Month: February 2014
Financial Planning for Young Physicians
By Christina Cellini, MD, FACS, FASCRSFinancial planning is something that gets overlooked during medical school and residency (likely because you probably don’t have much of it!). Before you know it you are an attending and making a real salary for the first time and its imperative to learn how to spend and invest wisely. I reached out to my personal accountant Paul Visca, CPA in Rochester NY, as to what is advice he would give to young professionals. Here are his pearls of wisdom: Save for retirement. Begin as early as possible. Take full advantage of a company’s retirement plans. The earlier you start the more time will be available to take advantage of compounding. Money doubles every 7 years at 10%.Take control of your finances through self-education. Read investing literature as much as possible. Learn the basics. The biggest hurdle I've seen is a complete lack of knowing investment...
OH No—Money!
By Janet Meller, MD, FACSOn March 29, 2013, the New York Times published an article entitled Money Advice for Doctors and Lawyers and the Rest of Us by Paul Sullivan. It echoed a very familiar theme, that physicians are not good at finances. In particular, we do not know how to save and we do not know how to invest. We come out of our residencies and are faced with decisions that we have little experience or knowledge to make. This includes negotiating a salary and benefits package, managing a business (for those going into private practice), and managing a private income that increases dramatically after years of struggle. Women, in particular, are at a disadvantage because we are historically poor negotiators. I learned this first hand, joining an academic practice only to discover that my associate (male) was earning more than I even though we did the same work...
Blogger Q&A: Why AWS?
Brittany Bankhead-Kendall, MD: Camaraderie and advice from women in the same boat as I! As women surgeons we are in a very unique situation and it's so beneficial to have others who have walked before you and have practical advice and inspiration to offer.Christina Cellini, MD: I originally joined AWS to take advantage of the excellent research funding opportunities that are offered. I have benefited from remaining a member by being inspired by other members who are able to balance work and family and are open and realistic about the many challenges we face in our field.Amalia Cochran, MD: I joined AWS as a resident when I realized the networking benefits that membership provided. I attended my first AWS meeting in Chicago and still remember being very impressed with this roomful of women surgeons (because, quite frankly, we had 3 women surgeons on faculty where I was a resident, and...
Green Solutions for the OR – Part 2
In 2013, the Association of Women Surgeons sponsored its second Green Solutions for the Operating RoomContest in a partnership with Practice Greenhealth. We received many innovative and creative approaches to reducing the environmental impact of the operating room. Today we are featuring a submission from Hena Ahmed, a 2nd year medical student at Harvard Medical School. Hena’s submission describing her OR RecylingProject won second place in the contest. Congratulations, Hena!Innovation in Practicing Cost-Saving Health CareUsing technology to reduce health care waste and deliver supplies to resource poor communitiesby Hena AhmedA plastic bottle can sit unchanged in a landfill for decades. The same is true for single-use plastic devices in operating rooms. Consider the trajectory of equipment in today’s operating rooms: many of these devices are opened as part of surgical kits but not always used. Due to current hospital policies, these items are discarded after each procedure, perfectly intact. A...