Healthcare IS Blog

Do you find yourself leaving random essentials behind each week as you pack for the life of a road warrior?

Well, so do we. In an effort to get ourselves organized and help out our fellow consultants, the team here at Healthcare IS has collaborated on a list of essentials, so that you won’t find yourself longing for those small but vital comforts while working on-site.

Anyone can tell you that getting to the airport early is a key factor in experiencing airport success. At time’s though this may not always be possible. If you find yourself in this predicament often, think about some solutions that might help you get through to the gate a little faster than the average traveler. I’ve listed a few suggestions below that can grease your security wheels and shave some time off your gate race.

In Pharmacy Informatics consulting, regardless of your implementation experience, if no one knows what you’re capable of, you might as well be invisible. It’s important to be known and trusted for your skills by securing your place on shortlists and learning how to manage your relationships in ways that gain loyalty and respect.

Packing can be a pain, but with these helpful tips maybe you can cut down on space, time, and all those other troubles associated with traveling with luggage. We've broken our packing process down into four easy steps for you: the check-in, the bag, what to bring, and the techniques that have worked for us. If you have tips of your own, please feel free to share them! 

7 Hard Hitting Interview Questions for Consultants

A while back we turned to Twitter & Facebook and asked our followers to share with us their worst interview questions. We ended up some pretty funny responses. When it comes down to it, we've all had some ridiculous interview questions thrown our way. What helps us to address these odd ball topics and hard hitting questions is simple. Preparation. In an attempt to share what we know here  at Healthcare IS we put together the following questions that we come across and advice on how to thoughtfully answer them.

A few times a year, you might find yourself dropping down into a new city to work on a contract. By no means are you jumping from a plane and making your way through jungles or other rugged terrain, but you can still seek adventure and explore like an urban Bear Grylls, the man responsible for the Discovery Channel hit Man vs. Wild.

Over the years, I've personally found active listening to be a very difficult skill to develop. Why? Partly because I'm a "type A" personality who likes to engage assertively, sometimes even aggressively, in conversation. I find myself occasionally interrupting people so that I can get my point across or "win" the conversation/debate. Many words have been written and training programs developed around active listening. Below is a summary of my thoughts on the topic.

As consultants, you find yourselves spending many hours in the air or awaiting departure. For many of you, this time serves as a window of opportunity to get a little extra work done or organize your personal affairs. But on occasion, we all like to pick up an interesting read. This month the Healthcare IS team would like to share one of our favorite new reads, The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do In Life and Business.

Life as a road warrior has its compromises but exercise doesn’t have to be one of them.

Below are two apps I’ve recently tested out. They appeal to short-term time commitment and incentivized commitment.

Although there are many things that will make the life of a traveling consultant easier, I think there a few that qualify as must-haves for anyone who travels for work on a weekly basis. 

These may seem like common sense to most, but you’d be surprised by how many people with whom I speak who are not equipped with these tools designed to make travel more seamless. 

We asked around and this is what we found: Our readers get the most value out of the five sources listed below!

In an earlier post, Road Warriors: Driving In a Foreign State, we explored different traffic laws from state to state.

Each week we send our consultants out on assignment somewhere in the U.S. They exit their flight, walk over to Rental Cars, and make their way to the client site or lodging.

Working in new and foreign cities can make it hard to form the social relationships that enrich our lives. Many times, the workplace and hotel are the limited options with which consultants find themselves. But that doesn’t have to be the case.

Meetup.com is an online networking site that has been connecting locals and travelers based on personal interests and networking.

It’s impossible to have an active account on Google+ without witnessing the exponential growth of communities and group discussions whether it’s on a post, discussions within communities or through Hangouts.

Google+ communities, much like LinkedIn Groups, are created for people to get together and talk about the interests/passions they share.

As a follow up to the post,  The Minimalist Guide To Packing Light, this week we’re giving you a review on luggage brands and taking a look at what other travelers have found to be the best of breed brands. Working as a traveling consultant you need the best bag for the job. Take a look at what we have found to be popular among frequent flyers.

As an independent consultant you are responsible for managing your projects, tracking your expenses and staying on schedule while traveling 4-5 days a week. It doesn’t leave much time for managing your personal expenses. Nearly all companies, banks and service providers make it easy to receive an e-bill and provide you with an online account for the ease of reminders and paying bills online.

As a traveling consultant, do you dread sending in weekly/monthly expense reports?

Imagine this familiar feeling.  You’re in a new city and a new airport.  You know you have an hour to kill before your flight begins boarding.  The rows of black chairs are filled with only awkward spaces left between wayward travelers.  

As a traveling consultant, your job description contains more duties more than just your Health IT project. Working independently or for a firm means that you need to be tracking your own hours and recording your own expenses. Finding a rhythm to staying organized takes time, but with these helpful apps you may find that tracking, and exporting a time and expense report, may be as simple as a few taps on your phone or tablet.

Have you ever found yourself stranded in an airport, waiting for a delayed flight with only limited or expensive wireless Internet available? What about working from a café where the wireless is slow or even nonexistent? What about moving into a new home before your Internet can be transferred or turned on? No matter where or why, we’ve all found ourselves without wireless when we’ve wanted it or even needed it.

New social media networks turn the business travel world into a much smaller place with new networks that allow solo travelers to login and connect with fellow businessmen and women on flights and in cities.

Working in consulting management, we send our consultants out on a Monday and home again the following Thursday. That’s two trips a week that can offer, previously missed, camaraderie.

Working as a traveling consultant has a lot of upsides but one of the biggest downsides is being away from your family. Our consultants have found some pretty creative ways to connect while away from home. Some of them documenting their trips with a lovable family stuffed animal and others who prerecord bedtime stories for their children. 

The concept of blogging is nothing new but as the application process turns digital and fewer and fewer paper resumes are passed around.. One thing is for sure, taking advantage of the electronic era can only further your candidacy for the job you want.