Philadelphia, PA (PRWEB) January 7, 2008 — It was once a rarity in this country to find women in medical schools seeking to become physicians, and it was even more unusual to find women who actually practiced medicine after their medical-school training. Now the landscape appears to have changed dramatically. More than 50 percent of college students are female, as are almost 50 percent of the students entering medical school. While such changes have allowed the medical field to progress and become more inclusive in regards to gender, ethnicity, and culture, there are still inequities. Medical schools and workplaces are only now beginning to look at what is needed to address these inequities and bring about systematic changes to support the changing demographics of the doctors of the future.
In the last few generations, medical trainees and practicing physicians learned early in training to expect that anything is possible to achieve; one only had to dream of a goal. We learned that if we attacked our goals with tenacity, good intentions, and a dedicated effort, we’d get our rewards. In many ways, this was true for women who dreamed of a career in medicine, women who just a few generations ago did not have the right to vote and did not have a full career trajectory in medicine. But the same grit and determination that helped us break all kinds of barriers in medical research, surgery, clinical practice, and leadership is not necessarily what it takes now to maintain a well-rounded lifestyle, one that brings satisfaction and fulfillment. Many of the women in medicine in the first few generations have looked back on their amazing firsts and powerful careers and have wondered whether they could have done it differently. We want to have it all. We want great careers, family connections, leisure time, and beautiful and intelligent offspring who will change the world and live out our legacies. We want these things, and we want them now. Although patience and delayed gratification are synonymous with training to become a physician, many of us hold a sense of entitlement and the assumption that all of our hard work in medicine will lead to a fulfilling life soon after training ends.
Looking back on my college and medical school training, I would have loved for someone to utter the word balance to me. Balance is an important concept to seriously consider for our lives as physicians. We frequently hear the phrase work/life balance in training and even in the workplace now, but our first reaction when we hear them is to say, “Yeah, yeah, I’ve got it all under control. No one is going to take advantage of my time, my personal life is in check, and everything is on track. Maybe a massage wouldn’t hurt every now and then, but work/life balance is really for the other guy’s benefit, not mine.” The question is how in the world can we expect a well-balanced life when we just spent the last seven to 10 years of our post adolescent years focused on achievement in medical training? Each area of life requires focus and a good deal of energy and effort for success. Spending hour upon hour poring over books and getting ready to come across as brilliant on rounds the next day will do nothing for your relationship with your family and friends, just as spending the weekend bonding with your family won’t help you pass a qualifying exam the following Monday.
So, take a good look at your work and life choices, analyze and set your goals for the present and the future, and develop a strong mentor network to flesh out contradictions. This formula will help you achieve the full and rewarding life you expect to have at the end of all the hard work and training it takes to get to the beginning a medical career. During this very dynamic time in medicine, you and your generation have the opportunity to redefine what it means to live a successful life as a physician. Making wise choices now will preserve the profession we’ve all come to love as well as preserve the work/life balance that we all need, regardless of who we are. (Read this article in its entirety at www.plptoday.com)
WALTHAM, Mass., Sept. 19 /PRNewswire/ — Millennium Research Group forecasts that growing demand for private health care in India will drive demand for more advanced diagnostic imaging equipment. As a result, the market will experience rapid growth, reaching a value of over $436 million by 2012, according to Millennium Research Group’s Indian Markets for Diagnostic Imaging Systems 2008.
The Indian private health care industry is booming, boasting many modern hospitals and highly skilled physicians. Private health care, which composes over 80% of overall health care spending, is no longer only the domain of India’s wealthy elite. Because the quality of public health care in India has deteriorated due to significant underfunding, the rising middle class have been forced to turn to private institutions rather than use the substandard public medical services provided by the government.
“Demand is being driven by the middle class, and facilities will need to keep up,” says Sana Siddiqui, analyst at Millennium Research Group. “In order to attract these up-and-coming patients, private hospitals will continue to acquire the most advanced imaging systems, driving this market over the next five years”.
The Indian Markets for Diagnostic Imaging Systems 2008 report is part of the Emerging Markets for Diagnostic Imaging Systems global series, which includes Brazil, China, and India. Companies covered in this emerging market series include Siemens Medical Solutions, GE Healthcare, Philips Medical Systems, Allengers Medical Systems, Meditronics, and many more local manufacturers.
About Millennium Research Group
Millennium Research Group (www.MRG.net), a Decision Resources, Inc. company (www.DecisionResources.com), is the global authority on medical technology market intelligence and a leading provider of strategic information to the health care sector. Focused solely on the medical device, pharmaceutical, and biotechnology industries, the company provides its clients with the benefits of its specialized industry expertise through published reports and customized consulting services.
All company, brand, or product names contained in this document may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.
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