How much traffic do websites get?

Do you ever visit a website and wonder: "how much traffic does this website get?"

Well, there is an easy (although not always completely accurate) way to roughly estimate how much traffic a website gets.

Visit: www.compete.com and enter the URL of the site you're interested in. You may discover that it's a site that's hardly ever visited, or it gets millions of hits each month. Interesting? Check it out.

Working from Home

I seem to be meeting more and more professionals who decide to get a job where they can work from home. There have been times when I've had to work from home and it can be very challenging if you're not used to it. There are so many potential distractions and ways that you can lose focus. However, if you prioritize and place the important tasks in front of you, then you can do it successfully.

Among those I know who are working from home, the main things they emphasize are:

1. Have strong computer and technology skills. Know how to web conference and make effective use with speaker phones for long conference calls. You'll be e-mailing attachments back and forth so be familiar with various applications and file types.
2. Be available. Use a mobile device if you have to, but make sure that people can reach you by phone and e-mail during normal business hours.
3. Be willing to travel as needed. Depending on your type of work, you may be required to travel for certain meetings.
4. Deliver on time. That will show that you're focused and dedicated.
5. Set time apart for work. Some people I speak to tell me that they work even more hours at home compared to the office. Make sure that you're not trying to do different things while you're working.
6. Balance your life. The home/work balance must be checked periodically. Otherwise, you're entire life may get engulfed by work.

MIT and Environmental Health

When I was a student at MIT many years ago, I don't think the MIT Center for Environmental Health Sciences (CEHS) existed. I must have been a student during the stone ages.

Anyways, since environmental health is such a critical part of public health, I thought I'd bring some attention to the CEHS. They are funded by an NIH-NIEHS grant and they have many different projects going on right now. Although I was involved in research when I was an undergraduate student, I wish that I had done more research. I knew people who even spent a year or two doing full-time research after graduating.

Research is the key to innovation and improvement.

Medical Writing Salaries

There's an interesting blog that quotes salary figures. The blog is called "MD Salaries" and there is an entry about "medical writer salaries."

The difficult thing about quoting salary figures is that the range can be extremely broad depending on your experience, education, background, skills, etc. It also really depends on the industry. The phrase "medical writing" now covers such a diverse field, ranging from creative writing, research protocols and safety reports, news articles and reporting, CME/CE, marketing and promotional documents, and so much more.

I don't think I've ever found an industry that has a broader salary range that the non-clinical healthcare industry for clinicians.

Google Health - Beta

Would you trust your personal health record (PHR) with Google? What if it's currently in a 'beta' stage? Google has entered the PHR space with Google Health.

Do you plan to enter your health information into the Google PHR? It would be nice to have access to all your meds, labs, reports, etc. through any internet-connected computer.

Medical Communications and CME

Wherever you have a cluster of pharmaceutical companies, you're likely to find communications companies that provide one of two services: 1) certified medical education (CME/CE) or 2) marketing/promotional education.

Both offer what is known as "medical education" but the key difference is whether the education is certified CME/CE or non-certified.

The Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) has changed its guidelines in many places over the last 5 years, so the rules on CME has evolved dramatically. If you have interests in the CME/CE world, I suggest that you get familiar with the North American Association of Medical Education and Communication Companies, Inc., (NAAMECC). That's a good place to get started.

Health and Nanotechnology

Major health advances are occurring in the field of nanotechnology. Perhaps the cure for cancer will get discovered. Teamed with novel drug delivery, nanotechnology may be the answer to some chronic medical conditions.

One of the exciting things for me personally is to see so much research coming out of MIT. I visited MIT a few weeks ago and it was great to see the nanotechnology labs that are buzzing with new projects.

There have been some exciting stories in the press recently: instantly stopping bleeding, nanoworms and cancer, and many other stories.

Want to learn more about nanotechnology? Then visit: http://www.nanotechbuzz.com/

" On doctor's wall, an MBA"

Here's an interesting article on physicians pursuing an MBA.

On doctor's wall, an MBA

This article was also picked up by a Business Week blog here:

So what do you think? Is an MBA worth your time?