VISTA Staffing Solutions | Locum Tenens

VISTA has the great privilege of being associated with IVUmed, a non-profit organization based in Utah and committed to making quality urological care available to people worldwide. Volunteers with IVUmed provide medical and surgical education to physicians and nurses and treatment to thousands of children and adults.

Each year IVUmed selects residents for its Traveling Resident Scholar Program, which gives residents the opportunity to experience urology in a developing world setting. You will have the opportunity to travel with board-certified urologists to partner hospitals around the world to exchange ideas with host physicians and perform procedures including open stone surgery, benign prostate surgery, hypospadias repair and incontinence procedures. Read first-hand accounts of these experiences here http://ivumed.blogspot.com/ .

If you are a resident or fellow PGY-3 and above, you are invited to submit an application to the IVUmed Program Manager, Mary Fredley, at mary.fredley@ivumed.org. The application deadline for travel between July 2011 and June 2012 is February 1, 2011. For more information on the program visit the IVUmed  website, http://ivumed.org/pages/scholarships_and_fellowships, or find them on Facebook, http://www.facebook.com/IVUmed.

In recognition of World AIDS Day this December 1^st, our colleagues and friends at IVUmed collaborated with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the American Urological Association (AUA), and Jhpiego (a nonprofit affiliate of Johns Hopkins University) to launch a aggressive fight against HIV/AIDS in Swaziland. IVUMed reports that, according to recent studies, male circumcision has been found to contribute significantly to the prevention of female-to-male HIV transmission. During a recent three-week campaign in Swaziland, IVUMed volunteers helped provide safe circumcisions to more than 7,000 men. IVUMed reports that this will translate into almost 2,000 HIV infections prevented.

This is just a subtle reminder of the wonderful opportunities you have as a physician or healthcare professional to make a huge difference in the lives of people around the world. And a not-so-subtle reminder that the freedom and flexibility of a locum tenens lifestyle can make pursuing your life’s passions a reality.

Teach one, reach many! IVUmed, a non-profit organization committed to making quality urological care available to people worldwide, is seeking a urologist with prior international experience to provide education and mentoring for its Traveling Resident Scholarship Program in Kampala Uganda, from March 16-29, 2010.

This program sends a mentor paired with a urology resident from the United States to a host country to collaborate with local physicians.  We know from experience that locum tenens physicians make great mentors and that many of you are open to adventures that change the lives of many, including yourselves.

Here are more details about the mission:

• Physicians from the United States provide training in the techniques they use at home, while receiving training from local hosts in the techniques used in settings with limited resources. The physicians from the United States gain beneficial surgical experiences and insights into a different medical care system, while the hosts receive valuable training in techniques requiring newer technology.
• This workshop will take place at Mulago Hospital in Kampala, the capital of Uganda. The hospital is the national referral hospital for Uganda, and has approximately 1500 beds. It is affiliated with Makerere University School of Medicine. IVUmed has conducted a site visit at this location, but this will be their first workshop at Mulago Hospital.
• A typical day of work will consist of rounds, surgery, and lectures. As a volunteer, your primary responsibilities would be to provide education to the local physicians and to mentor the residents from the United States. Community urologists will present informal topics of their practical experience such as their approach to impotence, infertility, and the management of other clinical problems.
• IVUmed expects that the procedures performed will include open stone surgery, benign prostate surgery, and incontinence procedures.  Prior to the workshop, volunteers will be able to communicate with local hosts to determine the educational content of the mission, including what cases and topics the hosts would like to review.

Deadline: February 15, 2010

The deadline for this opportunity is fast approaching. I encourage you to contact Josh Wood to discuss this or a future program.

Contact Information:

Josh Wood
Director of Programs and Education
Phone: 801-524-0201
Direct Line: 801-524-0201

Each year from November 1 to January 1, VISTA sponsors a Holiday Health Drive for employees. It’s our way of helping people manage stress and avoid the nutrition and fitness landmines that so often accompany the season. More than 80 percent of employees participated. We’re especially proud of the employees who QUIT SMOKING!! Yeah!

Employees accumulate points for engaging in healthy activities like exercising, eating nutritious foods, doing volunteer work, and relaxing through meditation or massage.  Each time they earn enough points to pass a century mark (100, 200, etc.) they are entered into a drawing for prizes.

We had before-work and lunchtime group walk/runs; random, inspiring, health and wellness email messages; and a hot oatmeal breakfast for all comers to start each day.

This year we added education sessions over the lunch hour including how to maximize nutrition while cooking, the basics of aromatherapy, how to make salads for every season, how to incorporate vegetables into our desserts (honest!), holiday cooking in a green world (from a five-star resort chef) and how to make guilt-free main dishes for the holidays.

We would like to offer our sincere thanks to the local businesses and vendor partners who supported our drive this year, including:

Nostalgia—a lovely little coffee shop in Salt Lake City, www.nostalgiacoffee.com

Jiffy Lube—because what’s more stressful than having your car break down?

Nina Brown and Salad Master—who else could convince people to put beets in chocolate cake?

Leslie Smoot—who taught us healthy cooking classes from Zermatt Resort in charming Midway, Utah www.zermattresort.com

Bill Ligons—our aromatherapy champion

Irock Fitness—featuring our favorite fitness professional, Danny Blankenship—www.irockfitness.biz

It was particularly great to see participation from all of our offices and from our locum tenens, extended placement, international locums, and physician search and consulting divisions.

Our friends at IVUmed are seeking actively a practicing urologist to provide education and mentoring for their Traveling Resident Scholarship Program in Hue, Vietnam, from April 2-18, 2010.  This program sends a mentor paired with a urology resident from the United States to a host country to collaborate with local physicians. Experienced locum tenens physicians make great mentors, so we encourage you to volunteer if the opportunity fits your schedule.

Through IVUmed programs, physicians from the United States provide training in the techniques they use at home, while receiving training from their hosts in the techniques used in settings with limited resources. The physicians from the United States gain beneficial surgical experiences and insights into a different medical care system, while their hosts receive valuable training in techniques requiring newer technology.  Procedures performed include open stone surgery, benign prostate surgery, hypospadias repair, and incontinence procedures.

This workshop will take place at Hue Central Hospital in Hue, located in central Vietnam.  The hospital is the primary referral facility for central Vietnam, and serves tens of thousands of patients every year.  The majority of the patients are indigent and are treated with standard open surgery, as high tech surgery is only available for those few patients who can afford it.

A typical day of work will consist of morning rounds, surgery, with teaching conferences at mid-day. As a volunteer your primary responsibilities would be to provide education to the local physicians and to mentor the residents at the workshop from the United States.  Volunteers with academic backgrounds can present PowerPoint presentations. Community urologists will present more informal topics of their practical experience such as their approach to impotence, infertility, and the management of other clinical problems.  IVUmed will collate a list of topics prior to the program to present to the hosts for their approval.

In 1997, IVUmed in partnership with The Friendship Bridge began to send American urology residents with American mentors to the Binh Dan Surgical Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City.  With the consultation of their colleagues in Vietnam, they began moving American urology teams to smaller residency programs, and in April 2008, a combined team of staff urologists from Binh Dan Surgical Hospital and the American team worked at Hue Central Hospital.

IVUmed is also seeking a urologist for similar volunteer opportunities in Uganda in February and March of 2010.

For more information please contact:

Josh Wood
Program Manager
Phone: 801-524-0201
Direct Line: 801-524-0201

On November 18, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that “Living in Emergency: Stories of Doctors Without Borders,” is one of 15 films in the documentary feature category that will advance in the voting process for the 82nd Academy Awards®! Eighty-nine pictures had originally qualified in the category.

Five finalist nominations will be announced on Tuesday, February 2, 2010, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater, and the Academy Awards will be presented on Sunday, March 7, 2010.

VISTA has supported this film through the many years of its development. We believe it resonates with physicians, particularly those who thrive on the adventure of  locum tenens.

And don’t forget the nationwide satellite screening on Dec. 14th!

Monday, December 14, 2009

Time: 7:30 p.m. Eastern / 6:30 p.m. Central / 5:30 p.m. Mountain

8:00 p.m. Pacific (Tape Delayed)

Elizabeth Vargas, anchor of ABC News 20/20, will host the event, which will also include a LIVE panel discussion with frontline Doctors Without Borders personnel and award-winning journalists.

The event will be broadcast via satellite from the Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, NYU in New York City to over 440 select movie theaters nationwide.

Read more about the film and the organization that inspired it here: http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/events/public/2009-livinginemergency/?ref=home-sidebar-left

“Living in Emergency: Stories of Doctors Without Borders” will be featured in a one-night nationwide event on December 14th, 2009. VISTA has supported this film since its inception because we believe it will resonate with all physicians, particularly those who work as locum tenens physicians. We are thrilled to see it make it into theaters.

Elizabeth Vargas, anchor of ABC News 20/20, will host the event, which will also include a LIVE panel discussion with Doctors Without Borders frontline aid workers and award-winning journalists.

The event will be broadcast via satellite from the Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, NYU in New York City to over 440 select movie theaters nationwide.

Read more about the film and the amazing organization that inspired it here: http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/events/public/2009-livinginemergency/?ref=home-sidebar-left

A One-Night Event
Monday, December 14, 2009
Time: 7:30 p.m. Eastern / 6:30 p.m. Central / 5:30 p.m. Mountain
8:00 p.m. Pacific (Tape Delayed)