The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is a privacy Act mandating that medical records of individuals are confidential and must be transported via secure channels. Penalties can be imposed if the rules are not followed by individuals in the medical field, or anyone handling patient information. A doctor answering service protects the privacy of patients during the communications process, and they are able to comply with the mandatory HIPAA regulations. Doctor answering services have highly trained and certified agents who use professional scripting to gather the appropriate information and to handle it suitably. It is also a highly technological telecommunications field which has disaster recovery plans to protect patient information; the proper storage and recovery of which is also a requirement of HIPAA.

Doctor answering service agents are trained to use information only for the purposes for which it is intended from patients and doctors. An answering service is a professional and accurate means to meet patient needs, and they avoid long hold times or busy signals for patients. They provide coverage for overflow calls in a doctor’s office, and after hours and emergency call handling. In addition to answering calls, agents have the capability to triage to the correct medical professional, schedule appointments, and obtain referral information.

An answering service staff has ongoing HIPAA training to assure secure voice communications, and safe storage of information. Reasonable precautions are taken for the security of electronic information transfers such as pagers, email, fax and internet. HIPAA assures that a patient’s information is protected, while allowing the flow of information needed for the patient’s care. Answering service agents work with great accuracy and care to meet patient needs, and always comply with HIPAA regulations

This article is free for republishing
Source: http://www.articlealley.com/article_1250640_15.html

A medical school letter of intent is a notice to an institution explicitly stating one’s continued interest in the school. An applicant might write a letter of intent after interviewing or in response to a waitlist notification. Why write a letter of intent? Medical school admissions have become increasingly competitive of late – especially in this weaker economy. Competitive applicants who would have considered business or law school are now recognizing the stability of a medical career. The bottom line: The number of medical school applications has again increased this year.

Here are some tips for writing a noteworthy letter of intent:

1. Keep it brief. Do not write more than one page.

2. Write in a formal style with proper syntax, format, organization, grammar and spelling.

3. Focus on your fit with the institution, rather than using bland platitudes about the school. Be specific about what you saw and liked during your interview day.

4. Reiterate what makes you a distinctive candidate. Highlight your accomplishments to distinguish yourself. This section will be the most important part of the letter.

5. Be explicit about your enthusiasm. If the school is your first choice say so. If not, you should still make clear your zeal. (Remember: The institution may yet be your first choices if it turns out you have no other options!)

Finally, consider working with a professional medical school admissions consultant who can substantially improve your letter of intent. Medical school admissions consulting companies come in a variety of forms. Some are bigger businesses that focus on admissions to several types of graduate programs – not just medicine. Others are smaller and provide a medical focus, but have a pool of consultants of varying quality. Finally, elite companies offer both the medical focus and a highly experienced consultant who works one-on-one with clients. These professionals are ex-admissions officers from highly respected medical institutions. They have the inside knowledge of how medical admissions work, providing individualized guidance to optimize applicants’ personal statements, medical school application and interview skills.

When choosing a medical school admissions consulting company, a candidate should verify the company’s references and research its consultants. It is best if the company does not assign written materials to outside editors who cannot be evaluated. Elite companies that offer both the medical focus and a highly experienced consultant who works one-on-one with clients offer a large advantage for pre-medical applicants, especially during these competitive times.

For more information about medical school admissions, Medical school interview advice, medical school application essay, AMCAS advice, Medical school personal statement visit http://www.insidermedicaladmissions.com

This article is free for republishing
Source: http://www.articlealley.com/article_1423583_36.html

This 3D medical animation shows how antibodies stop harmful pathogens from attaching themselves to healthy cells in the blood stream. The animation begins by showing normal red and white blood cells flowing through the blood stream. Next, a single pathogen appears onscreen slowly moving toward its destination on the surface of a cell. The tubular extensions on the pathogen are surface proteins which attach to
corresponding surface proteins on a white blood cell, or leukocyte. As the animation continues, more pathogens continue to attach to the white blood cell, rendering it ineffective.

During the immune system response, Y-shaped antibodies begin attacking the pathogen, binding to its surface proteins as the pathogen attempts to anchor to the blood cell. The antibodies completely block the pathogen from attaching to the blood cell, “tagging” the pathogen so
that one of the immune system’s leaner cells, a macrophage, appears onscreen to engulf and digest the pathogen.

Nucleus Medical Art is a leading creator and licensor of medical illustrations, 3D medical animations and interactive multimedia for medical devices, pharmaceutical companies, education, biotechnology, advertising agencies, lawyers, and more

An educational video account of actual hernia repair surgery with Dr. David Albin, as well as general hernia information and information on our hernia surgeon and facility.

Original Source: The Los Angeles Times

Figueredo, one of the first women to practice surgical oncology, was friends with Mother Theresa and created the Friends of the Poor charity to aid people in Baja California.

At 19, Figueredo, born in Costa Rica, was one of only four women in her class at Long Island Medical College.

By Thomas H. Maugh II

March 8, 2010

Dr. Anita Figueredo, the first female surgeon in San Diego and a well-known philanthropist who was close friends with Mother Teresa for four decades, died Feb. 19 at her home in La Jolla. She was 93 and had suffered a cerebral hemorrhage two weeks earlier.

One of the first women to practice surgical oncology, Figueredo established the Friends of the Poor charity to feed, clothe and provide medical care for people in Baja California. The charity operates on three continents.

Figueredo was born in 1916 in Costa Rica where her father, Roberto Figueredo, was a noted soccer player who abandoned the family. Family lore said she proclaimed a desire to be a doctor at age 5. Since there were no female doctors — and, indeed, no medical school — in Costa Rica, her mother moved with her to New York, settling in a Spanish Harlem tenement where she worked two jobs as a seamstress to support her daughter’s ambitions.

At 15, Anita was offered a full scholarship to study pre-med at Barnard, but she rejected it when the admissions officer made a disparaging remark about her high school, which Figueredo thought had been very generous to her. She instead accepted a scholarship to Manhattanville College, which created a pre-med program exclusively for her.

At 19, she enrolled at Long Island Medical College, one of only four women in a class of 94. Medical authorities were reluctant to educate women as doctors because they feared the money spent on training would be lost when the women married. Many also thought women lacked the drive and ability to win confidence required of a physician. She graduated with honors.

World War II gave her career a boost. By the end of 1942, about 35,000 of the nation’s 160,000 male physicians had been called into the service, and many institutions that would have once flatly rejected women now saw them as an acceptable alternative. She became one of the first two female residents in surgery at Memorial Hospital for Cancer and Allied Diseases, now Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York.

While in medical school, Figueredo met a lanky fellow student named William Doyle. A devout Catholic, she later said that God spoke to her in the hallway when she first saw Doyle, saying “That’s the one.” They married in 1942 and had a brief honeymoon during a three-day leave the military granted to Doyle and were together for 57 years before he died.

The couple later settled in La Jolla, where she maintained a demanding practice in oncologic surgery at Scripps Memorial Hospital while raising nine children. Her son-in-law, Dr. Brent Eastman of Scripps Health, recalled that she once walked from the operating room to the maternity ward to give birth. She made rounds on her patients the next day.

Only 4 feet 11, Figueredo often had to stand on a stool during surgery. Nonetheless, “technically, Anita was an exceptional surgeon,” Eastman said. “I know because I was once fortunate enough to share a practice with her.”

Eager to return the benefits she had received, Figueredo was a founding member of the board of the San Diego College for Women, now the University of San Diego, and served in that position for four decades.

In the late 1950s, she read an article about Mother Teresa and sent her a letter and donation. To her surprise, the nun wrote back and they began exchanging letters. They met in San Diego in 1960 and later worked on several charitable projects together.

Two of her sons died in accidents and a third from brain cancer. She is survived by three daughters, Sarita Eastman of Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., and Anita and Teresa Doyle, both of La Jolla; three sons, William of Santa Rosa, Calif., John of San Diego and Charles of La Jolla; 11 grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held March 19 at the Immaculata on the UC San Diego campus.