Healthcare Recruiting: How Things Have Changed

Hospitals, private healthcare companies, and specialized clinics are using professional recruitment services more than ever before. A simple referral or job posting is no longer a strong enough guarantee that the institution will find the right candidate for the position, and some high-level jobs sit vacant for up to a year while the organization searches for the right person. Why is this? According to the Huffington Post, the healthcare industry is growing faster that the U.S. economy, adding about 300,000 of the 1.7 million jobs produced in 2012. That's one out of every six new jobs. And because of changes in the economy, technology, and the population, there are dozens of job titles that didn't exist ten years ago. Add to that a flood of applicants looking to take advantage of this enormous growth, and you can see why recruiters are embracing new and more efficient methods.

1. Mobile Technology

Mobile technology is the future for many businesses and industries, and medical recruitment is no exception. Embracing text messages and alerts allows recruiters to reach the next generation of talent - more of the recent graduates who will inevitably replace the retiring baby boomers. Some recruitment programs even use GPS to match job opportunities to your location or allow you to scan a code at a trade show to learn more about job placement. As this trend grows, more innovations will benefit clients and job candidates.

2. Skype Interviews

With how difficult it has become to find exactly the right person to fill important management positions, it's no wonder hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, and other clients are starting to love doing interviews through Skype. It saves travel costs while allowing them to talk face-to-face with applicants from all over the country. It's also a great time saver and lets the hiring organization know whether they want to move the recruit on to the next level of the process. Technology has helped clients maintain a constant recruiting system, staying in touch with the best candidates for when an important job is open.

3. Minimizing Bureaucracy

Hospitals have taken it upon themselves to help improve the recruiting system, as well. In 2013 and beyond, medical organizations are trying to shorten the time between an interview and a job offer so they won't lose out on the very best candidates. More doctors and administrators are being recruited in heavily populated urban areas, which means more hospitals are competing with each other for the best applications in a large pool. Cutting through the red tape means the right candidate won't decide on another facility while they're sitting around waiting for a decision to be made. It happens way more often than clients would like.

4. Focusing on Elder Care

While primary care and emergency care remain the most in-demand specialties for doctors, everyone knows the population is rapidly aging. By 2030, nearly 20 percent of Americans will be 65 or older. This has led to a massive increase in demand for home care specialists as well as healthcare administrators who can manage nursing homes, hospices, and assisted living facilities. Over one million people live in nursing homes, and the number is only expected to increase exponentially. There's a shortage of help and expertise that must be addressed.

Healthcare recruiters put medical employers in touch with the most talented professionals in a sea of applications from people looking to take advantage of the healthcare boom. But recruiters can also be hugely beneficial for those professionals. If you're looking for the best positions as a doctor or administrator, or if your specialty is in high demand, they can put you on the right path to building the best healthcare career.

Brett Harris has researched internet colleges that offer degrees to fit into your lifestyle, such as Top Online Master of Health Administration Programs for those interested in the medical field.

Ginseng is an herb that has been utilized by healers for over a thousand years to due to its many known advantages especially when it comes to improving a person’s overall health. Ginseng is most well known for being an adaptogen. An adaptogen is a term used to refer to substances that assist the body in health restoration. The active component in ginseng considered to be responsible for this property is called ginsenocide. 

Scientists have been able to identify 25 ginsenocides but they have recognized only six or seven ginsenocides that have contributed to ginseng’s restorative properties.

Controlling blood sugar levels
One of ginseng’s main benefits is its ability to control blood sugar levels and aid Type 2 diabetes patients. Studies have shown that ginseng improves blood sugar levels by lowering sugar in both fasting and after-meal blood sugar levels. Another study discovered that taking ginseng on or before ingesting a high sugar drink lessens the increase of sugar levels in the blood stream. All these findings have led scientists to conclude that ginseng can be taken as a probable aid in current diabetes medications, although these findings have to be further verified by additional studies to fully establish the science behind it.

Increasing mental performance
Moreover, ginseng is also known to help increase mental performance and capacity. Several studies show ginseng help improve mental performance most specially during times of stress. Some can attest to the effects ginseng has on increasing a person’s attention span, helping people to focus better, and improving the mind’s capacity for higher analytical thinking. This effect can benefit those suffering from spectrum disorders, ADHD, and other illnesses that negatively affect the brain’s cognitive functions. Some scientists attribute this effect to ginseng’s ability to increase blood flow to the brain thus allowing it to function better.

Improving the immune system
Ginseng is also popular for greatly improving the health of the human immune system. This is especially beneficial for those individuals recovering from recent illnesses – improving the immune system means that the body is now able to fight off diseases and infections more effectively. Studies have discovered that ginseng seems to increase the amount of immune cells present in human blood and thus can improve the system’s response to vaccines like flu vaccines, among others. Overall, clinical studies as of now have all seemed to conclude that ginseng has shown promise in significantly improving the numerous functions of our immune system.

Restoring vitality and promoting well-being
Because of its “adaptogenic” properties, ginseng is also believed to improve a person’s overall health by restoring vitality and promoting well-being. Ginseng helps the body deal with stress better, whether it is physical or mental. Its effect on a person’s well-being has often been regarded by Asians as regenerative and led to the belief that it is even capable of prolonging life as well as increasing health and vitality. Many individuals who took ginseng supplements as part of their daily habits have claimed an improvement in the overall quality of life.

Promoting weight loss
Lastly, ginseng is believed to be beneficial and useful in promoting weight loss. This effect is often overlooked by most people. 

Ginseng’s ability to boost energy levels and fight fatigue leads to a more active lifestyle and thus allows individuals to be more active. People who consume diets rich in fats, Danes for example, can complement their diets with ginseng supplements that can be bought online. These supplements will help facilitate the proper exercises needed for diets rich in fat and carbohydrates while benefitting the body in ways that were previously mentioned.  As a result, a person’s physical and mental healths are both improved thus resulting in the enhancement of his/her overall health.


Iris Aroa is a lifestyle blogger and writes for Bodylab.dk, a trusted health and fitness website in Denmark.

Exercise is one of the most important things needed for a healthy body. It keeps your body’s metabolism at the right level so that you feel fresh and healthy.

Health tips are not complete until they highlight the importance of exercising. Given below are a few important health tips for you. Make sure you follow them as closely as possible.

Have a Routine

It is important to have a clear routine. As per experts, the best time for a workout is early in the morning. However, those who cannot wakeup early in the morning can exercise in the evening.  Nevertheless, if you are not free during both these times, you can opt to lift weights such as dumbbells whenever you do have the time. However, make sure it is not right after a meal.

Secondly, it is important to follow the routine you have made. In addition to having exercise timings, one can also have specific body parts on specific days incorporated in their schedule (i.e.: cardio on Tuesday etc). Such a move will help you concentrate on every part of your body.

Do Not Over Do It

Do not lift what you think you cannot! One of the biggest mistakes that people make in a gym is testing their limits. Additionally, it is not recommended that you workout for long hours. As per health experts, working out for an hour a day (which you can break it into multiple sessions) is enough.

As per certain reports, exercising for too long (especially at a stretch) has its own disadvantages. It puts strain on your body that might backfire. Additionally, make sure you only gradually increase the amount of weight you lift. It is vital to know your strengths so that you can play accordingly

Use Different Techniques

There are several new workout methods available now. It should be remembered that one does not necessarily need to be in a gym to be healthy. You can try other methods, such as yoga, conditioning or bodyweight training.

All these methods have their own perks. Yoga is a way to calm your body and soul. Conditioning increases your stamina and makes you stronger; whereas, bodyweight training is a complete workout for which you do not even need weights.

A mixture of all these methods is also a good option. If you workout for an hour a day, you can break it down into different types, depending on your requirements.

Get Inspired

It is important to get inspired. This is one of the reasons why health tips suggest you to follow buddy training. When you workout with a friend (who is healthier/fitter), you inspire to be like him/her and put in more efforts.

Many people follow celebrities and try to achieve their level of fitness. However, it must be understood that fitness is not only about having a good physique; it is about having a complete package. One should always vie for a healthy body and a healthy mind, which does not equate to a ripped body.

Eat Right

It is very important to keep an eye on your meals. Reports say that those who burn calories working out need a high amount of protein and other nutrients to fulfill their body requirements. You must make sure you fulfill this need by eating right. Remember that you should always achieve a healthy body in a natural way.

Follow these health tips and we assure you that you will feel healthy and fit.


Marc is writing articles for health and treatment topics. He is now writin for HDC Hair Transplant clinic, one of the largest hair restoration clinics in Europe using fue and strip method.

First of all, the most important thing about being a good tennis player is fitness. You will need to make sure you use other forms of exercise than just tennis. The stronger you are the better you’ll be on the court. Tennis is all about agility and strength, so this is what should be worked on away from the court.

Weight lifting is a great way to strengthen muscles on the upper body, and this will help serves and returns become far more powerful. Just to give you an idea, Agassi can bench press almost 310lbs which is more or less twice is body weight! This is why he is so powerful on the tennis court.

Obviously no-one is expecting someone to hit the gym and start bench pressing over 300lbs that would just be silly. If you’re taking up weight training for the first time either take some advice from a personal trainer or ask at the gym which is the best way to start.

Weight training should also be done for the legs, if you play tennis you’ll know just how strong this part of your body needs to be so if you want to become a better tennis player, this is something that has to be worked on.

So that’s the strength aspect dealt with, but what about your state of mind? Tennis is not a team sport (unless you play doubles), and it requires quite a lot of concentration. Working on the mind is something else that should be top of the list. There are various ways to do this. Mediation works well as do self-belief programs. Look at it this way, if you lose a point do you think “hell I missed that one” or do you think “the next point will be mine”. The latter is what you’re trying to achieve.

Tactics is something else that plays a huge part in tennis. The game isn’t just about hitting a ball back and forth over a net it’s about knowing how to outsmart an opponent. Knowing your limits and being able to work out what your opponents weaknesses are will make you a much better tennis player in the long-run. This can be worked on when you practice. Having a variety of opponents to practice with will help to get a fresh perspective on how other people play.

Finally, technique is something that needs to be worked on during practice. Play around with how the racket is held, or how you approach hitting the ball. If you combine all of the methods outlined here, you will become a far better tennis player a result.
Of course, if you have a tennis coach, they should have already told you all about this, if they haven’t perhaps it’s time to find a new one. Or, you could print this off and use it as guide. The only word of warning I’m going to give is to make sure you don’t overdo it in the gym or on the tennis court. You don’t want to end up having to go for knee surgery now do you?


Author: Chris loves blogging and surfing at Shaka surf in Costa Rica.

The gym is like the fitness watering hole for people who want to get in shape. IBISWorld found that the annual growth in the gym and health sector from 2007 to 2012 increased by 0.9%. As more Americans become more fitness-conscious, going to the gym is a necessity. 

Here are the pros and cons of going to the gym:

PROS
Going to the gym is full of benefits and advantages for people who love fitness. These benefits include:

• Safe place: While some critics might think gym membership is expensive, you are paying for the right to access a safe haven for you to work out. Security is a big issue especially for women joggers who might want to run in the morning or evening. The answer to this is going to the gym because you have security built into your gym membership.
• State of the art technology: Fitness centres and gyms are the ideal place to see what the latest trends in health are being taken up by members. It’s not easy to find the latest fitness gadgets and treadmills and they are extremely expensive as well which makes it more cost efficient to use technology at the gym instead of buying it yourself. Some experts think home gyms can be more beneficial however the variety of products at the gym makes it better if you want to try different fitness equipment.
• Cost savings are made over a long duration: If you buy gym membership upfront for a set amount of time such as 6 months to a year, you can find value for money because the gym will make it cheaper for you instead of buying a pay as you go membership.

CONS
There are some drawbacks of going to the gym. While they might not be dealbreakers, it’s important for you to understand what they are when you are making your decision:

• Not all gyms have flexible opening hours: We live in a world of seamless lifestyles where hours turn into days. Many people like working out anytime they want. If your local gym is not open 24 hours a day, there is not a lot that you can do about it. If you are a night owl, it might suit you to find a gym that has flexible opening hours. If you can’t find this locally, it might be worth finding another option for working out such as doing it from home.
• Contracts can be long: Canceling your gym membership for whatever reason can be extremely difficult as some gyms have complicated contracts that don’t have simple get-out clauses. You should seriously consider your lifestyle in terms of your job stability and whether you have a mortgage or not before you sign a lengthy contract to avoid hassles later on.

Despite the disadvantages, gym membership is on the rise because of new attitudes to health. The gym’s advantages have the edge over its disadvantages based on the fact it is a destination for you to focus on improving how you look. It is the best way to give yourself a razor-sharp edge in health and fitness. 


Guest post by contributing author, Richard O. Written on behalf of Well Wisdom, the number one source for grass fed whey protein shakes.

Let’s be honest: gym fees are expensive, and it’s hard to make the effort to physically go to the gym day in and day out. When you exercise at home you have the luxury of exercising when you want, and plus, you don’t have to deal with other people watching you while you work out.

When you’re looking for real estate or property to purchase, try to include a spare room – this way, you can create your own home gym and exercise to your heart’s content. Skip the queues for the elliptical or treadmill, and try one of these home exercise tips – you’ll be guaranteed to work your way to better fitness for a fraction of the price.

Home workout videos
Home workout videos always conjure up images of Carmen Electra’s at-home dancing workouts. However, they’re not all lame and cheesy; in fact, plenty of home workout videos are actually as good as classes you take at the gym. For a fun workout, try a Zumba video. For stretches, Winsor Pilates is the way to go, and for a more difficult and challenging workout, P90X, Insanity, and Jillian Michaels’ 30 Day Shred are perfect for you.

Game your way to better fitness
Chances are you’ll have a video game console in your house – you probably considered a home entertainment room to store it in when purchasing your property! You may think it’s childish, but video game consoles are actually incredibly useful tools for exercise and weight loss. The Nintendo Wii and Wii U both have plenty of health and fitness games that you can use to track your exercise or weight loss goals; the Xbox 360 Kinect is a hands-free tool that works every part of your body while having fun, and the PS3 Move is similar to the Wii and is a great tool for some fun exercise. If you’re looking for new real estate and need an entertainment room, then this could double up as a home “gym” with the video game console too.

Machines at home: no queues, no waiting
The gym is really just a huge collection of exercise machines, and chances are you probably only use a select few. Take that $1000 you use for your gym fee, and use it to invest in some home equipment instead: treadmills, elliptical trainers, and a set of weights won’t set you back much, but it will save you time – plus, you can use it every day for the rest of your life. If you’re upgrading your property, keep a home gym at the forefront of your mind and make a purchase that has a garage or spare room with plenty of space for your equipment.

Exercise while you watch TV
Television is often thought of as a sedentary activity, and for good reason – when you watch TV, you probably just sit there…and what a waste that is! TV can help time fly by when you exercise, so you should use this to your advantage: run while your  favourite TV show is on, or stretch and do some yoga in the ad breaks of The X Factor.

Exercise outdoors!
Take a run around outdoors – after all you could live in an apartment and not spend time outside of your property!. After the run take a look in the mirror. Do you look as fabulous as you feel? You’ve now got all your exercise endorphins, plus you’ll be aglow with the natural high of the outdoors – how perfect is that?


Jocelyn Geraghty is a gym junkie. When she’s not getting active she’s looking at property, like house and land packages. South-East Melbourne is her dream district. 

Health magazines and gyms widely proclaim the benefits of personal trainers for men and women to achieve fitness goals and manage weight successfully. It is said that personal goals are more readily achieved with personal training sessions than the usual gym work out. The role of a personal trainer is not only to motivate people  to effectively follow and achieve their personal goals but equally to taylor private fitness and advise upon the meal plan selector. Bodybuilders often seek advice and training from a personal trainer to exhilarate the desired effects of their work outs with an advanced program. 

The design of a personal training session depends on the individual and the style of the personal trainer. Interval training is one of the most common training regimes. 

Men's health magazine, one of the UK's best selling men's magazines, lately reported on the new trend of innovative movement-based training regimen. Innovative movement-based training regimen approaches training and management of diets in a holistic fashion, creating a positive attitude towards the training from the onset. According to men's health, countless men are currently embracing the new trend of Spartacus training in order to achieve their personal goals. Spartacus training is designed to achieve personal goals through a series of high-intensity circuit programs which increase the metabolic rate burn in return fat effectively.

The latest news and scandals surrounding personal trainers have raised the significance to choose ones personal trainer carefully and ensure that they are working towards the national occupational standards. The BBC recently reported a case whereby a New York gym is confronted with a £13m lawsuit relating to claims that woman's death was a result of negligence caused by a personal trainer. Allegedly the personal trainer in question did not have the required certification issued by the national bodies.

Taylor made personal trainer session can be a great and fun way of reaching ones personal goals and do not have to result in detrimental effects as outlined above. It is essential when meeting a personal trainer for the first session to provide him or her with all ones medical history and any medical conditions, so that the trained professional can correctly formulate and subsequently manage the training program. 

The health mot forms part of any good induction. And a good personal trainer will manage and motivate through a bespoke fitness program an individual to reach their personal goals and ideal body shape. 


This article was written by Trevor Marsh, a fan of gyms and in particular personal trainers for men.

Size does matter when it concerns your health. The more you weight, the more stress you put on your bones and joints. Added weight also makes your heart have to work twice as hard as it normally would. As far as your lungs, if you are overweight, you already know how hard it is to breathe just to walk to your mailbox and back. Let's face it, you already know all the dangers being overweight causes. Chances are your doctor has harped on you enough about it. I know, I have been there.

9 years ago I weighed 250 pounds and had no energy to do anything. The only thing that excited me was eating and sleeping. I had a sweet little boy that I wanted to enjoy doing things with and I just had no energy to do them. I felt awful about myself. I hated looking in the mirror and seeing the blob that gazed back at me. I knew I needed to make a change.

Finding Motivation

If you are like me, knowing you need to do something is one thing, actually getting off your rump to do it is a whole new ballgame. I had to find something to motivate me. That something was my son. I wanted him to be proud of me. I wanted to be able to take him to the park and not get out of breath chasing him. I wanted to go to the fair with him and fit on the rides. There is nothing worse than having to get off a ride because the safety bar will not close on you. Can you say 'humiliation'?

Getting Started

I found my motivation and now I had to figure where and how I was going to drop these pounds. My friend just happened to work at a gym and asked me to join her. They had a childcare facility there so I figured I would give it a try. Walking through those doors for the first time was difficult. I thought I'd be the only one there that actually needed to be there (don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about). Let me tell you, once you actually get in there, it's actually a lot of fun. I started making new friends who were chunky monkeys just like me. I really loved the kickboxing classes. I thought about my ex while I was working out. Great way to take our your hostilities without hurting anyone.

Find A Support Group

On the home front you have to change your eating habits just like I did. I had to talk to my family and stress the importance not eating chocolate in front of me if they valued their life. I had to say no to a lot of dinner dates with my friends if I felt like their choices weren't going to be healthy. Later I got smart and I hired a personal trainer who became my confidant. She helped me keep my eating habits in check.

Reaching Your Goal

Within a year I arrived at my goal weight. I did cardio everyday and lifted weights every other day. Consistency paid off. I just had to keep telling myself that it would be worth it down the road and it was. I feel so energetic, so full of life and vitality. I enjoy everyday with my family now. I don't just live life anymore, I master it one new goal at a time.

Today I am a personal trainer and help others like myself. You are not alone in the battle. Do something good for yourself and go get healthy.


This article is brought to you by HappyHealth.Net - a lifestyle health guide.

Although deep down all of us know that the only way to lose weight, get fit and most importantly keep the weight off is to eat less and increase our activity levels. But many of us are intrinsically lazy, and there is a huge market for gadgets and gizmos which promise to help us keep fit with the minimum of effort on our part. Many of these items will turn up regularly at car boot sales or second hand shops, but what are the strangest keep fit ideas out there?

Ropeless Skipping Rope

Skipping is not just a popular playground game, it’s one of the best ways to get a cardio-vascular workout when time is limited and you only have a small space to exercise in. A new product on the market, called Jump Snap, has taken the rope out of the equation by providing users with two handles only. Skip and jump as usual, but without the need to worry about tripping over the rope. The device does monitor the number of jumps and calories burned, but quite why anyone would spend £20 when you can get a skipping rope for less than a pound is a complete mystery.

Rocking Horse

Riding is a great way to keep fit, as galloping through the countryside on the back of a horse tones up muscles and provides a whole body work out. In 2008 a riding simulator costing upwards of £40,000 was launched on the market, with the aim of providing people who live in the city centre and have busy lives with a true to reality riding experience. Users sit on the back of a mechanical horse which is linked up to a computer monitor. A horse riding helmet is optional. Riders can practice the different forms of riding, or even train in the art of dressage. The company manufacturing the simulator also states that even though users may feel they have to go out and buy a horse riding helmet and other clothing to feel the part, they will not have to shell out for stabling fees, insurance or food for their “horse”.

Hawaii Hula Chair

We’ve all seen the image of the beautiful Hawaiian woman with the slender figure, and one American company is cashing in on this image by marketing a Hawaii Hula Chair, which promises to bring you that slender figure with very little effort. Users sit on the chair and then rotate their hips in a circular motion, as if they were using a hula hoop. The gadget claims to tone up stomach and abdominal muscles and burn fat too. If that wasn’t argument enough to rush out and buy one now, they also claim it will improve your circulation and cure your hemorrhoids. As with the other gadgets, the Hula Chair isn’t cheap at around £150, and when you can get a plastic hula hoop for a fraction of that, it is difficult to see just what the benefits are.

Featured images:

•  License: Creative Commons image source 

Morag P writes on a wide range of subjects including family, music and travel. 

The Dangers Of Binge Exercising
Thanks to all the major sporting success of Britain this year, there has been a massive leap in people getting active and involved with sports. Many people have been inspired by the success of sporting stars like Andy Murray, Bradley Wiggins, Mo Farah and Jessica Ennis which has helped to spur on dramatic increases in new memberships to health clubs and gyms.

This dramatic increase in people getting up and active can only be a good thing right? Well on the surface, yes, however in reality it means that many people are jumping into exercise without any prior knowledge and will result in people ‘binging’ on exercise for a couple of weeks only to get bored and give up shortly after. This process will then only be repeated after the festive period, following a period of rich diets and alcohol, where people will feel guilty and want to do something about their previous fortnight of gluttony.

Although common thinking is that any exercise is good, this style of exercise binging can have negative health impacts on a person. This sort of attitude to exercise encourages yo yo weight gains and also often ends in injuries, most commonly in the form of damage to joints. The majority of people will jump head first into exercise going all out, the problem with this approach is that it isn’t sustainable. This approach will not just have setbacks physically; it also has emotional knockbacks as people give up on exercise without reaching their goals, denting their confidence and putting themselves off exercise in future. It may bring positive feelings of wellbeing in the short term; however the emotional knockbacks will stick around for a while longer.
Scott Murray, a sports scientist and coach, discusses the fact that if someone wants to get fit and healthy, 70% of the effort comes from nutrition with only the rest coming from exercise. This means that many people will have to adapt their diets to accommodate healthy living, with diets made up of things like lean meats, fish, fruits, vegetables and nuts and seeds. If a person isn’t willing to commit to this they will find it difficult to fully achieve their goals.

A classic form of binge exercising is where someone becomes obsessive over one form of exercise; this could be running, cycling or even weight training. If you commit yourself to doing one specific type of exercise at the one intensity, you are bound to become bored with it quickly and will not get the most benefit from your efforts. Boredom and lack of major improvement from exercising are the biggest factors in people giving up on their exercise efforts.

For those just beginning to get into exercise it’s a good idea to start off small, aiming to do short workouts of fewer than 30 minutes, with a mix of both cardiovascular and resistance exercise for the best results. As you progress it is possible to up the intensity and time depending on your goals and your availability to exercise. The important thing with exercise is to maintain consistency and plan your routines around long term goals whilst remembering they need to balanced with the right eating plan to have maximum effect.


Gareth writes on a number of health and fitness topics on behalf of AXA PPP healthcare who provide a number of health insurance solutions including PMI and dentalcare