Locum tenens physicians is a term to describe the doctor that needs to do a certain job in a hospital while waiting for the original doctor to come back or to fill in while the new doctor gets ready to take the position. It is pretty much a standing that is working while the main doctor is going to be away. There is nothing to fear from a locum tenens physician though; they are full medical doctors that just happen to enjoy traveling around more than staying at the same office. It should also be noted that locum tenens doctors have been serving the United States of American for over 30 years. You may have been treated by one in the past and you do not even know it.
You may also be reading this because you are that doctor who is looking for some locum tenens employment opportunities. Well your search is going in the best direction possible. All you need to do is be on the internet looking for a company that specializes in finding locum tenens employment for physicians, like Weatherby Locums. All you will need to do is fill out some personal information and they will do the rest.
These agencies are so good that they can even find you work within a couple of weeks. The major attribute that you need to possess is the ability to pick up and leave whenever you are asked. There is not really any time to sit there and think about an offer that has been given to you, it is either now or never. Ok, you will generally have about 1 day’s time to determine if you are going to take the job, but that is hardly enough time to do any sort of analysis. That is why these locum tenens physician jobs are not for the faint of heart or the stationary. You need to be ready to go from New York to Los Angeles and back again.
Although many of the locum tenens job opportunities will be for temporary work, there is another type of job that might interest some of the doctors out there. It should not really be considered locum tenens employment, but an extend job interview. Some hospitals want to hire a locum tenens physician, especially for surgery, before they give him the actual job offer. This is a really great tool for the hospitals to determine if they are ready to hire this person or not.
If you are in search of these types of opportunities, you need to make sure to tell your recruitment agency exactly that. When you are filling out the personal information, make certain that you explain you do not want to be considered for every single job that becomes available for 3 months at a time. You can tell them that you are a very specialized physician and that you are only interest in locum tenens employment if it has the potential to turn into a full time job. This can be a really nice way to do some new job hunting and still get paid while you look.
