www.ama-assn.org

The American Medical Association

Have you ever wondered how much athletic trainers make? Curious how much you could earn each year as an audiologist? Or what about radiographers' salaries? Or music therapists? For salary information about these and more than 60 other allied health professions, why not go to the source of information on the medical field?

The American Medical Association (AMA) has created an easy to access online chart of salary ranges that are based on individuals working in specific fields full-time for less than five years.

The AMA's salary information page is a great starting point if you are still undecided on a career path. The chart format allows easy salary comparisons amongst several fields. This information can be found in the health care careers section along with other key information for making a career choice in allied health. To go directly to this section of the AMA's Web site, log onto www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/6038.html.

Another key feature of the AMA's Web site is FREIDA Online (Fellowship and Residency Electronic Interactive Database). This database isn't just for doctors; there is information about training requirements for many specialties, and there are also interesting links to graduates' career plan statistics where you can find out what your peers are doing with their careers.

www.kaisernetwork.org

Kaisernetwork.org

Have you ever wondered how much athletic trainers make? Curious how much you could earn each year as an audiologist? Or what about radiographers' salaries? Or music therapists? For salary information about these and more than 60 other allied health professions, why not go to the source of information on the medical field?

The American Medical Association (AMA) has created an easy to access online chart of salary ranges that are based on individuals working in specific fields full-time for less than five years.

The AMA's salary information page is a great starting point if you are still undecided on a career path. The chart format allows easy salary comparisons amongst several fields. This information can be found in the health care careers section along with other key information for making a career choice in allied health. To go directly to this section of the AMA's Web site, log onto www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/6038.html.

Another key feature of the AMA's Web site is FREIDA Online (Fellowship and Residency Electronic Interactive Database). This database isn't just for doctors; there is information about training requirements for many specialties, and there are also interesting links to graduates' career plan statistics where you can find out what your peers are doing with their careers.

www.healthcaresource.com

HealthcareSource.com

HealthcareSource.com offers a direct, no-frills interface for researching health care career opportunities. The site designers have created a two-prong approach focussed on field of practice and location. The services provided on the site are concisely listed on the main page in a section for job seekers and employers. The options for job seekers include finding a job, posting/editing a resume, and a link to upcoming CEUs and seminars. The options for employers include posting jobs openings, posting upcoming CEUs and seminars, and a link to rates and programs.

The site boasts hundreds of new postings each day, and a brief search in a few fields and states did turn up current job postings.

Make note of the 'Join a Meeting' link in the lower left corner. It looks like this link is fairly new to the Web site, but it has potential as a helpful feature.

www.medzilla.com

MedZilla.com

MedZilla.com is geared toward those searching for a job on a national scale or those who already have a specific company or organization in mind. The main page offers a few different approaches to searching, including a keyword search or a company link search. The keyword approach lists job openings by relevance and gives users the option of viewing the results in order of date. The company link search doesn't send you directly to the company's Web site, rather it links to a sub page within MedZilla.com that features current job openings at the company.

Additional features of MedZilla.com include recommended resources including books, headhunters and associations. Under recommended resources is the 'Publications' link, which leads to trade publications that are free to professionals who qualify.

Another handy section is the 'Community' page; it contains a heavily trafficked forum. Upon our visit, the forum's hottest topic seemed to be pharmaceutical sales careers, but there are forums available for careers in research, science and health care, as well. The messages contained up-to-date content.

www.allalliedhealthschools.com

All Allied Health Schools

All Allied Health Schools’ Web site is a comprehensive online guide to allied health education and careers. According to the site, their goal is to be the finest resource available, allowing students to compare schools, contact them, read common questions and answers, and ask questions.

If you are looking to earn an allied health degree, the site offers a handy directory of schools that includes in-depth fact sheets and contact information so you can request further information. Online and distance learning programs are also included. Lists are organized by state, but there is also a search feature that allows users to search for schools by state and by type of program. A sidebar also offers the school listings organized by program type and is broken down by state. For example, looking for medical assistant programs in California? After just a few clicks, you have a detailed fact sheet on featured schools and links to request admissions information right in front of you.

The Common Q&A page lists numerous allied health fields and provides extensive information on each. It includes information on becoming a physical therapist, occupational therapist, clinical laboratory scientist, audiologist, dietician, emergency medical technician, diagnostic medical sonographer, medical assistant, pharmacy technologist, radiologist and many more.

Overall, this site is extremely thorough and easy to navigate. It’s a great resource for anyone interested in information on various allied health careers and education options.

Absolutely Health Care

This Web site is the largest specialized health care job posting site on the Internet, so if you are looking for a job, this is a great place to start. Absolutely Health Care has over 100,000 posted jobs in 100 categories of health care recruitment.

The site had received a number of prestigious awards, including being ranked number one for health and medicine Web sites in US News & World Report’s “Where The Jobs Are.”

The goal of the site is “to bring health care job seekers, recruiters and hiring officials together.” Allied health job seekers have access to unlimited job postings and users can quickly and easily search the employment database for available positions in health care. There is also a section where users can post their resumes in a database that allows employers nationwide to access them. The site’s job recruitment clients include hospitals, national home care agencies, health care staffing companies, health care travel companies, health care providers, private practices and offices of physicians, medical equipment sales companies, nursing and personal care facilities, medical testing facilities, research centers, schools and camps, and many more.

The site offers a useful job search feature that allows users to search for jobs by state, job category and company type. The job database offers everything from full-time or part-time employment to regular or travel positions. Some of the allied health job listings include positions for audiologists, medical assistants, dietitians, emergency medical technicians, laboratory technicians, occupational therapists, physical therapists, radiologists, respiratory therapists (RRT and CRTT), speech language pathologists, surgical technicians and more.

www.ethnomed.org

EthnoMed is a Web site containing medical and cultural information on immigrant and refugee groups, The site's objective is to make information about culture, language, health, illness and community resources directly accessible to health care providers who see patients from different ethnic groups. EthnoMed is designed to be used in clinics by care providers in the few minutes before seeing a patient. Using the Internet, ethnomed.org can be accessed anywhere-libraries, clinics, hospitals-which is extremely convenient for health care practitioners.

The ethnic groups included, at this point, are Amharic, Cambodian, Chinese, Eritrean, Hispanic, Oromo, Somali, Tigrean and Vietnamese. Other ethnic groups will be included as materials are written. To this end, user feedback is essential-ethnic organizations are urged to respond with ongoing activities and resources to expand the information currently available to clinicians.

The cultural profiles presented on the Web site also address topics including geography, history and politics, language, religion, etiquette, family life, nutrition, traditional medical practices, traditional diseases, traditional remedies, experience with western medicine in home countries and experience with western medicine in the U.S. Case examples and statistics are used to illustrate the situations cultural groups and individuals face when they seek health care.

The site is a joint project of University of Washington Health Sciences Library and the Harborview Medical Center's Community House Calls Program.

Allied Health Employment

Allied Health Employment is part of the Health Care Job Store (www.healthcarejobstore.com). It's a fast-loading Web site with quick links from the home page to search agents, salary information, health care recruiters and resume services. Other than some basic site art, alliedhealthemployment.com is not burdened by advertising or pop-ups.

One of the most impressive pages on the site is Similar Site Links, a list of over 325 health care job sites arranged according to job title/industry or to geographical area. This page alone is worth book marking-it makes a perfect jumping-off point during an online job search.

The Job Search Agent is also helpful, allowing users to search both nationally and internationally-users can even search by individual cities and the search agent also takes into consideration your state licenses.

The resume positing section offers users exceptional, long-term control over their resume. In addition to posting and deleting your resume, you can choose to activate it or deactivate it. This is a marvelous option for individuals who are interested in keeping their resume up to date without having it in current circulation.

The Salary Information & Salary Survey page asks users to fill out four pieces of information: their title, salary, state and geographic area. This information then becomes part of the site's salary database, which is accessed when users search for salary information based on profession and location. A quick search of occupational therapists in the Midwest came up with over 400 results with salary claims ranging from a likely incorrect low of $2,500 up to an equally dubious $426,000.

www.eatright.org/kidsreallifefoodpyramid.html

The American Dietetic Association (ADA) and Quaker Oatmeal recently launched the “Kids' Real-Life Food Pyramid Planner,” an online tool that guides parents and health care givers through a database of nearly 500 foods commonly consumed by kids, to reconstruct a menu of their child's typical daily food intake—from breakfast to snacks to dinner. The food list is then measured against the USDA Food Guide Pyramid recommendations, and a custom visual recreation of how the meals actually measure up is produced for each site user. Tips on how to add nutritious choices into the mix also accompany each report.

This online tool comes in response to recent reports of rising child obesity rates. Government statistics indicate that 20-30% of children in the U.S. are either overweight or at risk of becoming so. The Web site offers ways parents can help their kids develop healthy eating habits simply by modifying foods they already love to eat. The site also contains a downloadable poster health care practitioners can distribute to patients or hang in their waiting rooms to extend their patient care to encompass the patient's entire lifestyle. The poster features healthy “Beat-the-Clock” breakfast ideas for families on the go and illustrates how parents can easily create more nutritious breakfasts by adjusting their kids' typical morning meals to include healthy choices from two or more food groups.

This site also has links to information regarding careers in dietetics, employment possibilities, accreditation and credentialing information, a link the ADA's online journal and more.

With nearly 70,000 members, the American Dietetic Association is the nation's largest organization of food and nutrition professionals. For more information, visit ADA at www.eatright.org.

Advanced Medical Assistants of America

According to the Advanced Medical Assistants of America's Web site, just a few of their Web site's goals include exploring the resources available to medical assistants in their field, expanding ways the Internet can be used to support learning and professional growth, facilitating the sharing of essential information about the field and encourage networking and collaboration through an online message forum.

www.certmedassistant.com made its debut in 2000 as a small, home-based Web site. Today it is a premier online source of medical and health care related knowledge and science resources for medical assistants.

The Advanced Medical Assistants of America Web site consists of two areas. The first section is the guest area, which has a general overview of the medical assisting profession that includes information on education, training and practicing. Some legal aspects are also covered in this section and there is a flash card self-study program available. This general area also has the site's online forum of medical assistants.

The second section is the “AMAA Information Powerhouse” section, which is accessible to members only. To access this password-protected area, a small contribution in support of the site is required. Once logged-on, users are granted access to interactive quizzes, medical assisting certification exam simulation tests, opportunities to receive continuing education credits (CEUs) and more. The membership area of the site is also home to a large and continually growing selection of education resources and links to other medical teaching and learning Web sites.

According to its Web site, the mission of National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians, Inc. (NAEMT) is to “assure a professional representative organization to receive and represent the views and opinions of pre-hospital care personnel and to thus influence the future advancement of EMS as an allied health profession.” NAEMT provides educational programs, liaison activities, development of national standards and reciprocity and the development of programs to benefit pre-hospital care personnel.

On the Web site users can sign up to be members of NAEMT, which includes a bimonthly subscription to NAEMT News; continuing education opportunities year round; professional placement services; health, life and disability insurance opportunities; liaison representation with over 32 other agencies and organizations and much more.

The Web site provides information on NAEMT's annual expo and meeting and information on association leadership and staff.

Education opportunities are highlighted throughout the site—NAEMT has been committed to educational programs for the EMS community since its initial Pre-Hospital Trauma Life Support program and continues with the recently released Advanced Medical Life Support and Pediatric Prehospital Care and programs.

The NAEMT Web site works in conjunction with EMSBooks.com to provide many EMS and emergency services related books, software and videos. The site will soon offer reviews of EMS related titles as well.

www.aapa.org

American Academy of Physician Assistants

The American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA) is the only national organization that represents physician assistants (PAs) in all specialties and all employment settings. Its membership also includes physician assistant students and supporters of the profession.

The AAPA Web site is a comprehensive place to find information regarding the physician assistant profession. There is general information on the field of physician assistants that includes links to information on standard PA education and programs, NCCPA certification, general PA data, statistics and guidelines for ethical conduct.

The site is also home to information regarding AAPA membership, including an online directory of members, a calendar of events, a list of AAPA leaders, a news room with up-to-date press releases, a list of the AAPA staff, information on the annual AAPA conference and much more.

PA professional practice issues are also covered, including health care delivery systems and structures and quality and risk management issues. Reimbursement matters, such as third-part coverage of services by PAs and Medicaid overage chart information is also provided.

There is an employment and employer's guide on the Web site with information about employment opportunities at AAPA, and for AAPA members, a job database to search for current job openings across the country. Members can post their resumes and even receive new job alerts by email. The site also provides an online resume builder with resume and cover letter examples, interview preparation questions and answers and even a pre-employment checklist.

AAPA.org is also home to an online store where users can purchase “PA Day” products like T-shirts and magnets, as well as AAPA publications and affiliate publications.

Overall, this site is a one-stop-shop for everything you ever wanted to know about the field of physician assistants.