It is no secret that a physician’s career in the healthcare sector can be a harrowing process. It involves working hard and being your absolute best long before you get a chance to become a licensed physician. It involves years of blood, sweat, and tears before finally having the privilege of practicing medicine — after which more years of hard work and dedication will follow.
It is undoubtedly not a career for the faint of heart, though those that pursue it know just how crucial the part they play in society will be. Most people who tackle the field of medicine already have the focus and willpower necessary to forge ahead. That said, the traditional physician’s career is not the only one available.
There is an alternative that provides a means of traveling around various facilities and practicing medicine in different scenarios known as locum tenens. For the razor-focused individual, are locum tenens companies worth pursuing?
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What Is Locum Tenens?
The long and short of locum tenens is that it is a physician’s career where they get to choose from various assignments based on different locations. The amount of time spent in a facility can differ wildly, and the physician will end up working in various facilities in all manner of locations.
What makes locum tenens special?
The thing that makes locum tenens special is that it helps most physicians get a sense of helping different people in various cities. You could even be tasked with filling a role in a remote location — providing an invaluable experience no matter the occasion. Once again, it is not the kind of thing to be taken lightly, though assignments in remote locations tend to pay much better, which also factors into paying off student loans.
A more personalized journey
Being a licensed physician can often make things feel like everything is set in stone. Fortunately, a career in locum tenens wipes away any fear of things becoming too stagnant. It helps provide locum tenens physicians with a means of personalizing their career by having them choose the locations they want to serve. Some might go for shorter terms to help gain more experience in other areas, while others might go for longer terms to get a handle on how things work in a single facility. No matter the case, everyone has the option to live out their careers the way they want.
A less hectic schedule
One of the biggest advantages of a locum tenens physician is they are typically not so heavily involved in the paperwork of the hospital. As they are only filling a role temporarily, most locum tenens physicians can expect to only work on what they were assigned to do, rather than have to deal with multiple types of jobs at once as a traditional physician might. There is also less stress overall when it comes to the schedule, as a regular career might have a physician stay on-call indefinitely.
The bottom line
The fact of the matter is that not everyone wants to take on a different medical facility every single time, and not everyone is ready to handle the responsibilities that come with locum tenens. However, those that want to live their career to the fullest will have plenty of opportunities to succeed with locum tenens.
Is locum tenens the ideal career path for you? That is definitely up to you to decide, though it does not hurt to consider all of the potential benefits that come with a career in locum tenens. You might even end up turning it into a full-time career!
