Friday, September 28, 2012

National Guard: Educational Benefits - general outline

Cheap Disposable Medical Supplies: China

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Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Brain Stroke - having one on Live TV -what it looks like

This TV Reporter had a brain stroke on live TV. She had a brain clot, ischemic stroke.
Her words get scrambled because her brain is dying without oxygen inside her head.

Live Stroke on TV: Serne Branson
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=XvkC4t2d9Ok

After stroke surgery interview about the stroke:

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-QTS739cQw&feature=related

Brain Stroke Surgery - Clot busting suction technique

Brain clot removal technique and devices explained (animation):

Solitaire - Guided Cather System
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DQPD5TTS5Y&feature=related

Merci 6 - Guided Cather System
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2TNz-TniIA

Stopping Alzheimers

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/16/health/research/prevention-is-goal-of-alzheimers-drug-trial.html?pagewanted=all&_moc.semityn.www


New Drug Trial Seeks to Stop Alzheimer’s Before It Starts

Todd Heisler/The New York Times
Brain scans of a member of a Colombian family who has Alzheimer’s, which leads to dementia.
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In a clinical trial that could lead to treatments that preventAlzheimer’s, people who are genetically guaranteed to develop the disease — but who do not yet have any symptoms — will for the first time be given a drug intended to stop it, federal officials announced Tuesday.

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Articles in this series are examining the worldwide struggle to find answers about Alzheimer’s disease.
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Experts say the study will be one of the few ever conducted to test prevention treatments for any genetically predestined disease. For Alzheimer’s, the trial is unprecedented, “the first to focus on people who are cognitively normal but at very high risk for Alzheimer’s disease,” said Dr. Francis S. Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health.
Most participants will come from the world’s largest family to experience Alzheimer’s, an extended clan of 5,000 people who live in Medellín, Colombia, and remote mountain villages outside that city. Family members with a specific genetic mutation begin showing cognitive impairment around age 45, and full dementia around age 51, debilitated in their prime working years as their memories fade and the disease quickly assaults their ability to move, eat, speak and communicate.
Three hundred family members will participate in the initial trial. Those with the mutation will be years away from symptoms, some as young as 30.
“Because of this study, we do not feel as alone,” said Gladys Betancur, 39, a family member. Her mother died of Alzheimer’s, three of her siblings already have symptoms, and she had a hysterectomy because of her fears that she has the mutation and would pass it on to her children. “Sometimes we think that life is ending, but now we feel that people are trying to help us.”
The $100 million study will last five years, but sophisticated tests may indicate in two years whether the drug helps delay memory decline or brain changes, said Dr. Eric M. Reiman, executive director of the Banner Alzheimer’s Institute in Phoenix and a study leader.
Alzheimer’s experts not involved in the study said that though only a small percentage of people with Alzheimer’s have the genetic early-onset form that affects the Colombian family, the trial was expected to yield information that could apply to millions of people worldwide who will develop more conventional Alzheimer’s.
“It offers a tremendous opportunity for us to answer a large number of questions, while at the same time offering these people some significant clinical help that otherwise they never would have had,” said Dr. Steven T. DeKosky, an Alzheimer’s researcher who is vice president and dean of the University of Virginia School of Medicine. Dr. DeKosky was part of a large group consulted early on, but is not involved in the study.
Some 5.4 million Americans have Alzheimer’s, and the numbers are expected to swell as the baby boom generation ages. Dr. Reiman’s team is planning a similar trial for people in the United States considered at increased risk for conventional late-onset Alzheimer’s. The study announced Tuesday will include a small number of Americans with gene mutations guaranteed to cause early-onset Alzheimer’s.
The drug trial is part of the federal government’s first national plan to address Alzheimer’s, which was unveiled Tuesday by Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary for health and human services. The government took the unusual step of assigning $50 million from the current year’s N.I.H. budget to research considered too promising to wait, including the Colombia trial and a study on whether inhaled insulin can ease mild cognitive impairment, Dr. Collins said. Another $100 million is proposed for 2013, mostly for research, but also for education, caregiver support and data collection.
Success for the Colombia trial is, of course, no sure thing. Many trials fail, and Alzheimer’s research has so far found no treatment effective for more than several months. But experts say that trying drugs years before symptoms emerge could have greater potential because the brain would not yet be ravaged by the disease. The trial will be financed with $16 million from the National Institutes of Health, $15 million from private donors through the Banner Institute and about $65 million from Genentech, the drug’s American manufacturer.
The drug, Crenezumab, attacks amyloid plaques in the brain. If it can forestall memory or cognitive problems, scientists will know that prevention or delay is possible and appears to lie in targeting amyloid years before dementia develops. Many, but not all, Alzheimer’s researchers believe amyloid is an underlying cause of Alzheimer’s.
In 2010, The New York Times reported on the pervasiveness of dementia in this large Colombian family and scientists’ hopes of testing prevention drugs. But persuading pharmaceutical companies to invest took months. There are scientific and ethical issues involved with giving drugs to people who are healthy and people who live in a developing country, some of whom have little education, paltry incomes and longstanding superstitions about the disease they call La Bobera — the foolishness.
“The first thing I did was to ask myself the question, Are we taking advantage of these folks?” said Richard H. Scheller, Genentech’s executive vice president of research and early development. “The answer was clearly no.”
The risks, he said, are balanced by the fact that if nothing is done, “they’re going to get this terrible, terrible disease for sure.”
The few trials of prevention therapies — involving ginkgo biloba, women’s hormone replacement treatment and anti-inflammatory drugs — have involved people not guaranteed to get the disease. These therapies either failed or caused adverse side effects.
Testing drugs on that kind of population takes “too many healthy volunteers, too much money, and too many years,” Dr. Reiman said.
The Colombian population is ideal because it is large enough to provide solid results, and it is easy to identify whom the disease will strike and when.
Crenezumab was chosen for the Colombia trial partly because it appears to have no negative side effects, unlike other drugs designed to clear amyloid from the brain, said Dr. Francisco Lopera, a Colombian neurologist who has worked with the family for decades and is a leader of the study. Other anti-amyloid treatments have caused edema in the blood vessels, an imbalance of fluid that can have serious consequences.
Crenezumab is currently being given in two clinical trials to people with mild to moderate symptoms of dementia in the United States, Canada and Western Europe to see if it can help reduce cognitive decline or amyloid accumulation, according to Genentech.
In the Colombia study, expected to start early next year, 100 family members with the mutation will receive the drug every two weeks in an injection at a hospital. Another 100 carriers will receive a placebo. And because many people do not want to know if they have the mutation, researchers will include 100 noncarriers in the study; they will receive a placebo.
Researchers have developed a sophisticated battery of five memory and cognitive tests that have been shown in other studies to detect subtle alterations in recall and thinking ability that usually go unnoticed. Dr. Pierre N. Tariot, director of the Banner Institute and a leader of the study, said the measurements would involve recalling words, naming objects, nonverbal reasoning, remembering time and place, and drawing tests involving copying complex figures.
Dr. Tariot said researchers would also assess changes in people’s emotional state, “irritability, sadness, crying, anxiety, impulsivity — these are cardinal features of the disease as it emerges.”
The scientists will take physiological measurements, including PET scans that measure amyloid and how glucose is metabolized in the brain, M.R.I. scans that measure whether the brain is shrinking, and cerebral spinal fluid tests that measure amyloid and tau, a protein in dying brain cells.
If any of these indicators are improved by the drug, Dr. Reiman said, scientists may then be able to treat one of these early physiological changes, just as high blood pressure andcholesterol are treated to prevent heart disease.
In Medellín, Marcela Agudelo, 17, has Alzheimer’s on both sides of her family because her parents are distant cousins. Marcela watched her maternal grandmother die, and her father, 55, once a vibrant livestock trader, has deteriorated so much that he can no longer walk, talk or laugh.
With the research, “we have more hope for a cure,” Marcela said, “or at least a better life.”
Dabrali Jimenez contributed reporting.

Monday, September 24, 2012

How to Stop Hospitals From Killing Us

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444620104578008263334441352.html?mod=WSJ_hp_mostpop_read




How to Stop Hospitals From Killing Us

Medical errors kill enough people to fill four jumbo jets a week. A surgeon with five simple ways to make health care safer.

When there is a plane crash in the U.S., even a minor one, it makes headlines. There is a thorough federal investigation, and the tragedy often yields important lessons for the aviation industry. Pilots and airlines thus learn how to do their jobs more safely.
The world of American medicine is far deadlier: Medical mistakes kill enough people each week to fill four jumbo jets. But these mistakes go largely unnoticed by the world at large, and the medical community rarely learns from them. The same preventable mistakes are made over and over again, and patients are left in the dark about which hospitals have significantly better (or worse) safety records than their peers.
WSJ's Gary Rosen talks to author and surgeon Marty Makary about his ideas for making American hospitals more transparent about their safety records and more accountable for the quality of their care.
As doctors, we swear to do no harm. But on the job we soon absorb another unspoken rule: to overlook the mistakes of our colleagues. The problem is vast. U.S. surgeons operate on the wrong body part as often as 40 times a week. Roughly a quarter of all hospitalized patients will be harmed by a medical error of some kind. If medical errors were a disease, they would be the sixth leading cause of death in America—just behind accidents and ahead of Alzheimer's. The human toll aside, medical errors cost the U.S. health-care system tens of billions a year. Some 20% to 30% of all medications, tests and procedures are unnecessary, according to research done by medical specialists, surveying their own fields. What other industry misses the mark this often?
It does not have to be this way. A new generation of doctors and patients is trying to achieve greater transparency in the health-care system, and new technology makes it more achievable than ever before.
I encountered the disturbing closed-door culture of American medicine on my very first day as a student at one of Harvard Medical School's prestigious affiliated teaching hospitals. Wearing a new white medical coat that was still creased from its packaging, I walked the halls marveling at the portraits of doctors past and present. On rounds that day, members of my resident team repeatedly referred to one well-known surgeon as "Dr. Hodad." I hadn't heard of a surgeon by that name. Finally, I inquired. "Hodad," it turned out, was a nickname. A fellow student whispered: "It stands for Hands of Death and Destruction."
Leonard Mccombe/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images; Photo Illustration/The Wall Street Journal
'Doctors absorb an unspoken rule: to overlook the mistakes of our colleagues.'
Stunned, I soon saw just how scary the works of his hands were. His operating skills were hasty and slipshod, and his patients frequently suffered complications. This was a man who simply should not have been allowed to touch patients. But his bedside manner was impeccable (in fact, I try to emulate it to this day). He was charming. Celebrities requested him for operations. His patients worshiped him. When faced with excessive surgery time and extended hospitalizations, they just chalked up their misfortunes to fate.
Dr. Hodad's popularity was no aberration. As I rotated through other hospitals during my training, I learned that many hospitals have a "Dr. Hodad" somewhere on staff (sometimes more than one). In a business where reputation is everything, doctors who call out other doctors can be targeted. I've seen whistleblowing doctors suddenly assigned to more emergency calls, given fewer resources or simply badmouthed and discredited in retaliation. For me, I knew the ramifications if I sounded the alarm over Dr. Hodad: I'd be called into the hospital chairman's office, a dread scenario if I ever wanted a job. So, as a rookie, I kept my mouth shut. Like the other trainees, I just told myself that my 120-hour weeks were about surviving to become a surgeon one day, not about fixing medicine's culture.

25%

Hospitalized patients who are harmed by medical errors
Source: New England Journal of Medicine
Hospitals as a whole also tend to escape accountability, with excessive complication rates even at institutions that the public trusts as top-notch. Very few hospitals publish statistics on their performance, so how do patients pick one? As an informal exercise throughout my career, I've asked patients how they decided to come to the hospital where I was working (Georgetown, Johns Hopkins, D.C. General Hospital, Harvard and others). Among their answers: "Because you're close to home"; "You guys treated my dad when he died"; "I figured it must be good because you have a helicopter." You wouldn't believe the number of patients who have told me that the deciding factor for them was parking.
There is no reason for patients to remain in the dark like this. Change can start with five relatively simple—but crucial—reforms.
Online Dashboards
Every hospital should have an online informational "dashboard" that includes its rates for infection, readmission (what we call "bounce back"), surgical complications and "never event" errors (mistakes that should never occur, like leaving a surgical sponge inside a patient). The dashboard should also list the hospital's annual volume for each type of surgery that it performs (including the percentage done in a minimally invasive way) and patient satisfaction scores.
A survey of New Yorkers found that approximately 60% look up a restaurant's "performance ratings" before going there. If you won't sit down for a meal before checking Zagat's or Yelp, why shouldn't you be able to do the same thing when your life is at stake?
Nothing makes hospitals shape up more quickly than this kind of public reporting. In 1989, the first year that New York's hospitals were required to report heart-surgery death rates, the death rate by hospital ranged from 1% to 18%—a huge gap. Consumers were finally armed with useful data. They could ask: "Why have a coronary artery bypass graft operation at a place where you have a 1-in-6 chance of dying compared with a hospital with a 1-in-100 chance of dying?"
Instantly, New York heart hospitals with high mortality rates scrambled to improve; death rates declined by 83% in six years. Management at these hospitals finally asked staff what they had to do to make care safer. At some hospitals, the surgeons said they needed anesthesiologists who specialized in heart surgery; at others, nurse practitioners were brought in. At one hospital, the staff reported that a particular surgeon simply wasn't fit to be operating. His mortality rate was so high that it was skewing the hospital's average. Administrators ordered him to stop doing heart surgery. Goodbye, Dr. Hodad.
Safety Culture Scores
Imagine that a surgeon is about to make an incision to remove fluid from a patient's right lung. Suddenly, a nurse breaks the silence. "Wait. Are we doing the right or the left chest? Because it says here left, but that looks like the right side." The surgery was, indeed, supposed to be on the left lung, but an intern had prepped the wrong side. I was that doctor, and that nurse saved us all from making a terrible error. It isn't every hospital where that nurse would have felt confident speaking up—but it's this sort of cultural factor that is so important to safety.

98,000

Annual deaths from medical errors in the U.S.
Source: Institute of Medicine
If anyone knows whether a hospital is safe, it's the people who work there. So my colleagues and I at Johns Hopkins, led by J. Bryan Sexton, administered an anonymous survey of doctors, nurses, technicians and other employees at 60 U.S. hospitals. We found that at one-third of them, most employees believed the teamwork was bad. These aren't hospitals where you or I want to receive care or see our family members receive care. At other hospitals, by contrast, an impressive 99% of the staff reported good teamwork.
These results correlated strongly with infection rates and patient outcomes. Good teamwork meant safer care. The public needs to have access to such information for every hospital in America.
Cameras
It may come as a surprise to patients, but doctors aren't very good at complying with well-established best practices in their fields. One New England Journal of Medicine study found that only half of all care follows evidence-based guidelines when applicable. Fortunately, there is a technology that could work wonders to improve compliance: cameras.
Corbis
You wouldn't believe the number of patients who have told me their deciding factor in choosing a hospital was parking.
Cameras are already being used in health care, but usually no video is made. Reviewing tapes of cardiac catheterizations, arthroscopic surgery and other procedures could be used for peer-based quality improvement. Video would also serve as a more substantive record for future doctors. The notes in a patient's chart are often short, and they can't capture a procedure the way a video can.
Doug Rex of Indiana University—one of the most respected gastroenterologists in the world—decided to use video recording to check the thoroughness of colonoscopies being performed by doctors in his practice. A thorough colonoscopy requires meticulous scrutiny of every nook and cranny of the colon. Doctors tend to rush through them; as a result, many cancers and precancerous polyps are missed and manifest years later—at later stages.
Without telling his partners, Dr. Rex began reviewing videotapes of their procedures, measuring the time and assigning a quality score. After assessing 100 procedures, he announced to his partners that he would be timing and scoring the videos of their future procedures (even though he had already been doing this). Overnight, things changed radically. The average length of the procedures increased by 50%, and the quality scores by 30%. The doctors performed better when they knew someone was checking their work.
The same sort of intervention has been used for hand washing. A few years ago, Long Island's North Shore University Hospital had a dismal compliance rate with hand washing—under 10%. After installing cameras at hand-washing stations, compliance rose to over 90% and stayed there.
Following Dr. Rex's camera study, he did a follow-up, asking patients if they would like a copy of their procedure video. An overwhelming 81% said yes, and 64% were willing to pay for it. Patients are hungry for transparency.
Open Notes
Sue, a young accountant, came to my office complaining of abdominal pain. She wasn't sure what was causing it. She offered various theories: "Could this be from my Bikram yoga?" "Did my late-night ice cream cause the pain?" "Does having unprotected sex have anything to do with it?" Throughout her visit, I took notes. When we were done, she looked down at them suspiciously.
"What did you write about me?" she asked.
She was concerned that I thought she was either nuts or an ice-cream addict. In the course of our conversation, I also learned that she wasn't quite sure why I was recommending an ultrasound, though I thought I had told her.
I decided to start dictating my notes with the patient listening in at the end of his or her visit. "I also have high blood pressure," was a correction one older patient blurted out. Another said, "My prior surgery was actually on the right, not the left side." Another patient interrupted me and said, "No, I said I take 20 milligrams, not 25 milligrams, of Lipitor." Being able to review your doctor's notes in writing might be even better than my method, particularly if you could add your own comments, perhaps via the Web.
Harvard doctor-researchers Jan Walker and Tom Delbanco are using "open notes" at Harvard and Beth Israel Hospital in Boston, and my hometown hospital, Geisinger Medical Center in Pennsylvania, has begun giving patients online access to their doctors' notes. So far, both patients and doctors love it.
No More Gagging
Though there are many signs that health care is moving toward increased transparency, there is also some movement backward. Increasingly, patients checking in to see doctors are being asked to sign a gag order, promising never to say anything negative about their physician online or elsewhere. In addition, if you are the victim of a medical mistake, hospital lawyers will make never speaking publicly about your injury a condition of any settlement.
We need more open dialogue about medical mistakes, not less. It wouldn't be going too far to suggest that these types of gag orders should be banned by law. They are utterly contrary to a patient's right to know and to the concept of learning from our errors.
Political partisans can debate the role of government in fixing health care, but for either public or private approaches to work, transparency is the crucial prerequisite. To make transparency effective, government must play a role in making fair and accurate reports available to the public. In doing so, it will unleash the power of the free market as patients are better able to take charge of their own care. When hospitals have to compete on measures of safety, all of them will improve how they serve their patients.
Transparency can also help to restore the public's trust. Many Americans feel that medicine has become an increasingly secretive, even arrogant, industry. With more transparency—and the accountability that it brings—we can address the cost crisis, deliver safer care and improve how we are seen by the communities we serve. To do no harm going forward, we must be able to learn from the harm we have already done.
—Dr. Makary, a surgeon at Johns Hopkins Hospital and a developer of the surgical checklists adopted by the World Health Organization, is the author of "Unaccountable: What Hospitals Won't Tell You and How Transparency Can Revolutionize Health Care," published this month by Bloomsbury Press.
A version of this article appeared September 22, 2012, on page C1 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: How to StopHospitals From Killing Us.

Cambodia: Garbage People - gutt turning

Garbage Dump People of Phnom Penh, Cambodia

this is gutt turning. Imagine yourself being there and then feel grateful for what you have.

http://peterpham.photoshelter.com/gallery-slideshow/G0000MqdQvuvKUFQ/?start

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

HPSP: GREAT EXACT ANALYSIS AND COMMENTS BY PROS THEMSELVES !! (Health Professional Scholarship - Military)

http://halfmd.wordpress.com/2007/03/23/financial-analysis-of-the-health-professions-scholarship-program/



Financial analysis of the Health Professions Scholarship Program

March 23, 2007 at 5:50 pm (Military medicine)
Each year, military recruiters descend upon medical schools and pre-med fairs with the intention of signing people up for either the Army, Navy, or Air Force.  Their goal is to fill the military with physicians to care for the soldiers in battle.   They will cite patriotism and throw out stories of hero doctors and tell you than you (yes YOU) can be a Hero, MD.  The greatest incentive they have is the Health Professions Scholarship Program.  HPSP will pay for all of your tuition, fees, books, and supplies.  All you have to do in return is serve a commitment of one year in the military for each year you take the scholarship.
The Student Doctor Network has a forum dedicated to military medicine.  Many current and former active duty physicians will attempt to dissuade candidates from joining using a variety of illustrative stories to show that the mil med is overly bureaucratic, promotes ineffective leaders, and punishers free thinkers and whistle blowers. Think Walter Reed, but on a nation-wide scale.  While the posters of SDN have their own reasons for their dissatisfaction with the Defense Department, my goal is to provide a quick and dirty financial comparison of HPSP to the civilian route.  In other words, is the scholarship worth it?
First, let’s see how much the military is paying.  I’ll use my school as an example.
Tuition = $30,000
Health Insurance = $2,500
Books = $1,500
Supplies = $700
Laptop rental = $200
Rounding up, the military is paying about $35,000 directly for my schooling.  I also get $17,000 a year for a stipend.  Over the course of four years, the military will have paid $208,000 for me to go to medical school.  Now let’s do a comparison of different specialties and see how they stack up to HPSP.  For salaries of military doctors, I used the Navy’s Pay Calculator.  For the salaries of civilian residents, I took a rough average of several hospitals’ pay tables for post-graduate medical education.  For the salaries of civilian doctors, I used the information provided by Washington University’s Residency Web.
Let’s start with internal medicine.  I’m going to make a few big assumptions:
  1. No deployments
  2. I used my zip code (a rather expensive area to live) for the Pay Calculator
  3. No inflation or changes in salary for either civilian doctors or military personnel.
  4. No interest rates on student loans.
  5. The military doctor has no prior experience and gets promoted to major after six years in service.
Pay chart for internal medicine, military route
For the civilian doctor, let’s use a similar table. Since I’m going to account for the $208,000 in debt that this person has, I’ve added another column, Wealth after debt.
Pay chart for internal medicine, civilian route
From these tables we see that at the 7 year mark—the point at which the HPSP commitment is over—the military doctor comes out ahead. In fact, even after the ten year mark the military physician has accumulated more wealth.
Now let’s run the same course for a general surgeon:
Pay chart for general surgery, military route
Pay chart for general surgery, civilian route
After just three years in practice, the civilian route wins. If these two surgeons practice medicine for the same amount of time, the military doctor will never catch up.
Now let’s consider a radiologist:
Pay chart for radiology, military route
Pay chart for radiology, civilian route
Here, the civilian route wins out after just 2 years of practice.
Conclusions: the Health Professions Scholarship Program is not a good financial motivator for luring people into the military. Only primary care physicians will see a financial benefit for joining the program. While my assumptions place limitations on the overall accuracy of my calculations, I stand by my initial statement. Worth noting, however, is that the military has no malpractice insurance and that there are lots of benefits such as free healthcare, cheap shopping and entertainment on base, and a tax break of almost $10,000. Also, the federal government has authorized the military to raise the HPSP stipend from $17,000 to $30,000 a year—although no appropriations have been made. In some urban areas, military students are forced to take out loans to make up for the paltry stipend that we graduate students are receiving. By raising the stipend, students will be able to live comfortably without resorting to more loans—something HPSP was supposed to do away with.

40 Comments

  1. Howie said,

    Wow, this is a great article. It’s useful, witty, and insightful.
    I’m a premed-head but I was also in the military for six years (as a medic). A lot of the doctors I worked for were idiots–but there were some that motivated me into becoming a doctor in the first place.
    Because of this blog entry, I’m definitely going to consider HPSP only as a last resort (if I even get the luxury of choosing).
    Bravo Zulu.
  2. halfmd said,

    It was a bad move on my part. I knew that I would make less, but I was sold on the idea that the money would be offset by better lifestyle such as less paperwork, no admin hassles, and easy hours. Boy was I surprised that the opposite was true. And to top it all off, I may not even get into the residency that I want.
  3. Nope said,

    While I commend you for taking hard look at the economics of the program, I’m afraid this is not a realistic way to look at the HPSP. In fact, there is absolutely no way to end up ahead by taking the scholarship.
    The crux of the problem lies in that you won’t pay off the loan in five years. Your analysis assumes that you devote your entire annual salary to repaying the loan. Student loans do not work like that, nor should they. Student loan rates are amongst the lowest in the country; one would want to pay them off as SLOWLY as possible because money deposited elsewhere would grow at a HIGHER rate. This concept is known as leverage: buying higher rates of return with money borrowed at low rates, and is practiced by almost every financial institution and high-net worth individual on the planet.
    In truth, at prevailing rates, a student loan payment is only $1,280 a month. This sounds like a lot when you’re a student, but keep in mind that upon successful completion of a residency, you’ll probably step into job paying between around $12,500 a month to…who knows as a surgeon in a coveted field? Also keep in mind that student loan interest is deductible: without getting too much into the math, you’ll be paying the equivalent of around $800 a month in after-tax dollars. That equates to a maximum of 6.5% of your monthly income. Less than you’d spend on gas in a month.
    Do your homework! If you wanted to learn more, I would suggest looking up the following:
    - time value of money
    - leverage
    and – Student Doctor Network!
  4. NavyDO said,

    It seems as though you have included some of the bonuses such as specialty pay in your calculations, but don’t neglect many of the smaller bonuses and tax benefits such as BAH which can add upwards of $2,000 of tax free income per month. Also, you should consider in your calculations the added benefit in interest reduction you can expect on your loans when the government pays for your medical education up front. Consider if you have $250,000 in debt upon graduation and planned to pay that off over 30 years at the current interest rate of 6.8%. You can expect to pay an additional $336,732 in interest on top of your original debt! Because the HPSP stipend is not enough to cover all costs of living, an HPSP student (like myself) may have around $100,000 in debt upon graduation. Paying this debt off will cost an additional $134,693 in interest over the same time period. Do the math and you’ll find a “hidden” bonus of over $200,000 or more if you decide to pay off your debt sooner. Just some food for thought . . .
  5. AF Doc said,

    As an Air Force Urologist, I concur completely with this assessment. HPSP only makes sense if you want to be a primary care physician. If you want to specialize (especially in a surgical field), you will never catch up with your earnings. Furthermore, depending upon where you are willing to live, many hospitals will pay off your student loans for you when you sign a contract with them. When they’re willing to do this, the benefit of HPSP disappears entirely. Much like the HPSP stipend that has not increased significantly in years, the bonuses that they give physicians have not increased in years, either. I strongly discourage anyone who wants to be a surgeon from taking the HPSP.
  6. halfmd said,

    What disgusts me more than the money issue is the Air Force’s residency fiasco. Since I want to do emergency medicine, I’m setting myself up for a huge disappointment come Match time. While the military will not release any official statistics on the Match, the current thought is that only 1/3 of applicants to emergency medicine programs matched last year, meaning that the odds are definitely stacked against me. There is a very real chance that I might get stuck doing flight medicine—a field that I am not interested in, nor will it pay well. If I could go back in time, I never would have taken the scholarship. All of my friends are considering externships and various places around the country where they can train. Meanwhile, I’m worried that I’ll end up at a barely accredited program and watch my skills atrophy during my payback years.
  7. jeff said,

    well on the SDN forums, apparently you get so much less clinical experience as a surgeon.
    i will be checking out this blog in the future and hope sincerely you dont get posted to flight surgery!
  8. Think said,

    I understand that the money is less in the military vs. civilian world. So it goes. Don’t join the military for the money. Hands down. For that matter, don’t be a doctor for the money. Hands down. If you decide to be a military doc, do it with the knowledge that you are helping the soldiers of the US Armed Forces. Young folks many of whom came “up from nothing” so to speak, and many of whom have paid a price in our current conflict.
    I for one am glad to be a military doc.
  9. AF_Primarycare said,

    I agree with Think. I have 18 years in USAF. I’ve flown low level in F16,B1b’s,c130′s and Navy P3′s. I’ve deployed to jungles, the Balkans, Europe and the deserts;all of which have been highlights. I have been the only doc and I have save lives when there was no attending/consultant or lawyer (for that matter) around. I can’t tell you how good that feels. One of my physician commanders is in the AOR presently by choice. He told me you can loose a lifetime of memories taken up by rounds and meetings,but deployment memories will last a lifetime.
    For those whose life is motivate by money the AF would not be for you, but that is not why I get up in the morning.
  10. Navymedstudent said,

    Student loans are at 7%. Nope is right, during your residency you don’t use much of any of your money towards loans. You should recalculate using those two assumptions. By the end of a 3 year residency, the loan is $255 k, 5 years is $ 291 k. 20 year monthly payments are $1977 and $2256, respectively. Although, with forebearance penalties due to the end of using the debt:income ratio, those amounts will increase. And that $12,500/month civilian (adjusted for the decrease in medicare reimbursements?) gets taxed down to under $9000. Food for thought anyways.
  11. SpouseofaResident said,

    Just wanted to clarify what Nope said. When you are an attending and in repayment of student loans, your interest will not be tax deductible (unless you make below about $140,000 a year and married fililng joingly). If you are in a specialized field and clearing more than $200,000 NONE of your interest you pay is tax deductible. If you do qualify, only interest up to $2500 is calculated. More info at http://www.irs.gov.
  12. ENSNavymedstudent said,

    I agree with what a few of the previous military doctors said. When I talk to my friends about my scholarship and the US Navy I make it clear that if they want loan help, or a free tuition, the Navy is probably not for them. It is called national service, it is not a cake walk. I feel that sailors, air men, and soldiers that are in it solely for the financial benefits should not be in the military. Not to get all high and mighty, and I know I am a student with no military experience besides ODS, but, I knew before I signed my contract and received my commission that although the military would support me financially, I wouldn’t be making the enormous sum of money from the private sector.
    The military is strained for doctors right now, and does try to entice people with bonuses and cash, but if that is all you are thinking about, I would strongly suggest that you do not accept the scholarship and leave the opportunity available for someone who is more concerned with service than necessarily money.
  13. Cthulhu Dreams said,

    What gets me though is why should people who want to join the military get jacked around. If they are going to pay you less, there needs to be other benefits – like better training (the militaries normal shining star) – but it appears he gets screwed there too. You’re trading less professional fulfillment for patriotism, and frankly modern armies are more professional (mercenary) and less patriots (badly paid volunteers).
    Thats not a bad thing, just saying if the operation is to be sustainable long term, you need to offer a complete package.
  14. College said,

    We are proud to add this scholarship “Health Professions Scholarship Program” to our database of scholarships at http://www.freetoapply.com
  15. student said,

    The math here is all wrong.
    You have to include interest at all levels. You have to account for massive tax differences. You have to include the Navy bonuses. When you account for these 3 items, you will find that HPSP is much more attractive. Unfortunately, medical students don’t understand finance very well.
  16. halfmd said,

    I wrote this piece before the military starting offering the signing bonus. The tax difference is the equivalent of about $10,000 in favor for the military. And given that civilian docs will be making more than $10,000 above their military counterparts, the tax difference doesn’t make that much of an impact. You’ve got me on the interest, but even then, several models have demonstrated that military docs will come out behind unless they pursue primary care.
  17. fizzlemed said,

    I can’t tell you how thankful I am I read this post.
  18. Joe said,

    Don’t forget the $95,000 or so you get in stipend money during medical school.
    Half M.D.: I mentioned the stipend above and used it in my calculations. The stipend has, however, raised considerably since I wrote this article.
  19. Wes said,

    Does anyone know anything about the Navy HPSP? I understand you enter an internship and become a GMO after you graduate. What does this mean for you as a primary care physician? What are residency options like and what are you really likely to end up doing?
  20. silvanus said,

    my son is a recent undergrad, i was recommending the HPSP to him. After reading all these comment I am very confused. Someone mention that the training is inferior, is this true. Someone please help me out here with these concerns. 1. He wants to be an orthopedic surgeon. 2. He don’t want to have a huge debt upon graduation. 3. How long after graduation will he be obligated to the military before he can go into civillian practice. Someone please help me out here.
    Half M.D.: Why were you recommending HPSP to him if you have no experience with it? Furthermore, why are you the one writing me and not him? You need to list which branch of service he is interested in; but general, 1. he may not be allowed to do orthopedics and instead be forced into general medical practice or flight medicine. 2. Take the debt and never look back. An orthopod can pay off $200,000 in a few years. 3. There is a year-for-year obligation. If your son takes a four-year scholarship, the payback is four years as an attending. Residency does not count toward the payback.
  21. DecidingWhichPath said,

    Can anyone answer this question for me? Are the calculations above from halfmd inclusive of Insurance Premiums? I am a post graduate student thinking about going back to med school, and am deciding whether or not 1. I want to fund my education rather than take out a loan, 2. practice without malpractice insurance ripping me a new a hole, 3. help out people (of course).
    Of course, as another poster mentioned, I would also love to travel all over and see/help out those who selflessly are giving their lives up for us.
    I have heard that military doctors do not need to pay premiums, and that this usually is a roadblock in paying back student debts. Is this assumption wrong?
    Thanks
    Half M.D.: Those numbers do include malpractice insurance. If you’re taking home $200,000 a year, the roadblock to paying back student loans is poor spending and has little to do with the cost of malpractice.
  22. Mike said,

    These numbers are TOTALLY wrong.
    In all your calculations, you forgot to add interests accruing on your loans, the tax differences in pay, tax-free income in the military (VSP, BAH, BAS). In the military you don’t need malpractice insurance. I’m not a recruiter for the military but based solely on numbers, the military comes out ahead of most specialty except possibly the highest paying ones like opth, derm, ent, radio, plastics, etc.
    I just did simply calculation of the general surgery military vs. civilian pay based on your existing numbers.
    At year 9 of military, you will have earned $870817 minus an average of 27% income tax and you NET $635,696
    At year 9 of civilian, you will have earned $1,200,000 minus an average of 30% tax which is because of higher tax bracket for a net of $840,000.
    $840,000 – $635,696 = $204,304 NET more wealth for a civilian surgeon however your education cost $208,000 + interest so in essence it is a complete wash.
    The calculations above also don’t include HPSP stipend and sign-on bonus etc. But the bottom line is the military option is indeed an equal to better financial total package depending on your specialty and of course, your medical school.
  23. Jambony said,

    these numbers do not include loan interest? That is the biggest part of loan repayment. Has anyone seen a more comprehensive calculation of the two financial paths? thanks.
  24. Military Surgeon said,

    I am a HPSP scholarship winner and military surgeon who is getting out after my 4-year commitment. Accounting for tax-free portions of my pay, I make roughly $160,000 a year. Although, in my last year of commitment I did not take the fall specialty bonus ($36,000) so I could get out at the earliest possible time. Note: To receive all physician bonuses an additional 3 months must be served, taking total service to 4.25 years. In effect, the HPSP is really a 4.25 year time commitment, if you want all the bonuses.
    In regards to the above math, the calculations are not perfect but the conclusions are correct. If you go into primary care you are money ahead, if you’re a surgeon you’re money behind. Roughly, any specialty that makes over $300,000 a year will be money behind (e.g., anesthesia, radiology, cardiology, GI).
    More importantly, you sacrifice choice by taking the military scholarship. The key phrase is “needs of the military” and it comes to bear when you make a career choice, preferred residency choice, choice of fellowship and place of practice. The military does not have to allow you to train in your specific medical area of interest (e.g., orthopedics), may not allow you to pursue a civilian residency (e.g., UCSF internal medicine residency vs. military residency), does not typically allow for fellowship training straight from residency and gives little choice in where you live.
    The scholarship hurts those students who wish to pursue a prestigious civilian residency, because you will probably get chosen for a military residency. I’ve seen this happen with medical students who graduate at the top of their class and are competitive enough to attend top-notch residencies, but are chosen to complete military residencies. It affects medical students pursuing popular residencies that the military only needs a set amount. I’ve seen this happen with medical students desiring ophthalmology, orthopedics, and neurosurgery residencies. They were not granted permission to train in these residencies straight from medical school. So, they either choose a different residency that the military needed, or served as a general medical officer for 2-years and made to reapply to the military residency selection process in hopes of being granted permission to pursue a residency in their chosen career field. The above also holds true for applying for fellowships (e.g., vascular surgery, cardiothoracic surgery). You must understand, once you accept the scholarship you will lose ultimate decision making capacity over your career.
    If you can accept the following: 1. You lose decision making capacity over your career, 2. As surgeons you will be deployed overseas (~20% of my time spent in war zone, 10 of 48 months); 3. DOD/VA disability does not take into account your physician bonuses, therefore if you get hurt you will be compensated at current rank only which may not be enough to support your family, 4. Only one life insurance company currently insures active duty military members (USAA, Max policy $1mill + 400k from military = 1.4 mill total) which may not be enough to support your family, 5. Doctors have been killed-in-action during the current conflicts – Then I would make these recommendations.
    Recommendations:
    1. If you want to serve your country, take the scholarship.
    2. If you know you are going into primary care (e.g., family practice, pediatrics. internal medicine) and know that you do not want to complete a civilian residency – Take the scholarship.
    3. If you know you want to be a surgeon – Don’t take the scholarship. Get into a civilian residency, make sure you don’t want to complete a fellowship, then look into the Military Financial Assistance Program (FAP). In fact, If you’ve attend a state medical school, you might actually be money ahead with the FAP route (vs. HPSP).
  25. Michelle said,

    When reading this, I must remember that it was created by a med student/doctor. So I will keep in mind a lack of business knowledge in my comments. Time value of money is a huge thing here. So are taxes. Some of the pay a military doc gets are tax exempt, like housing and food allowances. That aside, the main thing missing here is the cost of health insurance. All of my husband’s classmates that went the civilian route are paying some if not all of their health insurance as residents. That will continue after graduation from residency.
    My advice to anyone reading this site, listen to what Military Surgeon said. Doctors deploy just like the rest of the military. There are dangers and if that is not something you want to do then don’t take the HPSP scholarship. Also, the military is a way of life, not just a job. While the medical corp is not like the regular military, they still have rules. You have to cut your hair and wear a uniform. I, as a thirtysomething married to someone who spent 8 years enlisted, was not surprised by this. But you would be surprised how many 26 year olds take exception with these simple things. If you are seriously considering this option, talk to a military resident or military doc to find out what it is really like.
    Half M.D.: You know residents that are paying health insurance? Med students do, but residencies cover most—if not all—of the expenses, similar to many other civilian jobs. And yes, the full coverage that the military provides is certainly a plus of working there. I know of one physician who has a child with special needs who has to stay in the military for nothing else than the free healthcare.
  26. Dean said,

    Military Surgeon,
    Can you explain more to me about the FAP program and how it may be a better option than the HPSP?
  27. Kevin said,

    Think makes a very good point. I know all of you didn’t become a doctor for the sole purpose of making money, that would be a poor decision. The amount of studying and work that goes into completing the four years of medical school, passing three medical licensing board examinations, completing 3-9 years of grueling and sleepless residency, passing your specialty licensing boards, continuing medical education, and the rigorous work schedule you will have for the rest of your life wouldn’t be worth it if you didn’t enjoy practicing medicine. (Physicians have the highest suicide rate of all professionals). If money is the main reason you want to practice medicine, I wouldn’t want to work with you.
    The military offers a way to serve your country while receiving some very competitive financial benefits. Just as money shouldn’t drive you to choose medicine as a career, it should not drive you to join the military. It is a very different life style and is demanding in a unique way.
    I would now like to point out some things this site did not include in the calculations and address some fallacies (I will focus on the Navy because that is the branch I am in):
    1. The Navy (I cannot say about other branches) will not force you into a residency you do not want. If you do not get the residency you want, you can do a GMO tour, flight surgery, transitional year, undersea medicine, or defer to civilian residency. As the Navy is getting rid of GMO tours, civilian deferments will be much more common.
    2. As others pointed out, student loans rack up huge amounts of interest.
    3. Investing the positive cash flow you have during medical school means you to EARN interest. Over 7 to 13 years, this can add up.
    4. There is now a $20,000 signing bonus
    5. Monthly stipend payments are $1981 as of July 2009
    6. The tax benefits are about $6000 PER YEAR (Again, consider interest earned by investing this)
    7. You can’t factor in any loans you may take out in addition to your stipend while on HPSP because you would be taking the same amount of money out in loans as a civilian.
    8. Cost of living in the military is drastically lower than in the civilian world. You get discounts everywhere, all your purchases at exchanges and commissaries are tax free, these places usually have very good deals, free health insurance, and no malpractice.
    Bottom line; the military is not for making more money, it is a way to serve your country, gain some incredible experience, meet incredible people, and offer a medical career with salaries that are COMPETITIVE with civilian practice, not necessarily better.
  28. AFHPSP said,

    Hello,
    I have to write something when I read this post. Becoming the military doc is less about money and more about commitment. I will not discuss the financial issues since there are too many factors concerning different school tuition, loan interest rate, military bonus, specialties..etc…
    You got the opportunities to do something great and this can not be calculated in term of money. In addition, HPSP program gives medical student “peace of mind” when you are in medical school. I am a first year student and I can tell you straight out that I don’t have to worry at all about tuition every semester or living expense every month. The stipend is roughly $2000 but it is very adequate if you live cheap and don’t spend lavishly.
    What is even better about HPSP is that it suits a lot of married medical students with dependents. It is one thing to worry about yourself, but having kids while you are in med school is an extreme burden. There are additional dependent allowances if you are married, even though it is not much. It helps you to focus in medical school while not worrying about your family’s welfare. This is the biggest factor that influence many married med student to join the military. I went through officer training at Maxwell AFB and I can tell you that a majority of HPSP students are in it because they are married and want “peace of mind” while you are in med school
    Med school is intense and hard. Having not to worry about money is the biggest factor that help you to do well and excel in becoming a doctor. This is something that can’t be put into money. So please don’t join the military if you think about money. YOU ARE DEAD WRONG!!!!!
  29. Manny said,

    Question for the Military MDs on this post. Can’t you simply get out after your obligation and start making more money in the private sector? I may be naive, but it seems like if you’re worried about being “behind” in money then that’s the only reason as to why someone would not do consider the HPSP. Because one you finish your Active Duty obligation, you can simply work as a civilian and see increases to your salary (and taxes lol).
  30. Jon said,

    Manny,
    Ditto.
    -Jon
    Someone please answer Manny’s question about Leaving for the Private Sector.
  31. ICEMAN720 said,

    @Manny,
    I am on the same page with you and AFHPSP. I for one am a patriot, and I believe the honor aspect is worth more than anything else. My only obstacle is providing for my family. The HPSP is not a bargain by any means, it is an honorable and reasonable option if you are looking for help by serving the country.
    HOWEVER, from what I have read elsewhere, ie. StudenDoc, HalfMD etc..
    Military is not for those prestigious med school students that want a prestigious residency, a prestigious fellowship and a prestigious practice because the military board makes all final decisions on the who what when where and “how high”.
    AND so because you cannot pick your residency with 100% certainty some early pre-doc’s get put somewhere and don’t get a lot of experience and this makes it harder for them to compete with civ pre-docs that are looking for fellowships or jobs.
    ALSO, the 4 years after medical school the civ docs definitely will earn more money than the HPSP doc in his/her first 4 years.
    ***The BIG question is, even if a mil doc can’t “catch up” can the mil doc compete money wise after the 4 years with a civ doc?***
  32. Nontrad said,

    I am 41 and completing my prerequisites toward medical school. The HSPS is attractive to me because of my age (assuming I can get a waiver). I will finish med school at 47 and finish a residency no sooner than 50. I can’t spend 10-20 years paying off a huge student loan. You could argue that I could pay off the loan in the civilian world in the same time that I would be spending in the military, but that is unlikely with the three year residency specialties, which aren’t very lucrative(maybe with E.M.). I’d like to specialize, but at my age I’ll be lucky to become a doctor at all; it doesn’t make sense to consider long residencies/fellowships.
    But perhaps the biggest advantage is the stipend and bonus. I will have to quit my job and my wife will have to be the sole bread winner for our family of four. The stipend, officer pay, and bonus are roughly $30,000/year. That is a huge weight off the shoulders of my wife.
    I’m not in it for the money, but at my age I have to consider financials. I agree with some of the previous posters – the accruing interest, during and after residency, are a variable that has to be considered.
    Another factor at my age is the tuition of particular schools. Without the HSPS I’ll be limited to lower tuition schools, which may not accept me. I’m only going to have about 15-20 years of active career life available after residency – I can’t have a $300,000 tuition bill. With HSPS I can attend any school regardless of tuition.
  33. FutureReliefDoc said,

    I will be starting medical school in August, and I’ve accepted an HSPS scholarship from the Air Force. Before signing I read through a lot of forum discussions. Ultimately I decided it was right for me because:
    1. My school’s total cost per year is approximately $54,000. This total does not include living expenses. The living stipend for this year is $2,100 a month so my scholarship is worth around 80K a year. I’ll also get officer pay during my active duty commitments in the summers.
    2. I have no savings, and about 40kd of debt (undergraduate loans and a car loan). My dad is a trucker without a college education and my mom is a social worker so family contributions are not an option.
    3. I am not going into medicine for the money. My ultimate goal is to work for an organization like Doctors Without Borders, or Partners in Health. Traveling to random places after I graduate isn’t deterrent for me. It’s a resume builder.
    4. I might want to go into a “low paying” specialty like family or internal medicine.
    5. Members of my family have served in the military, and although I don’t think I will want to make a career of Air Force, I don’t mind serving.
    I really went back and forth on this decision. I’m a pretty liberal thinking, free spirited person, and I never saw myself as the military type. However, I weighed the idea of practicing for the Air Force against the prospect of graduating with upwards of 350k of debt and having to work for a large HMO in order to make my student loan payments. I don’t see a whole lot of freedom going that route either.
    One thing I read over and over is “if you’re doing it for the money, don’t!” but lots of people join\enlist in the military for the money. Serving has always been a way of getting a step up in our socio-economic system. I figure I’m just like all the guys and gals enlisting to make a better life for themselves, except I get to fulfill my dream of becoming a doctor at the same time. I’m looking at my military obligation as an opportunity and an adventure. I’ll take the good with the bad, and make the best of it.
  34. Lauren said,

    I am a junior undergrad looking to go to medical school and am interested in the HSPS Naval Scholarship. I am hoping to go into trauma surgery and I want to work with Doctors without Borders and/or Partners in Health. I’m not looking to medicine to gain prestige or tons of money. I am concerned when I see that people are saying you don’t necessarily get to determine your own career. Is there any more advice out there regarding trauma surgery and experiences you get through this program?
  35. isdh said,

    you’re forgetting something important.. military doc’s don’t pay malpractice insurance, civilian doc’s do. factor that into your calculations, see what happens. probably totally different. civilian doc’s usually pay around 25% of their salary into malpractice, more for surgeons.
  36. JTAC WIFE said,

    Does anyone have stat’s on a neurologist residency in the mil? Thanks
  37. JW said,

    Can anyone provide any insight as to whether or not doctors getting out of the military and entering the civilian work force do as well as their civilian counterparts financially?
    Is it difficult finding a civilian job after leaving military medical service?
    Does military service in any particular specialty make you more competitive for a civilian position?
    Thanks you in advance for anyone able to provide any information regarding the above. I chose to go with the scholarship after quite a bit of thinking and just want to know a bit more more about what potential complications I may encounter should I choose to leave after my four year service.
    Thanks!
  38. Victor Johnson said,

    Hi Is there a way to contact you (the Blog Owner)? Thanks!
  39. Ameera said,

    Can anyone answer JW’s question? I am curious.
  40. Future - Navy - Gal said,

    I’m also a jr undergrad looking at med school. I’ve been considering the HSPS scholarship. I’m married, no kids, and am leaning towards internal medicine (would like to avoid the 80hr/wk schedule, since i’d love to spend time with my future kids). My only problem is that my husband is not an american citizen, and I was wondering how that would affect a life living on the base?
    Secondly, I’d love for someone to answer JW’s question about civilian practice after leaving military
    3rd – what about becoming a reserve for the navy? Instead of active duty? How many years would you have to put in after residency?
    Thanks in advance

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