Medical Social Network News

Friday, August 15, 2014

A Look Inside Healthcare IT Jobs

By Rick Fromme

Nearly anyone who works in or has had to visit a healthcare facility or doctor’s within the past five or ten years has noticed how many practices and facilities have gone almost all-digital.

In fact, recently a friend of mine was telling me about his experience at his new primary care doctor. He remarked how the doctor was typing notes and making entries on his laptop during almost the entire time they were together in the examination room. (His previous doctor and staff had made handwritten notes in an actual paper chart during his office visits.)

One unequivocal fact: Healthcare + IT = a perfect “hit.” Today healthcare provides us more technology than most professions. They use technology to treat, track, record, categorize and communicate with all their patients, vendors, the government and insurance providers. These are just some of the ways IT professionals have taken up residency in the healthcare industry.

Healthcare IT (HIT) uses computerized and digital technology in a wide variety of medical facilities to
increase the efficiency and effectiveness of clinical healthcare for providers and patients. HIT includes many different facets, as its professionals are integral in the implementation of electronic medical records (EMR) and are involved in training, installing, testing, maintaining, and troubleshooting these systems. They’re also involved in networks for digital imaging such as Picture Archiving System (PACS), and may work in other areas throughout the vast gamut of the healthcare and medical science industries. These may include research and development of new products (i.e., robotic surgery equipment/software, advanced diagnostic equipment); information storage and retrieval such as medical billing and coding systems, transcription software, and many other applications; diagnostic and prognostic-facilitating equipment; applications, procedures and devices designed for patient treatment and care, as is the case with some today’s cutting-edge prosthetic devices and other modalities. In fact, HIT is one of the fastest growing specialty areas in IT today.

One fact remains immutable: As the demand for healthcare increases within the next several decades, there will likewise be an ever-increasing demand for HIT services in a multiplicity of medical science and healthcare-related disciplines and facilities.

Due to the variety of programs and roles needed to maintain and operate these numerous areas of
specialization and systems, as well as the many different types of software, hardware, networks, and applications, there will be numerous HIT positions, needs, and certifications.

Becoming a HIT Professional

One way to get a job in HIT is from the clinical side; that is, a clinician that transitions into becoming a HIT specialist. Clinicians who transfer into HIT may come from a profession such as sonography (since they already do most their work on sophisticated digital audio/video platforms), or a nurse, laboratory worker, other allied healthcare specialist, or even a physician. These clinicians may be seeking a new challenge, or looking for different ways to apply their clinical knowledge and experience, or are seeking to transition out of direct patient care. Some HIT subspecialties for former clinicians are nursing informatics, clinical process improvement, and service line analysts. If fact, some hospitals and healthcare employers may provide on-the-job training or sponsor your formal HIT training; that’s certainly worth looking into.

The biggest challenge for clinicians entering HIT is, generally speaking, the IT world-at-large is imbued with a different mindset than that of clinical healthcare. While sometimes portrayed in films and TV as being eccentric “geeks,” in fact the IT culture and operational paradigm is far more rigid than the clinical environment. Most people have seen an IT flowchart. In the IT world, most everything follows a design, and every step should be repeatable. Also, while clinicians usually focus on patients, HIT pros focus on systems, both micro (designing a mobile app that can take one’s blood pressure) and macro (providing comprehensive IT services for major a medical facility and its adjunct facilities and satellite offices). And, as is the case with transitioning to any new field, one must learn new a new vocabulary and terminology; in the world of IT, it’s commonly known as “Geek speak.”

Another route to a successful HIT career is when someone who already has education and professional experience in the IT field applies their expertise in a medical science and/or healthcare-related function. Due to increased competition, it can be more difficult to land a job in HIT if you don’t have any previous healthcare experience. Here’s where doing your due diligence in learning how to ace an interview is paramount. (To better hone your in-person and telephone interview skills, check out our previous blogs: ("Questions to Ask During a Job Interview," "Here's Looking at You, Kid," "Topmost Tips for Terrific Telephony," and "Application Cogitation"). Particularly when IT experts have previously worked for a large organization such as Microsoft, they need to make a paradigm shift in their thinking. When at Microsoft, IT is generally one’s raison d’etre. However, when working for large healthcare provider, Microsoft is oftentimes a support system, not the key focus.

IT professionals need to realize that in healthcare, physicians and other healthcare providers need to work effectively, efficiently, and accurately. If not, the quality and quantity of patient care is at risk. This, in turn, impacts the financial health of the organization at-large. And, similar to the clinician that needs to learn “Geek speak,” depending upon what field of the ever expanding healthcare industry an IT pro enters, they may have to learn medical terminology.

Getting Smart for HIT

Most HIT jobs require a minimum of a bachelor’s degree, preferably in a field related to either healthcare or IT. Advanced degrees such as an MBA, MSN, or MS in an IT or MIS-related field are always helpful. If you’re an IT professional, keep your IT certifications active, such as CISSP, CCNA, and PMP, as these are in demand in HIT.

Likewise, in the clinical field, unless one’s certification didn’t require a bachelor’s degree (i.e., phlebotomist), having a bachelor’s or advanced degree is also advisable. For any clinician, it’s also important to keep their licensure and certifications current, as they’re still preferable for many HIT positions as well.

A valuable resource for those interested in learning more about HIT is the Healthcare Information Management Systems Society. It can provide more information concerning the most rapidly growing HIT jobs, IT jobs, HIT skills in greatest demand, and where to look for the greatest number of HIT job openings.

In this article, I discussed the ever-expanding field of healthcare IT or HIT. I discussed some of the areas and specialties where a HIT professional may work within the vast world of medical science and healthcare. I also discussed ways a healthcare clinician can transition into HIT and conversely, how an IT professional can transition into HIT. If you found this article interesting and useful, please share it with your colleagues and friends. As always, I’m eager to read your comments and questions below.

Rick Fromme combines entrepreneurial enthusiasm with an insider's knowledge of the medical industry to co-found MedMasters.com. Both his drive and perspective helps provide healthcare professionals with a superior mechanism with which to communicate, network and market their strengths. Prior to founding MedMasters.com, Rick operated a highly successful medical device distributorship. Other milestones in his 12-year career in the medical industry include a key position at a medical device start-up company that was later sold to the Ethicon Endo division of Johnson & Johnson. You may also reach Rick by connecting with him on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn and YouTube.

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Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Medical Device Sales: “Fascinating, Captain!” Part 5

By Rick Fromme

Despite some of the challenges many mid- and small-sized medical technology firms have been facing due to the medical-device excise tax, there continues to be robust research and development and FDA approval for exciting, innovative high-tech medical devices. Too, the job market in the medical device sector continues to increase. In fact, reports medcitynews.com:

“Most medical manufacturers actually increased their employee count for the year, according to a new report from EP Vantage. Of the top 15 device makers, only three experienced reductions in headcount – and two of those were simply because the companies spun off their pharmaceutical divisions. The remaining 12 increased their employee bases by six percent.”

That said, here’s this month’s look at some of most recently approved and/or up-and-coming medical devices and technologies from around the world.

Nymi Wristband Uses Your Heartbeat as Your ID

Imagine if your phone, computer, automobile home could recognize you and only unlock when you’re
nearby. How would they know it was you and not someone else? Your heart beat.

Devices running Nymi-associated apps can read the device's signal and react appropriately. For example, a smartphone with a Nymi app could unlock its screen when in range of the wristband's Bluetooth signal. A multiplicity of electronic devices, cars, and even homes with the app could also be configured to unlock, engage and receive respond to other commands when in range of the Nymi device.

The Nymi wristband, created by Toronto-based Bionym Inc., reads a wearer's electrocardiogram, or EKG. The wristband then transmits this specific ID based on the EKG to the wearer's devices.

EKGs are based on a number of factors, including variable measurements such as heart rate and stress. But the Nymi takes advantage of the fact EKGs also evaluate more “permanent” factors, such as an individual’s such as a heart's size, its position in the chest and other electrical signals. All of these characteristics contribute to the unique EKG wave's shape. Just like your fingertip, your heartbeat is unique. The Nymi tells the world who are you, allowing you to securely communicate your indentity to all your favorite devices and environments.

Each time a user puts the Nymi back on, the wristband performs a check to match the EKG with what it has on file from its initial reading. After that, the Nymi merely monitors whether it’s still in contact with the original wearer — it doesn't provide any data about the wearer's heart or other medical functions.

If the Nymi is removed, it will cease its Bluetooth transmissions and won't resume until it verifies that the correct user is wearing it.

Nymi EKG-Authenticating Wristband

New Hand-held Device Improves Melanoma Detection

A new hand-held device that uses lasers and sound waves may change the way doctors treat and diagnose melanoma, according to a team of researchers from Washington University in St. Louis. The instrument is the first that can be used directly on a patient and accurately measure how deep a melanoma tumor extends into the skin, providing valuable information for treatment, diagnosis or prognosis.

The motor, translation stage, ultrasonic transducer, and optical fibers are all incorporated in this handheld probe for easy operation. Credit: Image courtesy of Yong Zhou.

The technique relies on the photoacoustic effect, in which light is converted into vibrations. In the case of the new device, a laser beam shines into the skin at the site of a tumor. Melanin, the skin pigment that's also in tumors, absorbs the light, whose energy is transferred into high-frequency acoustic waves. Unlike light, acoustic waves don't scatter as much when traveling through skin. Tumor cells will produce more melanin than the surrounding healthy skin cells, and as a result, the acoustic waves can be used to map the entire tumor with high resolution.

Initially, this tool will be mainly used for improving how doctors plan and prepare for surgeries. It can measure a tumor's entire volume, something that's never been possible with melanoma. If researchers can determine how the volume relates to cancer outcomes, then this device could give doctors a new type of measurement for diagnosis and prognosis.

Melanoma is the fifth most common cancer type in the U.S. and rate of incidence is rising faster than all other cancers. It's also the deadliest form of skin cancer, causing more than 75% of skin-cancer deaths.

3D Printed Anatomy Marks a New Era for Medical Training

The creators of a unique kit containing anatomical body parts produced by 3D printing say it will

revolutionize medical education and training, especially in countries where cadaver use is problematical.

The “3D Printed Anatomy Series,” developed by experts from Monash University in Australia, is thought to be the first commercially available resource of its kind. The kit contains no human tissue, yet it provides all the major parts of the body required to teach anatomy of the limbs, chest, abdomen, head and neck.

The simple and cost-effective anatomical kit would dramatically improve trainee doctors’ and other health professionals' knowledge and could even contribute to the development of new surgical treatments.The kit, which is set to go on sale later this year, could have particular impact in developing countries where cadavers aren't readily available, or are prohibited for cultural or religious reasons.

Even when cadavers are available, they’re often in short supply, are expensive and, as anyone who has been near them will readily attest, are rather noxious due to the embalming process.

Conversely, the 3D printed series can be produced quickly and easily, and unlike cadavers don’t deteriorate or require special storage facilities and protocols, making it more cost effective.

After scanning real anatomical specimens with either a CT or a surface laser scanner, the body parts are 3D printed either in a plaster-like powder or in plastic, resulting in high resolution, accurate color reproductions.

FDA Approves Attain Performa Quadripolar Lead & Viva Quad CRT-D

The FDA has given Medtronic approval to introduce its Attain Performa Model 4298 quadripolar lead and the Viva Quad XT and Viva Quad S cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillators (CRT-D) in the U.S.

Having four electrodes on a lead allows cardiologists to select from any one of 16 available pacing configurations. Additionally, the short distance between the inner two electrodes provides facilitates fine tuning of CRT-D therapy.

Furthermore, the new quadripolar lead reduces the incidence of phrenic nerve stimulation (PNS), a potential side effect that results in muscle twitching, hiccups or shortness of breath. The Viva Quad XT device is equipped with the proprietary AdaptivCRT feature, which preserves normal heart rhythms and automatically adjusts to patients’ needs to customize therapy. The system includes VectorExpress technology, which reduces lead programming time to two minutes by providing physicians with clinically actionable information to help them select optimal pacing configurations for each patient.

The Attain Performa lead addresses the clinical challenges that can compromise lead position, offering implanting physicians more options to maintain lead position and optimize CRT therapy. The Model 4298 lead has a canted shape, and steroid on all four electrodes for lower pacing thresholds.

Bacterial Robotics Building “BactoBots” Engineered to Destroy Skull-based Tumors

Cincinnati-based Bacterial Robotics is engineering a legion of so-called “bactobots” to do our bidding in the fields of health care, industrial waste management and numerous others.

It just received National Science Foundation funding to further development of a bacterial robot that can be used as a surgical tool. It’s developing an organism that recognizes a certain type of skull-based tumor called a cholesteatoma, which leads often to meningitis, brain abscess and death.

Code-named the Auribot, the engineered bacterium is being developed to augment current skull-based surgical practices.It gives surgeons a consumable product that uses lysis to destroy residual cholesteatoma cells after the primary skull-based surgery is complete.

The synthetic biology company is focused on taking natural genes that allow organisms to complete any given task in a natural setting and move them into task-performing bacteria

These microscopic bacterial robots can work as surgical devices, produce biofuels, clean water supplies, nearly that a bacterium would do.

In this edition of “Fascinating Captain!” I briefly addressed the current growth and job outlook for the medical device industry, even after the implementation of the ACA-mandated excise tax. I highlighted some of the innovative medical devices that have recently received FDA approval and/or that may one day find their way into the ever-expanding medical device marketplace. If you found this article interesting and useful, please share it with your colleagues and friends. As always, I’m eager to read your comments and questions below.

Rick Fromme combines entrepreneurial enthusiasm with an insider's knowledge of the medical industry to co-found MedMasters.com. Both his drive and perspective helps provide health care professionals with a superior mechanism with which to communicate, network and market their strengths. Prior to founding MedMasters.com, Rick operated a highly successful medical device distributorship. Other milestones in his 12-year career in the medical industry include a key position at a medical device start-up company that was later sold to the Ethicon Endo division of Johnson & Johnson. You may also reach Rick by connecting with him on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn and YouTube.

Sunday, August 10, 2014

Health Care Professional Jobs: A Day in the Life of a Healthcare Recruiter

By Rick Fromme

Health care recruiters are responsible for searching for and indentifying qualified candidates for specific job openings in the medical field. Recruiters pre-qualify candidates based on their experience, credentials, education, licensing and assist with coordinating the interview process. Usually the pre-qualification process involves reviewing many CVs and résumés, then following up with phone or web conference interviews to determine the most qualified applicants.

Recruiters may function as a corporate or “in-house” recruiter. That is, they are employed by a health care agency or hospital, and serve primarily to fill internal positions for that given entity. These may be either long-range hiring projects, particularly if searching for top-level positions such as physicians, department managers, administrative executives, etc., or clinical positions such as nurse, physical therapist, occupational therapist, sonographer, etc.

In-house recruiters have varied responsibilities; among them are sourcing candidates and screening

candidates (via telephone, web conferencing, in-person and via email correspondence). A recruiter may also serve as “tour guide” of sorts, introducing the candidate to various clinical and administrative personnel within the facility (and possibly its satellite services), and, as may be the case when fulfilling a physician other top-level position, showing the candidates some of the highlights of the city/area where she or he may be relocating.

Furthermore, once a candidate is chosen and if both parties agree there’s a mutual fit, recruiters may often engage in contract negotiations as it relates to their employer and/or affiliation within the health care network. Here the recruiter is evaluating and balancing two perspectives in that s/he is assessing whether or not a candidate would be a good professional and cultural fit for their organization, but concurrently selling their organization/facility, and even promoting the surrounding community to the candidate as well.

"Recruiters may often engage in contract negotiations ..."

Recruiters may work for an independent recruiting firm or agency. These recruiters typically manage a number of searches for various entities on a third-party or contract basis. The recruiters receive a commission from that particular organization or facility when an ideal candidate is hired.

Recruiters may also work in-house for a health care or locum tenens physician staffing firm. In this scenario, recruiters search for a variety of health care clinicians or physicians who’re interested in being employed by the staffing firm itself. Then they’re contracted out for temporary assignments in a variety health care settings and environments.

Health Care Recruiters Can Post & Find Applicants on MedMasters.com

Typical Work Schedule

A clock with a 24-hour dial. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Many health recruiting jobs require a flexible work schedule that oftentimes exceeds a typical 40-hour work week. Because many health care empolyees have different shifts within a 24/7 work week, some candidates aren’t available for phone or web-based, real-time interviews during typical weekday “office hours.” Also, some candidates’ visits include dinner or luncheon meetings with executives or managers, which were arranged by the recruiter, who’s sometimes expected to attend. Additionally, many in-house medical recruiting positions also require weekend work, entertaining candidates and their families during visits, particularly if it’s a top-level candidate who traveled to the interview from another location.

Job Requirements and Skills

At the very minimum, strong candidates should have bachelor’s degree, preferably in a discipline such as business, business management, human resources, business psychology, etc. Having a clinical background could also be highly advantageous, such as a BSN, especially in terms of understanding the clinical components of the position(s) for which you’re recruiting.

Typically, when hiring health care recruiters, employers seek a candidate that has prior experience or knowledge in the health care industry. As mentioned above, having some type of clinical experience is certainly helpful, but recruiters may also have a solid background in medical sales, or other non-clinical or health care industry experience. If you have a strong track record in recruiting, but in a non-health care-related field, you’ll need to prove you can attain the requisite medical knowledge quickly.

Recruiters must have excellent written and especially strong verbal communication skills, due to the fact they’re frequently on the on the phone conducting interviews and pre-qualifying potential candidates. Attentive listening skills are also critical. Strong presentation and negotiating skills are also important. Recruiters usually spend several hours per day doing administrative work such as posting jobs, searching job boards, reviewing résumés and CVs, conducting background checks, contacting references, emailing candidates, creating travel and meeting itineraries, keeping up candidates’ licensure, credentials, certifications and more. Recruiting also requires the ability to multitask, as they’re often working on several job openings simultaneously.

Since, according to numerous key studies, many health care jobs will be in demand for the next several decades, consequently so is the need for qualified, talented recruiters. Recruiters that focus primarily on higher-level professionals such physicians, medical executives, department managers typically have a long, more in-depth search/recruitment process, but concomitantly earn a higher fee once the candidate is hired (unless you’re salaried employee of a health care facility). Recruiters that primarily focus on health care clinicians and providers (i.e., nurses, allied health personnel such as sonographers, PTs, OTs, etc.) typically can place these candidates faster, although the commission is less.

In particular, physician recruitment emerged as a niche service about 25 years ago and since then,

has become an integral part of health care industry. The need for recruiting services in the 1990s was accelerated by managed care and its emphasis on primary gatekeepers. Whereas once recruiters focused primarily on searching for physicians for second-tier and rural areas that had limited access to residents, today recruitment has become a priority for urban facilities competing for managed care contracts, large medical groups, and corporate systems that often have their own recruitment arms.

There are a handful of large, national recruitment firms. Additionally, there are hundreds of local and regional recruitment companies and thousands of in-house physician recruiters working for hospitals, health networks, practice management companies and HMOs. It’s estimated there are nearly 5,000 physician recruiters throughout the US, more than one for every four final-year medical students.

In this article, I discussed the various types of health care recruitment positions, and provided an overview of their oftentimes highly varied responsibilities (both interpersonal and administrative), preferred educational background and professional skills, job outlook, etc. I also briefly discussed the changes that have recently occurred concerning physician recruitment. If you found this article useful, or have an opinion you’d like to share, please leave a comment below. Also, please feel free to share and repost it.

Rick Fromme combines entrepreneurial enthusiasm with an insider's knowledge of the medical industry to co-found MedMasters.com. Both his drive and perspective help provide health care professionals with a superior mechanism with which to communicate, network and market their strengths. Prior to founding MedMasters.com, Rick operated a highly successful medical device distributorship. Other milestones in his 12-year career in the medical industry include a key position at a medical device start-up company that was later sold to the Ethicon Endo division of Johnson & Johnson. You can also reach Rick by connecting with him on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn and Youtube.

Saturday, August 2, 2014

Humerus R Us, Part Five – Medical Industry Humor

Having Humor Helps Health

By Rick Fromme

A Twisted Family Tradition ~ The Lime Jello Brain (Photo credit: hurleygurley)

In case you haven’t seen this series’ previous four blogs ― Why not? What are you waiting for? ― every month I google the Internet in order to tickle your fancy by sharing medical and health-related humor. The scientific name for the study of laughter and humor is Pfunniesology. No … seriously, it’s Gelotology.

As mentioned before, laughter has been found to:

Lower blood pressure
Increase vascular blood flow and oxygenation of the blood
Stimulate the diaphragm and abdominal, respiratory, facial, leg, and back muscles
Reduce certain stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline
Increase the response of tumor- and disease-killing cells, such as Gamma-interferon and T-cells
Defend against respiratory infections — even reducing the frequency of colds — by immunoglobulin in saliva
Increase memory and learning
Improve alertness, creativity, and memory

I don’t know about you, but to me it seems highly advantageous to imbibe a couple doses of this entertaining elixir every day. Here’s this month’s ’script of “Vitamin H”:

Brian Regan, Optometrist Humor

Doctor Dialogues

A doctor is doing rounds in the hospital and comes to visit a patient who’s had major surgery on both of his hands.
Patient: Doctor, was the surgery a success?
Doctor: Yes, it went very well.
Patient: Does this mean I’ll be able to play piano when the bandages are removed?
Doctor: Absolutely.
Patient: That’s fantastic! I was never able to play the piano before.

Doctor: Well, it’s evident you’ve been poisoned.
Patient: For goodness' sake! , With what, Doc?
Doctor: Don't worry, we'll find that out during dissection.

Doctor: Madam, please prepare your husband for the worst!
Wife: Oh God, will he die?
Doctor: No. He’s not allowed to drink beer.

Dentist: Don’t worry, it will take me only a minute to pull your tooth out.
Patient: And how much will it cost me?
Doctor: One hundred dollars
Patient: For a one minute procedure?!
Doctor: If you prefer, I can be pulling it out for one hour...

Nurse: Doctor, we lost our patient.
Doctor: What happened?
Nurse: He recovered.

Doctor: We need to get these people to a hospital!
Nurse: What is it?
Doctor: It’s a big building full of doctors.

Doctor: Nurse, how is that little boy doing, the one who swallowed ten quarters?
Nurse: No change yet.

Doctor: You’re in good health. You’ll live to be 80.
Patient: But doctor, I’m 80 now.
Doctor: See? What did I tell you?

Nurse: Doctor, there’s an invisible man in the waiting room.
Doctor: Tell him I can’t see him right now. Next.

Patient: My tongue tingles when I touch it to a cracked walnut wrapped in used toaster oven’s aluminum foil. What’s wrong with me?
Doctor: You have far too much free time.

Patient: Doctor, what do you recommend for excessive wind?
Doctor: A kite.

Doctor (to elderly patient): So, what you brought you in here today?
Patient: An ambulance.

ER: Child with a Fever

Punditry

I once heard a joke about amnesia, but I forgot how it goes.

I was arrested after my therapist suggested I take something for my kleptomania.

Deafness is getting to be quite a problem for me lately. I never thought I’d hear myself that.

He had a difficult time bouncing back from his bungee cord accident.

My coach got stung by a bee. The next day she had hives.

The swollen blood vessels in her veins were very quarrelsome ― she had bellicose veins.

For relief during cosmetic surgery they use an aesthetic.

He’s a Freud of psychoanalysis.

Pharmacists find their work to be very encapsulating.

I don’t find health-related puns funny anymore since I started suffering from an irony deficiency.

Use This Handwash Style! (Barnet and Chase Farm Hospitals)

Quips ‘n’ Quotes

“My doctor gave me six months to live, but when I couldn’t pay the bill he gave me six months more.” — Walter Matthau

“She got her looks from her father: He’s a plastic surgeon.” ― Groucho Marx

“The art of medicine is in amusing a patient while nature affects the cure.” ― Voltaire

“’Y O U R F L Y I S O P E N’ would be a fun chart for an eye doctor.” ― Greg Tamblyn

“Have you ever been in therapy? No? You should try it. It’s like a really easy game show where the correct answer to every question is: ‘Because of my mother.’” ― Robin Greenspan

“Nineteen percent of doctors say that they'd be able to give their patients a lethal injection. But they also went on to say that the patient would have to be really, really behind on payments.” ― Jay Leno

“General anesthesia is so weird. You go to sleep in one room, then wake up four hours later in a totally different room. Just like in college.” ― Ross Shafer

“The scrub sink ... is the place where doctors wash their hands after they operate so that they won’t get flecks of your vital organs on their Lexus’ upholstery.” ―Dave Barry

“When I was a kid, my doctor gave me candy so I’d have to see the dentist, who gave me small toys to swallow so I’d have to see the doctor. I think they came up with that one on Wednesday at the country club.” ― Ruminations.com

“My health insurance is cheap, but there are trade-offs. When I wanted to get a colonoscopy, they sent me a chimney sweep.” ― Greg Tamblyn

“The psychiatrist says "I'm OK and You're OK if the check's OK." ― Anonymous

"Always laugh when you can. It is cheap medicine." ― Lord Byron

In this article, I briefly described some of the physiological benefits that Gelotology researchers have found can be attributed to regular "doses" of humor. I shared jokes, quotes, puns, videos and images to tickle your fancy and funny bone. If you liked this article, please pass it around and share it with others. If you'd like to leave a comment, link, joke, etc., please do so in the comments section below. Incidentally, Medmasters has its own social media group that's dedicated to promoting and sharing medical-related humor.

Rick Fromme combines entrepreneurial enthusiasm with an insider's knowledge of the medical industry to co-found MedMasters.com. Both his drive and perspective helps provide health care professionals with a superior mechanism with which to communicate, network and market their strengths. Prior to founding MedMasters.com, Rick operated a highly successful medical device distributorship. Other milestones in his 12-year career in the medical industry include a key position at a medical device start-up company that was later sold to the Ethicon Endo division of Johnson & Johnson. You may also reach Rick by connecting with him on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn and YouTube.

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