Working locum tenens was a life saver for me and my early retirement. It gave me an opportunity to decelerate and ease into the lifetime of leisure. I don’t know the way nicely my early retirement years would have been if I went straight from my 60 hour per week full time common surgical procedure observe, to nothing. which was how I had initially deliberate my exit from drugs.
Three months earlier than I retired, I despatched out a letter to each vital entry hospital in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. The letter spelled out my want to chop again and work solely half time, and my want to assist out in rural hospitals who solely had one surgeon.
I obtained extra gives to work as a locum common surgical hospitalist than I may presumably deal with. I selected my favourite alternatives, acquired credentialed, and began working half time as a locum physician for the following three years. This gave me a chance to decelerate earlier than really quitting, which I believe made the transition into retirement simpler.
For 3 years I contributed to the well being of rural American hospitals and the lone surgeons who labored there. As I slowed down my observe I used to be in a position to begin writing my Physician Information ebook collection. Locum tenens grew to become such a constructive occasion in my life, I made an internet course to assist those that wish to get off on the correct foot after they begin doing locums, it’s referred to as The Medical doctors Course to Thriving in Locum Tenens.
Following are 9 issues I discovered about how nice locum tenens could be within the lifetime of a health care provider. I belief you’ll find them useful as you take into account the probabilities of working in locum tenens.
1: Work Once I Need
I cherished having the liberty to work as a lot as I favored. If I needed to take a month off to journey, I didn’t ebook any assignments for that month. Since I tended to work one week at a time at every location, and sometimes two weeks, I used to be in a position to area out my time on and off the clock to go well with our journey schedule.
2: Really Off Once I Am Off
Once I labored in my very own observe, I wasn’t actually off once I wasn’t working or on name. I had sufferers who belonged to me, and I used to be the physician they needed to see. So I typically was referred to as even once I was not on name. I typically even acquired calls from a health care provider or nurse who had a query about one in all my sufferers once I was on trip.
However with locum jobs, I used to be the fill in physician. Once I was off, the common physician took over once more and there was by no means a necessity for me to get a name from a household, nurse, or an administrator. As soon as I walked out of the hospital on the finish of my task, I used to be actually off.
3: All the things Was At all times Recent and New
After 20 years of being in the identical observe, the job acquired to be a bit stale. Every day was extra of the identical. Each locum task was one thing new and thrilling for me.
The sufferers had been new. The nurses had been new. The administration was new. The constructing was new. It felt recent and exhilarating.
4: Check Drive a New Job
When locum recruiters referred to as me with job alternatives, typically the hospital was on the lookout for a full time surgeon and was utilizing locum surgeons till they discovered one. I noticed what an amazing alternative this was for a brand new surgeon.
If you happen to don’t know the place you wish to reside, or what kind of observe you wish to have, right here was an opportunity to check the waters earlier than committing to a job.
Locums gave me the chance to work at a website, meet the workers and directors, and see how I favored the folks, the job, and the city earlier than deciding if I needed to use for the full-time spot. Or I may merely transfer on to the following locums task if this one wasn’t a superb match.
This enables one to see the workload and environments in depth way over doing a few interviews earlier than committing to a job.
5: Paid Journey
As a surgeon in personal observe, I by no means acquired a paid trip, in actual fact I used to be nonetheless paying my workplace workers whereas I used to be vacationing. In locums I used to be getting paid to journey and I cherished it. My journey bills to come back and go to every task had been paid, my spouse and I obtained free housing whereas at every task, and since I solely took assignments the place the work-load was gentle, we had quite a lot of time to discover the realm whereas getting paid to be there.
We additionally took benefit of sightseeing on the way in which to and from my locum jobs, as we all the time drove to assignments. Generally we’d keep further after the task and benefit from the space. Certainly one of my recurring assignments was in a seaside city and I cherished hanging on the market earlier than and after my work days.
6: Folks Stated Thank You
One of many issues I didn’t see coming was all of the appreciation I obtained. Folks had been actually grateful I used to be there serving to their solo physician keep wholesome. Again residence, I used to be acquainted to everybody and I seldom heard somebody say “Thanks for being right here at present.”
On my locum assignments, somebody stated thanks to me virtually every single day. It was a breath of recent air.
7: Personalized Job
I actually loved being able to determine precisely what my job would entail. Since I used to be making an attempt to chop again, I picked assignments that didn’t require trauma. I needed to do endoscopy so I picked cities the place I might be allowed to do scopes. I didn’t wish to do clinic, so I solely accepted jobs the place I used to be masking the hospital and solely emergency points from the clinic.
8: Nice Trip Time
This might need been my favourite factor about locum tenens: I may have all the holiday time I needed. Regular jobs have a restricted quantity of trip allotment. It’s typically 4-6 weeks, with out break day for good habits.
As a locum physician, I may take so long as I needed between assignments. I may take a 3-4 week trip each different month if I needed. I may even take 6 months off for a world cruise and nobody would discover or care. The liberty to trip freely was a dream come true for me.
9: No Committees or Politics
Since I used to be solely on task for a brief time frame, nobody ever requested me to be on a committee. I didn’t must go to any conferences. Though if there was a free meal related, I typically discovered the time to attend.
Some conferences are enjoyable, particularly if you’re not making the choices and you’re simply there to pay attention and eat the free steak.
The political issues of the medical neighborhood weren’t my concern. I used to be often not even there lengthy sufficient to grasp what was occurring with the behind the scenes political maneuvering. One other breath of recent air.
Though I lined 9 nice benefits to residing the locums life, there are a lot of extra. In case you are contemplating locum tenens, whether or not you wish to work instantly with hospitals or undergo a locums company, your life will probably be so much simpler in case you stand on my shoulders and don’t attempt to reinvent the wheel.
Take a look at The Medical doctors Course to Thriving in Locum Tenens and study the quick cuts to make your locum life higher. Any single concept that improves your life is nicely price minimal the value of the course. I additionally cowl a few of the disadvantages of locum tenens on this course. May as nicely make it a good time from the start. And with my a reimbursement assure, you don’t have anything to lose. There’s additionally some info on precisely what I did to get my assignments in rural areas in my ebook, The Medical doctors Information to Good Profession Alternate options and Retirement.
Better of luck to you in your locum life.
