Jonny Hale

Honoring the Impact of Nurse Practitioners for National NP Week

All of us at All Star Healthcare Solutions wish nurse practitioners (NPs) caring for patients across the country a very happy National Nurse Practitioner Week, November 10-16. We appreciate the indelible impact these advanced practice providers have on patients, fellow healthcare professionals, and communities, including as locum tenens professionals. In fact, we examine some of the many ways locum tenens amplifies the benefits of adding NPs to your facility’s staffing strategies.

Primary and Specialized Resource

Although 88 percent of NPs are certified to practice within primary care, according to the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP), some studies suggest these ranks are shrinking as more nurse practitioners choose to work in specialty roles. All Star Healthcare Solutions can help hospitals, clinics, and private practice groups fill primary care NP positions as well as NP specialists. Indeed, enlisting locum tenens NPs offers an efficient alternative to bring specialists to your facility and community if demand varies or you’re experiencing personnel gaps while searching for new staff members.

Patient Education and Satisfaction

Many rural facilities face a complicated staffing situation: the challenge of personnel shortages while also incurring increased demand for healthcare services related to an aging population. A Joint Economic Committee report earlier this year stated that rural regions are home to more residents aged 65 and older than urban areas. Other data indicates one-quarter of all Medicare recipients live in rural areas. Nor do researchers expect these factors to even out in the coming years. Projections suggest the senior citizen demographic will grow by more than 40 percent nationwide within the next 10 years and will further exacerbate the conundrum for many rural hospitals and clinics.

NPs assist facilities in caring for older patients, addressing clinical needs and advising individuals, family members, and caregivers. Research indicates more comprehensive patient education correlates with increased compliance and greater satisfaction scores. Locum tenens NPs can focus even more time on patient interactions because they tend to have fewer administrative responsibilities competing for their attention.

Continuity of Care

Transitional care is another aspect of healthcare where NPs can make a big impact, including when practicing locum tenens. Follow-up care after a hospital discharge, for instance, can be particularly crucial to help prevent readmission through early intervention if necessary. NPs have full practice authority in 29 U.S. states and Washington, D.C., which equips them to effectively function in this space as well as other clinical roles.

Full-Service Staffing

As we highlighted here, incorporating nurse practitioners into your clinician roster offers many benefits, whether on a temporary basis or as direct-hire staff. In fact, there may be times when your organization would benefit from both types of staffing, and All Star Healthcare Solutions is ready to assist. As part of our “Red Carpet” Service, our Locums and Direct Hire Divisions combine efforts to deliver full-service staffing solutions based on your facility’s unique needs.

Make All Star Healthcare Solutions your staffing partner today! Call us at 800-928-0229, or contact us online.

by Jonny Hale

The Advantages of Locum Tenens with All Star Healthcare Solutions

Why accept locum tenens as a career choice? Why fit the occasional locum tenens moonlighting job into your current schedule? The answer to both questions is that the locum tenens option offers specific advantages that are unique to the career alternative, especially when choosing All Star Healthcare Solutions as your partner.

All Star Delivers “Red Carpet” Service

From the moment you contact All Star Healthcare Solutions, you become a beneficiary of our signature “Red Carpet” Service, in which going above and beyond the expected is our standard. First, our Online Services team will assist you with our streamlined application process via the convenient All Star Provider Portal. Then, recruiters assist you through the credentialing process, coordinating efforts with our Medical Staff Services specialists as well as begin the search for locum tenens positions that match your clinical skills, professional background, and location and facility preferences. Meanwhile, you are free to focus on what you do best, caring for patients. You don’t have to carve out time from clinical duties to do all the legwork yourself.

All Star Stays With You Throughout the Locum Tenens Journey

Our “Red Carpet” Service continues on into each assignment. Not only will All Star arrange housing and travel details, but your recruiter periodically will reach out to see how you are settling in or if you have any questions about how the assignment is developing. Of course, we’re always available to address needs that may pop up during a contract. But that’s not all. We also want to hear about new experiences you have on and off duty. We enjoy hearing stories about your colleagues or memorable moments on assignment. In fact, we want to hear about all aspects of your locum tenens experience, including your parting thoughts on how the contract was executed or can be enhanced. That feedback helps us enhance our “Red Carpet” Service.

All Star Offers Full-Service Capabilities

One of the advantages of locum tenens is that providers practice in various settings and locations without long-term employment commitments. This perspective is particularly beneficial when you want to explore practice environments for possible future employment. The advantage of partnering with All Star is that consultants in our Locums and Direct Hire divisions collaborate with each other to serve providers on both fronts. Our people work together to find temporary positions while also presenting possible permanent jobs that meet your objectives. Once again, this team effort frees you up to focus on clinical duties, and also streamlines communication.

All Star Works Within Your Timeframe

Staff members who want a vacation or an extended break from work most likely have to coordinate requests with those of their colleagues, especially during certain seasons, such as summer and popular holidays. Locum tenens offers physicians and advanced practice providers more scheduling freedom. Discuss with your consultant which dates you are available to accept short- or long-term assignments. Who knows, perhaps you are willing to work locums during the main holidays, knowing it’s giving another provider quality time with friends and family. Additionally, we can accommodate a more occasional frequency if you’re interested in using temporary positions to supplement your income. Maintaining communication with your consultant is key to having a locums practice adapt to your scheduling needs and not the other way around.

All Star Can Help Make Room for Personal Endeavors

For many providers, practicing medicine is only one aspect of your professional identity. You also are entrepreneurs, innovators, educators, creators, or any number of roles outside of your clinical duties. The locum tenens career alternative helps to make room for other projects. As noted above, the schedule flexibility allows for breaks between contracts if you want to redirect attention to a business venture. Also, being immersed in a variety of communities may inspire new topics to cover in your podcast or video channel. Additionally, you may discover more liberty with your days off during a locum tenens contract, which can be dedicated toward other goals. Inform your All Star consultant of your plans so they can match them with locum tenens possibilities.

To start enjoying your locum tenens advantages, call an All Star Healthcare Solutions consultant today at 800-928-0229, or contact us online.

by Jonny Hale

Why Short Locum Tenens Jobs Can Work for You

Have you always pondered the possibility of locum tenens but questioned if you had the time? Well, wonder no more. At All Star Healthcare Solutions, we partner with healthcare organizations of all types and sizes, and each has its specific staffing needs, which is why locum tenens assignments vary in length. Some facilities have ongoing needs and request clinicians for weeks or months at a stretch. Other hospitals, clinics, and private practice groups may only require temporary coverage for a few days. These short-term assignments present unique opportunities for locum tenens providers, as detailed here.

Patient and Peer Support

There are numerous circumstances that prompt facilities to request locum tenens professionals for a few days, i.e., staff out ill or an unexpected change that requires an urgent staffing solution. By stepping in for a couple of shifts, you’re supporting patients by providing continuity of care. You’re also benefiting the staff on duty by assuming some of their caseload.

Staying Local-ish

All Star matches physicians and advanced practice providers with temporary positions all over the country; however, demand for locum tenens professionals may also appear closer to home. Local or in-state opportunities are well-suited for quick contracts and oftentimes require minimum travel. Perhaps it’s a weekend in another part of the state or a couple of days in a nearby city.

Schedule Convenience

A locum tenens practice offers a variety of scheduling options. Providers who pursue it full-time can determine which weeks they wish to work and how long they take off between assignments. Moonlighting with locum tenens a day here and there is another kind of flexibility. Either way, you decide when to accept opportunities; just keep your All Star consultant informed so they find the open positions that meet your criteria.

Ease into Locums

One-, two-, or three-day contracts serve as a great jumping-off point for providers new to the career alternative. Brief assignments introduce you to the All Star process of matching providers to positions. You become acquainted with the credentialing procedure, too. And you gain experience acclimating to new settings and co-workers. Who knows, after a few short locums jobs, you may want to graduate to longer assignments. Update your consultant if your goals change along the way.

However long a locum tenens contract runs, All Star Healthcare Solutions promises to always deliver our “Red Carpet” Service of going above and beyond in supporting you throughout the process. Get started on your ideal locum tenens experience by contacting All Star Healthcare Solutions. Call us today at 800-928-0229, or contact us online.

by Jonny Hale

5 Ways to Prioritize Your Well-Being with Locum Tenens

The prognosis for burnout among healthcare professionals remains critical. Survey after survey confirms that, not only do clinicians admit to feeling the impact of burnout on the job, but they also suggest it influences their choice whether or not to stay in their careers. As many administrators, industry leaders, and fellow physicians have stated, provider burnout is a chronic condition that demands strategic and multifaceted solutions. For instance, more and more hospitals, clinics, and other healthcare facilities are establishing employee well-being initiatives. Professional associations and non-profit organizations also have developed programs to give physicians and advanced practitioners tools to effectively treat symptoms of burnout.

Here, we have adapted five pillars of lifestyle medicine, featured on PsychiatryAdvisor.com, to illustrate how locum tenens practice offers another viable means to help ease the effects of burnout and even rekindle interest and investment in your profession.

1. Stress Prevention and Relief

Locum tenens assignments can help moderate some of the stressors typically associated with career dissatisfaction. For example, multiple studies confirm a high degree of non-clinical duties on shift can lead to burnout. Locum tenens providers have fewer of those tasks in their daily schedule. Stepping into a clinical setting on a temporary basis extricates you from most managerial responsibilities. Rather, your practice becomes much more patient-forward. Having the majority of your work hours devoted to treating people — using your skills, knowledge, and experience — brings providers back to what they most enjoy about the job. Oftentimes that shift in focus can be a balm for burnout.

2. Healthful Nutrition

If you have specific dietary needs, arrange to have products delivered to your temporary home. Or, pack preferred items along with your stethoscope and scrubs. Also, check if the region boasts farmers markets, roadside produce stands, or local fish mongers featuring catch of the day to taste the locally sourced fare.

3. Restorative Sleep

Starting a shift after a restful slumber is a great way to prevent symptoms of burnout from encroaching. Locum tenens providers have an interesting advantage: you do not return to all the distractions of home that may occur after a typical workday as a permanent employee. In other words, you are granted more leeway with your off-duty hours, so take advantage of it by indulging in a mindful bedtime routine. Relax with music. Wind down with a book. Stretch out with yoga or fill the time with meditation. Also read our blog, “Establishing a Sense of Home While Working Locum Tenens,” for more helpful hints on how to turn a temporary sleeping environment into more comfortable surroundings.

4. Physical Activity

Curiosity about your new community, visiting intriguing sights, or taking advantage of local natural settings may be all the reason locum tenens providers need to get out and about. While on assignment, walk through the town’s shopping district. Hike or bike nearby trails. Or, if you prefer, check out local gyms, especially if you have a membership in a national chain and there’s a location in town. You may also want to consider scheduling contracts to accommodate athletic competitions or use the time away to focus on training.

5. Social Connections

Every locum tenens job introduces physicians and advanced practitioners to new colleagues as well as members of the community. This opens the door to become more social. In fact, it behooves locums providers to be a bit socially outgoing while acclimating to a new workplace and co-workers. What’s more, many locums professionals relay stories about how they’ve made friendships that have outlasted the assignment during which they were formed. Another benefit is to use locum tenens contracts to bring you closer to friends and family who live far from home. Tell your All Star consultant if you have specific locations in mind.

These are just a few ways locum tenens can help you establish a more conducive work-life balance and revitalize your professional spirit. Get started by making All Star Healthcare Solutions your locum tenens partner. Call us today at 800-928-0229, or contact us online.

by Jonny Hale

A Specialized Look at Physician Assistants for National PA Week

Since 1987, every October 6–12 is designated National Physician Assistant Week, a time to highlight the advanced practice providers who fulfill an expanding role within healthcare. All of us at All Star Healthcare Solutions appreciate the opportunity to assist physician assistants (PAs) in their locum tenens journey as well as their quest for new long-term career opportunities.

Before diving into an overview of today’s PAs — including specialties and where they practice — let’s start with an interesting historical tidbit. Did you know four U.S. Navy corpsman were the first providers to officially be called physician assistants? According to the National Library of Medicine, they graduated in 1967 from the inaugural PA program at Duke University, which was founded to help address a physician shortage that developed over the 1950s and 1960s.

Fast forward to today and the PA ranks have grown to more than 178,700, and as healthcare is once again struggling with staffing shortages, hospitals, clinics, multispecialty private practice groups, along with other healthcare organizations continue to rely on PAs to compensate for the demand in patient care.

Top PA Specialties

Per the 2022 Statistical Profile of Board Certified PAs, published in 2023 by the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA), PAs care for an estimated 10 million individuals each week. It also lists the following as the top practice areas in 2022:

• Surgical subspecialties – orthopedic surgery was the top subspecialty
• Family medicine
• Emergency medicine
• Internal medicine – cardiology was the top subspecialty
• Dermatology
• Hospital practice
• General surgery
• Psychiatry
• Critical care medicine

Physician assistants also work in anesthesia, otolaryngology, obstetrics and gynecology, radiology, urology, and pediatrics, and more.

Preferred PA Clinical Settings

Physician assistants practice in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., and even though NCCPA states the vast majority choose to work in hospitals or office-based private practice groups, the advanced practitioners also care for people in urgent care centers, community health organizations, ambulatory surgical centers, and home health care. Plus, they serve as locum tenens professionals, bringing their knowledge, experience, and expertise to patients and facilities in need of additional clinicians nationwide.

Your PA Partner

All Star Healthcare Solutions is honored to partner with PAs across all specialties, finding temporary and direct-hire opportunities in a variety of clinical settings across the country. Our dedicated consultants not only possess expert knowledge about the profession and the current staffing environment, but they always go above and beyond to deliver our signature “Red Carpet” Service. Whether you’re looking to enjoy the schedule freedom of locum tenens or want to take the next step on your career path, our Locums and Direct Hire Divisions collaborate and coordinate efforts to help you achieve your goals.

To learn more about opportunities with All Star Healthcare Solutions, call us today at 800-928-0229, or contact us online.

by Jonny Hale

Your All Star Recruiter is Your MVP: Most Valuable Partner

What do you look for in a partner? Reliability? Transparency? Commitment? Look no further. Your dedicated All Star Healthcare Solutions recruiter is not only your partner, but your advocate and go-to contact for everything locum tenens. Here are a few benefits of this extraordinary partnership.

Your All Star recruiter presents you to facilities.

When All Star is notified of a locum tenens job, we start by collecting details about the position, facility, patient population, shift and call duty, and any other information to paint a full picture. Then we will inquire if you are interested in pursuing the assignment. Once you grant permission for your profile and CV to be submitted to the facility administrator or manager for consideration, your recruiter becomes your No. 1 spokesperson. They convey how your experience, expertise, practice personality, and availability meet the facility’s qualifications. They also will confirm when the facility wishes to proceed to a phone interview and prep you for the call.

Your All Star recruiter will be transparent.

If you need more details about an assignment before making a decision, just ask us. If you have questions about why a facility seeks supplemental staff, let us know, Want more information about a certain location? Tell us. Your consultant works to make quality matches to temporary jobs, which requires being upfront and responsive to your inquiries.

Your All Star recruiter collaborates with our Medical Staff Services teams.

Before you begin treating individuals on a locum tenens assignment, you must complete the credentialing process for the contracting hospital, clinic, medical practice, or other healthcare organization. We get you started. Our Medical Staff Services team conducts a thorough vetting when you register with All Star, which allows us to kick-start a facility’s credentialing procedure by auto-filling as many details as possible. Your recruiter’s role is to serve as your intermediary, communicating requests for documentation, for example. They will check in with status reports, so you know how the process is progressing.

Your All Star recruiter maintains communications.

Your consultant will always be respectful of your time, especially knowing your energy on assignment is focused on caring for patients, they keep the lines of communication open before, during, and after locum tenens jobs. They’ll touch base periodically through text messages, emails, or phone calls (let them know which method you prefer). Typically, your recruiter will make sure you settle into your temporary home as well as the job and facility. They’ll keep you informed with any news from the facility as well as present opportunities when the time for a new assignment approaches. Also, they’re available to take your call whenever you reach out.

Your All Star recruiter seeks resolutions.

If questions arise and you cannot find answers, call your consultant. As your advocate, they will seek solutions so you can concentrate on caring for patients.

Your All Star Locums recruiter collaborates with our Direct Hire recruiters.

If you would like to begin a job search for your next staff role while accepting locum tenens contracts, no problem. All Star is your full-service agency—consultants from both our Locums and Direct Hire Divisions confer with each other, sharing information when physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and certified registered nurse anesthetists want to explore all their options.

Your All Star recruiter gets to know you.

From the first conversation, your consultant wants to know about you: your goals, your preferences, your availability, and who you are. By developing genuine relationships with providers, our recruiters get to know more about you and how you work, which empowers them to be your most valuable partner.

Enlist All Star Healthcare Solutions to help you on a locum tenens or direct-hire journey. Call us at 800-928-0229, or contact us online.

by Jonny Hale

Celebrating Advanced Practice Providers for National APP Week

This week, September 22–28, 2024, has been designated National APP Week. At All Star Healthcare Solutions, we have the unique privilege to see the value advanced practice providers (APPs) add to the experience of patients, fellow healthcare professionals, and communities. Don’t just take our word for it. Check out these impressive statistics that show the extent of APP roles in modern American healthcare, including the impact nurse practitioners (NPs), physician assistants (PAs), and certified registered nurse anesthetists (CRNAs) make as locum tenens professionals.

Nurse Practitioners

Between 2022 and 2023, the population of nurse practitioners increased by 30,000 or 8.5 percent, to a total of 385,000, per the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP). Caring for patients in a variety of settings across the country, NPs have become an integral component to many healthcare teams:

• More than half of U.S. states offer full practice authority, which enables people the opportunity to have full and direct access to NPs.
• All 50 states plus the District of Columbia grant prescriptive privileges to NPs.
• 88 percent of NPs are certified in primary care.

Demand for NPs continues to come from all corners of the country. Facilities of every type and size rely on the advanced practitioners to help manage increasing caseloads in a variety of specialties. In fact, for some facilities in underserved communities, NPs serve as the primary providers. Our Locums consultants connect NPs with healthcare organizations seeking supplemental staff to fill voids and increase access for patients.

Physician Assistants

According to the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA), the PA workforce in 2023 was 178,708 strong and is expected to grow substantially over the next decade. Similar to their NP colleagues, physician assistants have added a vital level of support to hospitals, clinics, private practice groups, and other healthcare organizations.

• 93 percent of patients believe PAs add value to their healthcare teams.
• PAs work across medical specialties and carry out a wide spectrum of procedures.
• The majority of PAs practice in an acute care hospital setting.

Although hospitals are the largest employers of PAs, the locum tenens career alternative benefits both PAs and all types of facilities requiring additional clinicians. Temporary assignments offer PAs the chance to experience various practice settings and work alongside a plethora of colleagues. Healthcare organizations use locums contracts to address increased seasonal needs, for example, or to triage cases while deploying staff members to strategically address critical needs.

Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists

Research indicates the ranks of CRNAs are growing at an impressive rate of 9.8 percent annually, and these specialists are found practicing in surgical centers and clinics, as well as hospitals.

• CRNAs administer millions of anesthetics annually.
• In some rural communities, CRNAs are the only medical professionals to deliver anesthetics.
• CRNAs provide services throughout every step of surgical procedures.

According to a study published in the Annals of Surgery Open, at least one in every nine individuals reported having undergone a surgical procedure in the past year, which reflects a trend of increasing demand. Indeed, the authors caution that the data may be underestimated. Locum tenens CRNAs help facilities cope with busy inpatient and outpatient surgical schedules. Adding these clinicians for defined periods can reduce wait times for elective surgeries, for example. Simultaneously, locums professionals gain satisfaction from knowing they’re influencing people’s health.

As a full-service staffing agency, All Star is ready to partner with advanced practice providers and healthcare facilities for both locum tenens positions and direct-hire opportunities. If you are ready to adopt a locum tenens practice or seek to add APPs to your staffing mix, call All Star Healthcare Solutions today. Reach us at 800-928-0229, or contact us online.

by Jonny Hale

Locum Tenens Reinforces Key Elements of a Career in Medicine for Both Women and Men

Each year, we celebrate Women in Medicine during the month of September, including shining a spotlight on their growing presence in healthcare. Between 2004 and 2022, the representation of women among actively practicing physicians increased by 26 percent, per the Association of American Medical Colleges.

When comparing on-the-job experiences between female and male medical professionals, research shows the genders have a lot in common when it comes to key indicators, such as residency match and career satisfaction. Another element male and female physicians and advanced practice providers (APPs) share? The benefits of locum tenens! Keep reading to learn how the career alternative enhances the positives of a career in medicine and helps balance out many of the challenges.

Equal Representation in Residency

According to the National Resident Matching Program, the split between women and men matched to residency programs in 2024, for all intents and purposes, was even: 49 percent female and 50 percent male.

The locum tenens advantage: Instead of settling into a long-term employment situation early on in their careers, individuals who work as locum tenens professionals right after residency continue to be exposed to practice nuances from a multitude of clinicians and gain first-hand perspectives on various settings, all while delivering compassionate care to people in need. What’s more, temporary assignments give young professionals an advantage when determining what elements add up to an ideal workplace for their first staff position.

Overall Satisfaction

In 2023, an American Medical Association (AMA) survey found that more than 70 percent of both women and men working in healthcare expressed overall satisfaction with their professional lives. Setting and pursuing new goals is one way to keep that sense of fulfillment alive.

The locum tenens advantage: Short-term contracts in various facilities and communities present an array of experiences that can serve as guideposts to identify new objectives and possibilities to reinvest in one’s career. Providers curious about making a job change and/or permanent relocation can use locums jobs to conduct real-time assessments of clinical settings and possible hometowns. Practicing in communities designated as healthcare deserts, where demand for medical services outweighs provider ranks, offers a chance to make an impact. Temporary positions also enable physicians and APPs to work in specific types of settings to expand their CVs as well as find mentors.

Burnout Prevention

A significant portion of providers still express experiencing burnout: 57 percent of women and 47 percent of men per the AMA. The good news is some surveys show the percentage of physicians and APPs self-reporting symptoms of burnout has dropped from the past few years. What hasn’t changed is the toll administrative tasks takes on their time and attention, which does differ between the genders. One study, for example, showed women spend 20 percent more time updating patient records compared with men.

The locum tenens advantage: Of course, patient documentation is an integral part of the job wherever providers practice, be it in hospitals, clinics, private practice groups, or other healthcare settings. For the most part, locum tenens assignments insulate them from many of the additional administrative duties (i.e., committee meetings) that take up bandwidth. Locums physicians and APPs cherish the chance to redirect more of their attention toward patient care. An added benefit: locums providers offer greater support for peers—their presence eases the demands on staff, thereby lessening their potential for burnout, too.

Time for family

According to Medscape’s Physician Lifestyle and Happiness report, men and women agree that “more personal and family” time is a very important priority. That said, a greater number of female respondents (76 percent) held that view compared with males (68 percent).

The pursuit of a better balance between work and life sometimes can be hard to define, partially because the formula is highly personalized. It could be fewer hours per week on shift and more time to attend kids’ school or sporting events. It could be blocking off several days or weeks to take a respite from work to focus on family or self. Plus, a person’s definition of work/life balance may shift and change with time.

The locum tenens advantage: Accepting temporary jobs adds flexibility into a work calendar. For example, carve out more room to accommodate personal commitments, such as using time between assignments to take family trips (or invite them to join you on assignment); enjoy a cluster of days off without the concern of a caseload backlog; or simply appreciate the opportunity to be present with loved ones without being on call or battling daily commutes.

Specialties Spotlight

Perhaps the biggest distinction between women and men pursuing medical careers is their choice of specialty. In 2024, the AMA reported women account for the majority of residents in obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, pediatric and adolescent psychiatry, dermatology, and allergy and immunology. Male residents represented the majority in orthopedic surgery, interventional and diagnostic radiology, neurological surgery, and urology.

The locum tenens advantage: All Star Healthcare Solutions not only places locum tenens providers in all specialties, but our consultants work within assigned medical specialties. They become well-versed in the particulars of facility qualifications, which is critical to making high-quality matches with providers.

These are just a few of the many benefits associated with locum tenens. If you are ready to explore your options, call All Star Healthcare Solutions today at 800-928-0229, or contact us online.

by Jonny Hale