Resource utilization and cost of inserting peripheral intravenous catheters in hospitalized children.

Objective: The goal of this study was to measure the costs and difficulty in placing peripheral intravenous (IV) catheters in hospitalized children; measures of resource utilization. We measured the costs and difficulty in placing peripheral intravenous (IV) catheters in hospitalized children. This common procedure has implications for the utilization of hospital resources.

Payback time: the associations of debt and income with medical student career choice.

Context: With impending health care reform in the USA, there is an imperative to increase the number of students choosing primary care (PC) careers. Research is needed to better understand the roles of economic factors in medical student career choice. The objective of this study was to examine the relationships among debt, income and career choice by comparing students planning PC careers with those aspiring to one of the 12 non-PC fields in which median income exceeds US$300 000 ('high-paying non-primary care' [HPNPC]).

Impact of AOA status and perceived lifestyle on career choices of medical school graduates.

Background: Based upon student ratings of such factors as predictable work hours and personal time, medical specialties have been identified as lifestyle friendly, intermediate, or unfriendly. Lifestyle friendly programs may be more desirable, more competitive, and for students elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA) Honor Medical Society, more attainable.

Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate whether AOA students increasingly entered lifestyle friendly residency programs and whether trends in program selection differed between AOA and non-AOA graduates.

Pediatric peripheral intravenous access: does nursing experience and competence really make a difference?

Placement of peripheral pediatric intravenous (IV) catheters in infants and children is difficult, even in skilled hands. This large, 2-institution prospective study used real-time independent observations to describe the effect of nurse experience and competence on the length of time and the number of attempts to establish a successful IV placement in the hospitalized child. Data from a convenience sample of 592 evaluable patients and 1135 venipunctures showed that successful IV placements required an average of 2 venipunctures over 28 minutes.

Money, lifestyle, or values? Why medical students choose subspecialty versus general pediatric careers.

Although there are many published studies on factors associated with medical student career choice, few are specific to pediatric careers, and even fewer address the choice between general and subspecialty pediatric training. Fourth-year medical students surveyed at 2 schools reported their demographics, anticipated future income, the factors influencing their career choice, and their anticipated career. This study included the subset of 337 students planning pediatric careers.

The variable influence of lifestyle and income on medical students' career specialty choices: data from two U.S. medical schools, 1998-2004.

Purpose: Recent reports on medical students' career choices suggest that lifestyle increasingly influences career decisions. The authors addressed the changing influence of lifestyle and income on career choice, how these influences differ by specialty, and the specific careers students identify as lifestyle friendly.

Method: From 1998 to 2004, 1,334 (73%) fourth-year medical students from Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University (no.

Trends in career choice by US medical school graduates.

Context: Trends in career choice among specialties have varied greatly. Most notable is the recent decrease in the percentage of US medical student graduates choosing a primary care career, which has important implications for the US physician workforce.

Objective: To review temporal trends in career choice by graduates of allopathic US medical schools, focusing on US medical doctors entering residencies since 1987.