Back
We wrote recently about new research showing that physicians are engaging in locum tenens work earlier in their careers. An interview in Physicians News Network, a Los Angeles medical economics publication, captured the advantages and challenges of one doctor's early locum tenens experience.
There's no substitute for experience
Physicians News Network interviewed Dr. Tess Washington, a family medicine physician and surgeon two years out of her residency training.
Dr. Washington completed her residency burdened with student loans and credit card debt. Taking on extra locum tenens work provided the resources necessary to pay that debt down quickly, a benefit that seems to be developing into a trend.
In addition to the extra income, Dr. Washington credits the rigors of locum tenens work for providing her with the confidence to establish her own private practice.
Well-rounded is a good thing
The locum tenens lifestyle may not be for everyone. Dr. Washington describes it as being like MacGyver. You get dropped into a critical situation armed with your skill, knowledge and a smartphone. You get handed a roster of patients and the responsibility to perform is yours, not the hospital's.
For some of us, that is exactly the experience we are looking for.
There are other benefits as well. Over a nine-month stint of locum tenens assignments, Dr. Washington said she learned five separate EMR systems and is now licensed to practice in a number of different states.
Locum tenens doctors also escape the need to commit valuable time to the hospital's administrative and political requirements. Mostly, there's no need to sit through policy meetings. Instead you're seeing your patients.
The time may be right
There are different reasons to pursue locum tenens work, and those reasons can change for physicians as they advance through their careers. Still, Dr. Washington's experience emphasizes the value of examining locum tenens assignments as an early-career option worth exploring.