. Telemedicine is helping to make it easier for patients to get access to specialists, which helps to improve diagnosing and treatment. The growing availability of electronic records has helped to simplify the forwarding of documents to specialists. In rural areas, this helps to ensure that they have expert care where they otherwise wouldn’t. 

Cloud Computing in Healthcare

A wide variety of private, public, and hybrid cloud-based programs are available now for the sharing of large files. Healthcare organizations are trying to come up with a way to run and maintain efficient infrastructure for growing record-keeping needs. Cloud computing is a very appealing choice for addressing this need. The use of such technology gives both patients and health care providers access to records, and helps to streamline the consultation process. HIPAA compliance tends to become a significant issue in this type of technological environment and causes many organizations to shy away from fully embracing it. This is partially due to the regulations regarding electronic Protected Health Information (ePHI). When using this technology, there needs to be a higher level of security for messages, audio, video, and emails to ensure that they are in full compliance with HIPAA. Using cloud technology requires that every step of the process needs to be judiciously monitored. There are now many providers that specifically cater to organizations with HIPAA compliance needs. This change in the way that data is processed and shared helps to open the door for many more technological advancements in the medical field. 

AR/VR/MR in Healthcare

Virtual and augmented reality solutions have led to significant advances in healthcare technologies. From planning procedures to educating new medical students, the field of VR and AR in healthcare has shown great promise. One of the ways these programs are helping is with patients suffering the after-effects of a stroke by helping to create an environment that is robust enough to help foster motor deficiencies that foster improvement. VR/AR has helped to develop enhanced simulated environments that enable diverse interactions that wouldn’t otherwise be possible during physical therapy. These environments can gather data through advanced monitoring systems that can, in turn, be used by therapists in devising custom care plans. In Connecticut, Maplewood Senior Living has utilized VR headsets to help work with patients that suffer dementia and other cognitive impairments. They are afforded access to activities and experiences that are unavailable to them in their current environment. AR systems help to permit doctors and surgeons to stay grounded in actual procedures while having access to all the data available through other technologies. Medical students have the opportunity to use this technology to train in specific procedures within the security of their classrooms. Healthcare is predicted to become one of the essential influences on the future of AR.

Who are we? MedCare Staffing is a small, veteran-owned, family-oriented team. We start every day with gratitude because we LOVE what we do! We are a team on a mission to make a positive difference in the lives of our clients and providers.

What we do: We place Physicians, Dentists & Advanced Practitioners in Locum Tenens, Contract Positions and Permanent Jobs

To contact MedCare Staffing call 888.474.3380 or visit or website by clicking here!

Burn-out in our medical field is reaching a staggering level. Just think about a health-care system where doctors and nurses are so exhausted they seem zombie-like. This is our new reality. This exhaustion can cause them to be error-prone, apathetic towards patients, and can lead to decreases in their health.

A 312-page report released by the National Academy of Medicine states that this is due in part to how the American medical system functions. The report found around half of the country’s doctors and nurses experience substantial symptoms of burn-out, which can result in increased risks to patients, worker absenteeism and turnover, and potential malpractice claims. These issues can cost the medical industry billions of dollars each year.

“It’s a moral issue, a patient-care issue, and a financial issue,” says Christine K. Cassel, a professor of medicine at the University of California at San Francisco, who also co-chaired the committee of experts that wrote the report.

It can be alarming and tragic that the system is hurting the people who have been put in charge of healing. In the past few years, as the medical community has grown increasingly alarmed over physician burn-out, the proposed solutions have focused primarily on the resilience of the individual physician. “What this report is saying is that this is a systemic problem that requires systemic solutions,” said Cassel. “You can’t just teach doctors meditation, yoga, and self-care. We need big, fundamental changes.”

The committee who researched for the report–which included a team of doctors, nurses, health executives and leaders in neurology, pharmacy, and bioethics– worked over 18 months to wade through the heaps of research on clinician burnout. They discovered that between 35 and 54% of doctors and nurses experience burn-out. The percentage among medical students and residents is as high as 60%.

What are some symptoms of burn-out?

The symptoms of these clinicians who are experiencing burn-out include exhaustion, cynicism, increasing detachment from their patients, and loss of enthusiasm and joy in their work. Burn-out has been linked to higher rates of depression, substance abuse, and suicide. The suicide rate among physicians is one of the highest among all professions and is twice that of the general population. Health-care workers are more prone to burn-out because of the workload, pressure, and chaos that they experience each day. As the country’s health-care system has become increasingly more dysfunctional, the majority of the kick-back falls on these physicians’ shoulders. As a result, they face long hours, bureaucratic hurdles, mounting paperwork, fear of malpractice lawsuits, and insufficient resources. 

The cost of burn-out in the medical field

Burn-out also tends to be very expensive. One study cited by the report found it costs the medical system $4.6 billion a year. Some of this cost comes from doctors reducing the number of hours that they work, quitting their jobs, or leaving the medical field all-together. The effect of doctor burn-out has an estimated $7,600 cost to the medical industry. These numbers don’t include the costs related to malpractice lawsuits, increased medical errors and the doctors that end up covering for those who are burnt-out. The financial incentive behind helping to ease burn-out is imperative because helping to alleviate burn-out will require significant buy-in from insurance companies, federal regulators, medical schools, and the country’s health-care systems.

What can be done to fix the issue?

The report outlined a long list of changes that need to be made to help eliminate burn-out. These changes include:

• Health-care facilities and medical organizations should develop executive-level chief wellness officers. They can then monitor and protect clinicians’ well-being and develop IT programs to reduce repetitive and redundant paperwork.
• Nursing and medical schools should train students to deal with burn-out. Federal and state regulators should identify and eliminate overlapping regulations.
• State medical licensure agencies should find ways for doctors to seek help without having it used against them, such as in malpractice litigation.
• Federal officials should develop a coordinated research agenda to understand the problem and how to alleviate it.

These changes would help to decrease the risks involved with physician burn-out. Giving your doctors and nurses a chance to rest is the most crucial change that needs to happen.

How MedCare Staffing can help

Locum tenens is an excellent solution to this issue as temporary staff can help to alleviate some stress and exhaustion your full-time doctors’ experience. MedCare Staffing can help with that by giving you multiple options for staffing. Contact MedCare Staffing today to discuss any staffing needs with a recruitment specialist. You can also submit a request directly on our website!

Who are we? MedCare Staffing is a small, veteran-owned, family-oriented team. We start every day with gratitude because we LOVE what we do! We are a team on a mission to make a positive difference in the lives of our clients and providers.

What we do: We place Physicians & Advanced Practitioners in Locum Tenens, Contract Positions and Permanent Jobs

To contact MedCare Staffing call 888.474.3380 or visit or website by clicking here!

TED talks are known for showcasing innovations in almost every category you can think of. But did you know that they are a convenient and entertaining way to learn about the newest ideas in the medical world? If not, that’s okay, because we have compiled a list of ten incredible TED talks that are sure to get you thinking.

Alan Russell- The Potential of Regenerative Medicine

Russell discusses how the cost of health care relates to age. What is his solution? Regenerative medicine. This breakthrough way of think about disease and injury uses a process that works by signaling the body to rebuild itself.

Quyen Nguyen- Color-Coded Surgery

Nguyen talks about how surgeons are taught from textbooks that color-code the different types of tissues, but that’s not how they look in real life. She demonstrates how a molecular marker can change things by lighting up a tumor in neon green, helping to show surgeons exactly where to cut.

Daniel Kraft- Medicine’s Future

Kraft’s talk offers a fast-paced look at how information technology is being used to fight some of the biggest healthcare challenges today. The discussion includes a complete overview of some of the technology that is helping to make health care faster, cheaper, and better.

Thulasiraj Ravilla- How Low-Cost Eye Care Can Be World Class

The revolutionary Aravind Eye Care System in India has helped to give sight to millions. Ravilla looks at the approach that drives the treatment costs down and quality up and why its methods should be used to re-think all services.

Eric Topol- The Wireless Future of Medicine

Topol states in his talk that we’ll soon be using our smartphones to monitor everything from vital conditions to chronic conditions. He highlights many of the essential wireless devices that will show up in medicine’s future– all to help to keep more of us out of hospital beds.

Michael Specter- The Danger of Science Denial

Spector discusses everything from “Frankenfood” bans to the herbal craze cure in his talk, stating that all of this is leading to the public’s growing fear, and often denial of science and reason. He warns us that this trend could spell disaster for human progress.

Peter Attia- Is The Obesity Crisis Hiding a Bigger Problem?

When Attia was a young surgeon, he felt contempt for a patient with diabetes. She was overweight, and so he thought, ultimately responsible for the medical issues she was having. Years later, Attia received a medical surprise that led him to wonder: is our understanding of diabetes correct? Could the precursors to diabetes cause obesity, and not the opposite? Attia helps us take a look at how assumptions may be leading us to wage the wrong medical war.

Abraham Verghese- A Doctor’s Touch

Verghese says that modern medicine is in danger of losing one of its most potent tools: human touch. He describes our new medical world as one where patients are seen merely as data-points, and calls for the return to traditional one-on-one physical exams.

Ben Goldacre- What Doctors Don’t Know About the Drugs They Prescribe

When testing a new drug, you would think that all of the results of the trials would be published, but often the negative or inconclusive findings go unreported. This lack of information leaves doctors and researchers in the dark. Goldacre explains in his talk why these unreported instances are especially misleading, and proving to be very dangerous. 

David Agus- A New Strategy in the War on Cancer

Agus says that cancer treatments have a short-sighted focus on individual cells. He suggests an idea, which involves a new, cross-disciplinary approach that uses atypical drugs, protein analysis, and computer modeling to treat and diagnose the whole body.

Want even more Ted Talks? Click here to visit TEDMED now. Happy Ted Talks binging!

Who are we? MedCare Staffing is a small, veteran-owned, family-oriented team. We start every day with gratitude because we LOVE what we do! We are a team on a mission to make a positive difference in the lives of our clients and providers.

What we do: We place Physicians & Advanced Practitioners in Locum Tenens, Contract Positions and Permanent Jobs

To contact MedCare Staffing call 888.474.3380 or visit or website by clicking here!

Urgent Care has grown exponentially ever since the first clinic opened up in the 1970s. You may ask what does locum tenens have to do with Urgent Care? With locum tenens, the opportunity to work at Urgent Care clinics has been simplified, with placement options always available. While these walk-in clinics are not your typical type of primary care setting that most physicians and advanced practitioners know, it offers many significant benefits.

From 2015 to 2018, Urgent Care clinics have seen a growth of 118%. These walk-in clinics handle 89 million patient visits a year, which equates to more than 29% of all primary care visits in the U.S. Add in the new Affordable Care Act, the Urgent Care industry will grow even more. All of those patients need primary care. The best way to combat this growing influx of patients? Expand the opportunities for care. Walk-in clinics offer a solution to the number of patients. It has helped to decrease overcrowding at emergency facilities who often see a large number of patients for non-emergency visits.

The urgent care system helps by simplifying primary care. It allows the opportunity for patients to come in as needed while making sure all their needs can be addressed in one appointment. Urgent Care clinics enable the convenience of walk-in appointments, complete with an evaluation from a licensed medical provider. They include onsite diagnostic testing and discharge pharmaceuticals, making the clinic a one-stop-shop.

With Urgent Care clinics, advanced practitioners and physicians have the option to pick up extra shifts at hours that work best for them. Urgent Care clinics tend to be open for longer hours and weekends, with multiple practitioners being able to work at one time. This rotation helps to make sure that there is a constant rotation of care for clients. If you are looking for a way to supplement your regular hours, urgent care is a perfect opportunity as you have the option of working part-time and on a schedule that best fits you. Locum tenens can help with this as staffing companies like MedCare Staffing are ready to help facilitate the process of picking up urgent care hours.

So what is the next step for those who would like to supplement their income or would like to do this as their primary practice? Or are you a clinic that has a staffing issue because of the growth in Urgent Care? Talk to MedCare Staffing. Our consultants will be able to match you with the perfect provider or a clinic that best suits your needs.

Who are we? MedCare Staffing is a small, veteran-owned, family-oriented team. We start every day with gratitude because we LOVE what we do! We are a team on a mission to make a positive difference in the lives of our clients and providers.

What we do: We place Physicians, Advanced Practitioners and Dentist in Locum Tenens, Contract Positions and Permanent Jobs

To contact MedCare Staffing call 888.474.3380 or visit or website by clicking here!

Smartphones have already shown their worth when it comes to everyday benefits. From GPS to dictionaries in the palm of your hands, various apps have helped to make our lives a little easier. Those in the medical field can benefit from multiple apps as well, they can help with the accuracy, efficacy, and convenience doctors need in their practice. We’ve listed ten apps that can help make the day-to-day go a little smoother.

Medscape

Medscape is a medical reference app that helps physicians stay on top of new things in the medical world. The app offers medical news, drug information, continuing medical education opportunities, and medical calculators. It gives physicians the ability to refer to a wide range of clinical data in one place that allows them to make point-of-care decisions. Some of the things that Medscape has to offer are as follows:

• News reports covering various medical topics
• Access to guidelines, safety and prescription info for around 8,000 drugs
• A tool that helps to identify pills visually
• More than 600 dosing calculators

Epocrates

Epocrates is one of the most used medical apps, with around 50% of doctors in the U.S. using it. The app is known for being reliable, and time-saving that helps to keep you focused on making the best clinical decisions possible. The app allows you to access information regarding prescriptions, herbals, and other supplements, and OTC medications. It also allows you to connect with other doctors through a service called athenaText, which is useful for referrals and consults.

While some of the app’s functions are free, there is an upgrade available that would give you access to great info on diseases, labs, clinical guidelines, etc. The upgrade is for a yearly fee of $174.99.

UpToDate

UpToDate gives you access to a database full of medical topics and information. Search for more than 8,500 different topics, create bookmarks, and retrieve recently reviewed information. Plus, more than 4,000 experts discuss and update these topics frequently. Some of the other perks of the app include:

• Alerts regarding the latest medical news
• Notifications that consider the topics you’ve previously searched for and related information
• The capability to search for medical information in many languages
• Access to more than 10,000 graphics including illustrations, graphics, tables, figures and more
• A drug-interaction checker

Although you can download UpToDate for free, you need a subscription to use it. Subscriptions cost around $490 annually, and you have the option to either purchase it individually or through your organization. They do offer prescriptions at a discounted price for residents and medical students at $195.

DynaMed Plus

DynaMed is a medical reference app providing you with up-to-date, evidence-based information. The content is precise and direct. Medical experts review their data and update it throughout the day. The app offers a simple interface and specific search capabilities. It also provides access to the Micromedex Clinical Knowledge Suite. You can bookmark your favorite articles, take notes, and send emails when you are offline. If you have the subscription through an institution, it’s free. Otherwise, the app will cost $395 a year for physicians and $99 for medical students.

Lexicomp

Lexicomp is a clinical reference app that gives you access to a wide range of knowledge. This app will references information regarding infectious diseases, oral diseases, and toxicology. You can also retrieve information regarding prescription medications and drug interactions, as well as medical dictionaries and calculators. You can build your suite of apps and software for a price that ranges from $175 to $595 per year. If you buy two years upfront, you can usually get the third year for free.

Omnio

Omnio is the next version of Skyscape. Skyscape was one of the earliest medical apps developed a decade ago. When you use Omnio, you can retrieve and customize information, giving you a central location for your most essential resources. The app allows you to do some of the following:

• Identify pills
• Check symptoms
• Determine drug dosing
• Access information from the American Diabetes Association and the National Comprehensive Cancer Network

The app is available for free, but you have the option to add resources such as Davis’ Drug Guide and Labs 360.

Visual DX

Visual DX is an extensive library of more than 32,000 digital images that show variations fo diseases and is shown to be very helpful when diagnosing a rare condition. The photos show a mix of patients of all ages, skin types, and other diagnostics. They cross multiple specialty lines, including dermatology, radiology, pathology, oral medicine, emergency medicine, ophthalmology, and infectious disease. The app offers one free month of service, but an individual subscription will cost around $400 a year. The company also gives you an option to contact them about a group or institutional rate. An additional $99 a year, you can have access to a feature called DermExpert, which helps to analyze skin lesion images that are photographed at the point of care. 

MEDLINE

MEDLINE allows access to some 24 million articles in Pubmed’s database. Try customizing your search with a variety of options and filters and then organize the information. It can display related pieces, which are determined by the citations in the literature that you have previously reviewed. You can also send documentation to your email, download it into Dropbox in multiple formats, or share information on social media. Searches are free, and, depending on publisher, you may or may not need to pay for what you find.

Case

Case gives access to over 18 million articles that cover 81 specialties and simultaneously helps to narrow down your search to find what you’re looking for. You are able to search for more than 100,000 keywords and follow the journals that best suit you. It also helps narrow that search by suggesting articles based on your past searches. The best thing is that this app is entirely free!

Doximity

Doximity is a social networking app for physicians that helps to allow you to network with others and exchange information securely. The app even allows you to send secure faxes that meet HIPPA requirements. Other tools on the app will enable you to participate in continuing medical education. According to Doximity, around 70% of all physicians use the app. The app itself is free, but you need to have a membership to use the app.

Figure 1

Figure 1 is a social networking app that’s only meant for images. You can search through a database of images, make comments, and share photos with other physicians. The app is a perfect fit for doctors who are looking for more information about a rare medical condition or disease. You also can block out sections of an image, for example, a patient’s face, to preserve a patient’s privacy. The app is available for free, and you do not need to sign up for a membership with the app.

With such a wide variety of apps available, there is sure to be one that best fits you and your practice.

Who are we? MedCare Staffing is a small, veteran-owned, family-oriented team. We start every day with gratitude because we LOVE what we do! We are a team on a mission to make a positive difference in the lives of our clients and providers.

What we do: We place Physicians & Advanced Practitioners in Locum Tenens, Contract Positions and Permanent Jobs

To contact MedCare Staffing call 888.474.3380 or visit or website by clicking here!