Working as a locum doctor is becoming an increasingly popular option for medical professionals, whether you are a retiree doctor opting to keep your hand in practice, or you are a junior doctor sampling as many specialties as possible before you make a final career decision.
Janice Boughton has been working as a locum doctor in America for approximately just over a year, writing on KevidMD that “having the skills of a physician would allow me to travel and interact with places and people in a meaningful way, have adventures, roll up my sleeves, get my feet wet, that sort of thing.” Dr Boughton decided to switch up her working routine when she left her practice, due to other partners leaving as well as wanting to update her knowledge base and re-evaluate her career options.
Speaking about the high demand for locum workers, Dr Boughton comments that “Doctors with certain skills, especially internal medicine and hospital medicine, are wanted all over the country, especially in small towns and rural hospitals, and locums are hired often to avoid catastrophe while a hiring a permanent physician.” This is definitely one of the key advantages to locum work, as in you can fill your schedule with as many shifts as you wish, since there is never a shortage of work available.
Flexible working
Working across California, Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Alaska, Dr Boughton used the services of a locum agency to help her find work that was suitable and ideal for her. “Becoming a locum tenens physician is easy: one simply contacts an agency online and then begins to fill out application forms and send countless documents to various places. It is time consuming but simple. Then a locums recruiter will call and begin to offer all sorts of jobs. If a job is interesting, the recruiter will send curriculum vitae information to the client and if the client is interested, phone interviews follow and if what they want is what the physician wants to provide, credentialing and scheduling follow,” she explains.
Aside from the travel perks of being able to explore new regions, Dr Boughton also reveals how the higher income also comes in handy. “Full time work that pays much more than I made as a full time primary care doctor is 7 days a week, every other week, about 12 hours a day. This allows me to have real time off, which is great,” she enthuses. Since you have full control of your schedule, being able to pencil in time off, yet still earn the money you want is very easy, especially with the abundance of job roles available.
Dr Boughton sums up by saying “Locum tenens work is a truly great option. It allows me to know that I will be able to stay busy in my field and make enough money to support my family and to have breathing space to do other important things.”
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