Locum tenens gains favor with new doctors

A survey profiles physicians who like the freedom of temporary work and practicing without administrative worries.

By Damon Adams, AMNews staff. Feb. 17, 2003.

The face of the locum tenens physician is looking less wrinkled.

Older doctors have long accounted for a large chunk of the temporary physician work force, but more young doctors are entering this field.

In 1996, doctors out of residency and fellowship programs made up 1% of the locum tenens population, according to Staff Care, an Irving, Texas-based locum tenens firm. By 2001, they made up 11% of the field.

A new survey by health care staffing company CompHealth Inc. shows about one in four locum tenens doctors accepted his or her first temporary assignment out of residency or within three years of finishing training.

Other characteristics of today's part-time doctors:

• Most seek out locum tenens work because they perceive it to have flexible work schedules and fewer administrative hassles.
• Seven out of 10 are male.
• More than half prefer to work one to four weeks at an assignment.

"These physicians value their lifestyle and their careers, and locum tenens allows them to find a balance in both. It's giving them an opportunity to practice medicine on their own terms," said John Genna, vice president of corporate marketing for CompHealth, based in Salt Lake City.

Last year, CompHealth gathered information from surveys of 776 physicians who worked with the firm, providing a profile, released last month, of this growing work force:

• 41% are 30 to 49 years old while 38% are 60 and older.