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The Unexpected Benefits of Locum Tenens

How does locum tenens practice differ from working full-time with a private practice group or as a hospital staff member? Most physicians and advanced practice providers who have experienced the career alternative point out a few key distinctions:

• Fewer administrative duties, leaving more time for patient interactions;
• Greater say over scheduling; and
• A variety of opportunities to experience multiple clinical settings and patient populations.

Indeed, those are the most heralded advantages. However, there are numerous other benefits, too. Here’s a brief list highlighting some of the unexpected perks to accepting locum tenens jobs.

• Focus on Yourself
  Have you ever wished you had a few more hours available in a day or week to check off tasks on your to-do wish list? Do you yearn for the time to start a project or tackle something new? The rigors of a regular work routine accompanied by the duties of home life can consume one’s attention. That’s not typically the case with free time during locum tenens assignments. Use downtime to catch up on journal articles or dive into continued medical education requirements. Enroll in master classes or watch inspirational speakers like those featured in TED Talks. If you like to tinker with the creative arts, find an inspirational landscape to sketch or slip on some headphones and compose a tune. The opportunities to explore your individual interests abound.

• Push Personal Boundaries
  Traveling to new cities or regions for locum tenens contracts creates a unique invitation to investigate various sights, activities, and cultural outlets. It’s a chance to entertain any number of possibilities, including those that challenge you to cross new thresholds. The National Speleological Society offers a roster of spelunking clubs in upstate New York, for example. Join a grotto—what they call their local chapters—to traverse some of the intriguing caverns in the area. Take to the skies in a hot air balloon in New Mexico. Scuba dive amongst sunken ships off the Florida Keys. Maybe expanding your palate is a personal goal. Every community is known for a local delicacy — think peanuts in cola in the South, burgoo stew in Kentucky, or Pennsylvania’s scrapple. Whatever captures your curiosity about a community, there’s no better chance to explore it than when living there for a locums contract.

• Make New Friends
  Like in any new job, you will meet a slew of people with each locum tenens assignment — co-workers, patients, and community members. You may end up welcoming individuals into your friend circle both during the assignment and long after. In fact, it’s been shown that All Star consultants oftentimes establish genuine friendships with their providers in addition to matching them with locum tenens jobs.

• Find Another Professional Home
  Some individuals choose locum tenens jobs for the purpose of incorporating variety into their professional experiences. Yet others end up discovering they enjoy returning to one or more facilities on a regular or semi-regular basis. Repeat or recurring contracts offer familiarity with a practice setting, co-workers, and patient populations, so assignments are more like returning to another professional home.

• Empower Career Moves
  It’s not unusual for direct-hire contracts to incorporate non-compete clauses. Locum tenens allows providers to adhere to that mandate while continuing to practice as a healthcare professional by accepting assignments out of town or out of state. As a full-service staffing agency, All Star Healthcare Solutions can find you both temporary positions and kick off a new job search if that’s on your wish list.

Whatever your motivation to pursue locum tenens opportunities, be sure to include All Star Healthcare Solutions. Our consultants can help you meet your goals. Call us today at 800-928-0229, or contact us online.