10 Things You Won’t Miss when You Work a Locum Tenens Assignment (continued)

In our series on the top ten things you WON’T miss when you work a locum assignment, here are numbers 5 and 6…

5. Being the boss –Never underestimate the stress that comes with being the boss! If your office staff reports to you, you’re well aware of the difficulties of keeping all the balls in the air to keep the office work flow flowing.  Not to mention hiring, firing and figuring out what to do when someone calls in sick or just doesn’t show up at all. There’s really never a dull moment when you’re the boss!  When you’re the locum, you may not get to call the shots during your assignment, but because you work for yourself, you’re really the boss anyway!

6.  Meetings, meetings, meetings – No matter where you work, you’re probably required to attend meetings on a regular basis. Have you ever stopped to think how much time per day is spent in meetings? If you are a locum, you are rarely required to participate in meetings unless you are on a long-term assignment. Let’s face it, a meeting-free day means you get to see patients, get stuff done, and move on to the after work activities you enjoy the most.

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How to negotiate locum pay

When negotiating locum pay always keep these things in mind as they will give you leverage as to who needs who the most.

Firstly is there a shortage of locums:

1. Shortage in your area
2. Time of the year/day of the week eg. Holidays
3. Low volume of locums as a whole in your profession

How quick:

1. How soon do they require a locum
2. How far away are you from the job.
3. The number of days you can do.

Your Qualifications

1. Do you have better qualifications then the rest
2. Can you have someone who can vouch for your quality of work
3. Have you got the number of years behind you for this type of work

The Company

1. Does this company typically pay well
2. If they require longer hours/shorter lunch
3. Does nobody want to work for them

When negotiating the locum fees remember to calculate how much this will cost for you are you going to pay extra for mileage/accommodation to help them out? Will the parking be expensive? Will it take you 4 hours to get to (time is money).

Timescale is the most important factor for negotiating your locum pay, the sooner they need you the more room for negotiation. But remember that if you are too expensive they will just cancel the clinic. Ring back to see if they have found anyone cheaper (compromise)

Always sell your self eg. I have been qualified 10 yrs with a master’s degree and have exceptional communication skills that will guarantee people coming back.

Never negotiate with negativity, although your fee is sacred to you would you rather be sitting at home in anger or feel happy you did your best to compromise.

Ten Things You Won’t Miss when You Work a Locum Tenens Assignment

If you work locum tenens assignments on a regular basis, you know the freedom that comes along with the locum lifestyle. If you are new to locums or haven’t worked locums in awhile let me take this opportunity to remind you of the top 10 things you will NOT miss when you work locums:

1. Low or no reimbursement – When you work a locum assignment, you won’t have to worry about getting reimbursed for your work. You won’t have to wonder how much the insurance company or Medicare will pay you for seeing that patient. Because locums are paid by the hour, day or by the shift, you simply turn in your timesheet or invoice and you get paid in full. In fact, locums are paid well overall, and if you are willing to take call, or work weekends, holidays or the night shift, your paycheck will really look attractive.

Locum Assignment

2. High practice operating costs– The hard costs of running your own practice today just keep skyrocketing: staff salaries, office rent, utilities, phones, technology, malpractice insurance, lab costs, office equipment, you name it. Add to that the fact that reimbursements are down and sometimes there isn’t much left at the end of the month. Locums don’t have to stress about whether or not they can pay their staff or whether they can keep the office lights on. Locums just go to work, see patients and collect a paycheck.

 

3. Costly malpractice insurance – As we all know, the cost of malpractice insurance keeps on rising. Depending on your specialty and where you live, it can be one of the largest costs a physician takes on. Physicians who work locum assignments must have malpractice insurance too, but the cost of the coverage is usually paid for by the staffing agency placing the physician in the assignment. If a locum decides not to work through an agency, there are daily-rate malpractice insurance options where coverage is available for only the days worked, making it a lot more cost-effective.

4. Office staff or hospital politics – If you’ve been part of a medical office or hospital staff, you know just how crazy the internal politics can be. There are other physicians jockeying for position, hassles from hospital administration, and departmental issues that are always cropping up. As a locum, you have the luxury of not being drawn in to all the hoopla going on around you. At the end of the day, you can go home to a “politics-free” zone.

Coming on November 5th… more things you won’t miss when you work a locum assignment.

What is locum tenens?

Locum Tenens Definition:

For workers in the medical field, chances are the phrase "locum tenens" has come up before. But what is the locum tenens definition? "Locum tenens" is Latin for "one who holds a place." The phrase refers to a physician working in the place of another physician when he or she is absent, or when a hospital or practice is short-staffed.

Locum tenens physician jobs provide a way for organizations to fill positions that are either temporarily empty (due to sickness, leave, or other reasons) or for which no long-term physician is available. Locum tenens jobs also allow a professional to try (and get experience in) a wide range of work environments and geographic settings.

Locum tenens jobs are available in the USA, CANADA and internationally. International locum tenens in English-speaking countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Bermuda, and Canada are especially popular for American physicians because it's relatively easy to transition into a new culture with a shared language. (There are still some differences, in spite of the shared language. Medications, illnesses, and treatment protocols often have different names. Frequently locum tenens physicians are just called "locums" in these countries.)

Who should consider locum tenens?

Locum Tenens

For physicians, locum tenens jobs create a perfect temporary position for a resident who's transitioning to practice or for physicians who have decided to switch from one practice to another. In both cases, locum tenens jobs give you a chance to test the fit of a practice before you commit to a full-time position. Some physicians even use locum tenens jobs as a way to transition into semi-retirement while still earning income.

Facilities can use locum tenens physicians to ensure continuity of care and preserve their revenue streams. Many requests for coverage come from facilities or practices that are actively recruiting and need coverage until they find a permanent candidate. Other needs include peak demand coverage (i.e., tourist season or cold and flu season), coverage while a physician is on medical leave or vacation, or immediate staffing to help a facility launch a new program or service line.

Locum Tenens Is usually an Open Door

You will find certainly many excellent reasons to consider a locum tenens career a high level physician, therefore many available opportunities that you’re sure to find something which interests you. But if you’re fresh out of school of medicine and not quite sure that you need to go, being employed as a locum could be the open door that demonstrates to you what your true passion is. There are lots of locum tenens physicians who have begun the procedure exclusively for financial reasons, only to find out that certain specific assignment they took showed them what they have to wanted to accomplish.

Locum Tenens Success

Should you be perusing this everbody knows just what a locum tenens physician is. But also for individuals who don’t, the saying “locum tenens” can be a Latin phrase meaning “place-holder.” The locum doctor works like a placeholder or substitute if you will, for a staff doctor or private practitioner that is away. Sometimes these assignments are short-term (One to two weeks) and also other times they could be providing 3-6 months. In any case, the locum doctor moves derived from one of assignment an additional because they become available.

Gain Valuable Experience

Like a locum fresh beyond med school, you may have the chance to see and experience a wide variety of physician’s jobs. When you can be capable of do several unique things, just one line of work that you are thinking about pursuing could be easier with all the added experience.

Furthermore, this additional experience will result in an all-natural procedure for career development that you cannot get from reading books. Like a locum you can be subjected to all different kinds of individuals, cultural influences that affect health, financial circumstances, and various attitudes to healthcare that you see in various areas of america. Because Navy is always to the military, locum tenens is usually to the concept of medical care.

Finding Your ideal Job

Most 18-year-old enter college not so sure what they desire regarding their lives. You, however, always wanted to be described as a doctor. Thus it comes as a bit of a surprise once you graduate from medical school and realize you do not know what sort of doctor you would like to become. This scenario can be so common inside medical profession that’s almost a prerequisite to learning to be a full-fledged physician. By beginning your career as a locum you’ll be able to experience a number of different kinds of work environments and specialties that may hopefully expose you to the type of work you’re excited about.

You might not be properly accredited for that work, but you may return to school and finish your education for the specialty. Should you be already qualified with the work you may be good to go start to look for assignments only on the bottom, or submit an application for permanent position in the event you desire. Either way, the harder various kinds of work you’re encountered with in a very locum tenens position, the greater your chances are going to find the one kind of work that you really can do.

Locum tenens jobs is usually a vast open door in the world of the longer term. Should you be just graduated from med school you would excel to contemplate going this path, for the time being. Should you decide you won’t enjoy it you could hunt for private practice or staff position. Should you as it, you possibly can make it your work in the specialty you decide on.