The lowdown on locum: The ins and outs of temporary assignments

More doctors are choosing to travel from practice to practice as a means to get clinical freedom and a little adventure. But it's not for everybody.

By Larry Stevens, AMNews correspondent. Nov. 19, 2007.

Chucking the practice or employed life for locum tenens sounds like a dream come true: no office politics, no haggling with insurers, no call, flexible hours. For some, temporary work holds the promise of giving them the freedom to go where they want and concentrate solely on practicing medicine.

Then again, there is the flip side: a possible lack of steady income, lots of travel that takes you away from family and friends, a lack of collegiality. It's possible that locum tenens holds the promise of giving you an unstable professional life, hopping from lousy assignment to lousy assignment.

More physicians are deciding that locum work represents the freedom they want, rather than the instability they might fear. Staff Care, a major temporary staffing firm, estimates that 36,000 physicians worked in temporary positions in 2005 (the latest information available), up nearly 10,000 in four years. That includes doctors with established practices or employment situations who are moonlighting, which represents about one-third of locum tenens physicians.

Why do they do it? According to Staff Care, the three most popular reasons doctors gave for locum work were a flexible schedule, travel and no office politics. But the same survey said the downside was the opposite of one of its positives: travel taking time away from family and friends, uncertainty of work and lack of benefits.

Uncertainty of work might be less of an issue, depending on specialty: Staff Care estimates that the demand for temporary doctors has nearly doubled over the last three years, as hospitals and practices try to fill gaps caused by physician departures or retirements. Hospitals and practices are hiring temporaries because of greater demand from patients, and a greater demand from doctors for more work-life balance, such as manageable schedules and vacations. Doctors considering locum tenens work should be aware that, like other types of medical careers, there are factors that can lead to success and those that may have a different outcome. Here are issues to consider.