Side Gigs Common Among Radiologists and Other Doctors During Pandemic

 

According to a recently published survey by Medscape, roughly 40 percent of radiologists and other physicians have side jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic. These second gigs allow physicians to create an additional income stream or pursue a creative passion project. More than 2,500 United States physicians were surveyed about their jobs, how much they are currently earning, and what they hope to achieve in the future.

Partly due to the COVID-19 income-related loss, more doctors and medical professionals began looking for side gigs. Roughly one in four doctors have a side job in 2021, though the interest in a second job began rising throughout 2020. Nearly 45 percent of those surveyed who picked up a side job during the past year cited pandemic-related hardships.

David I. Beran, DO, emergency physician and writer, said, “I have seen physicians pursue side gigs more and more in recent years. Sometimes they are clinical jobs (moonlighting), sometimes they are not clinical but medical (file review or expert witnessing), and sometimes they are neither (business, investing, real estate, etc.).”

About twice as many men in the medical field have a second job (65 percent) than women (33 percent). Nisha Mehta, MD, a radiologist, founded Physician Side Gigs, a Facebook group with over 80,000 verified physicians interested in pursuing creative ventures or different revenue sources. The group regularly discusses jobs, business skills, financial topics, life in medicine, and physician burnout.

Mehta said, “The data are actually very encouraging when you consider antiquated stereotypes of male and female physicians. To me, it states that despite the challenges that female physicians traditionally face in finding the bandwidth to balance work, family and a side gig … women physicians are finding innovative ways to create fulfillment and flexibility in their careers.”

Between March and May, when the survey was conducted, approximately 75 radiologists were included. Of those, roughly 37 percent said they are working a side job compared to 63 percent who are not. Medical activities such as consulting, expert testimony, chart reviews, and moonlighting are popular alternatives.

Mehta said, “In a healthcare landscape that’s increasingly challenging, the side gig offers physicians an opportunity to do something on their own terms as well as use a different part of their brains. This leads to new skill sets, networks and mental breaks from the stress of their day jobs, all of which can be tremendously fulfilling and ultimately counter burnout.”

Acceletronics is an industry leader in delivering the best equipment performance and service reliability from CT Scanners and Linear Accelerators across all major brands and models. Call 610-524-3300 or visit our website: https://www.acceletronics.com.

 

Written by the digital marketing staff at Creative Programs & Systems: www.cpsmi.com.

Low-Cost Imaging Reporting Can Help Lower Unnecessary Opioid Prescriptions

 

A new report published in the Journal of the American College of Radiology suggests radiologists can help drop unnecessary opioid prescriptions by using a low-cost reporting change.

Healthcare providers on the West Coast have experimented with improving patient care by including pertinent information in their reports. Providers can notate treatment options that do not include pain pills, or opioids, in patient files based on prior cases or experience. For example, patients who visit their provider for lower back pain and show no acute injury (normal wear-and-tear) will have a detailed report written in their file by the radiologist, which will significantly reduce the possibility of physician-prescribed opioids.

Lead author Brian Bresnahan, PhD., from the University of Washington’s Department of Radiology, wrote, “Systematically adding age-based prevalence information on imaging reports would require a low level of resources, including a small amount of personnel time for an IT programmer, a manager, and a radiologist.”

This simple yet effective intervention method has proven effective at decreasing opioid prescriptions. The start-up cost is roughly $5,000, which includes pilot-testing with providers. The costs are made up of small amounts of time from a radiologist (six to 12 hours) and imaging ordering providers (one to 8 hours each). One or two days was all it took to implement and involved a radiology IT specialist, with variability depending on the number of clinics, level of experience in imaging departments, and interconnectivity between sites.

Acceletronics is an industry leader in delivering the best equipment performance and service reliability from CT Scanners and Linear Accelerators across all major brands and models. Call 610-524-3300 or visit our website: https://www.acceletronics.com.

 

Written by the digital marketing staff at Creative Programs & Systems: www.cpsmi.com.