Are You a Locums Newbie? Checkout These 5 Tricks For Guaranteed Success On Your Next Assignment!
If you’re a “Newbie” in the locum tenens game, you’re first day on the job can feel like that awkward first day in middle school. You don’t know anyone, you don’t know what to expect, and you probably forgot your lunch! The locums landscape of forever changing assignments can sometimes skyrocket your anxiety through the roof.
You may be working in a new city, embarking on a new commute, entering into an unfamiliar office space with new coworkers and administrative staff. Science says people are “hard-wired” to feel anxious in pretty much any new situation. However, moderate levels of anxiety can facilitate and drive performance. The stress of wanting to make a good impression on your first day of your new Locum Assignment can also add to your anxiety.
Health care professionals with higher levels of anxiety and frustration were more than twice as likely to report workplace burnout, compared with those with lower levels of anxiety and frustration, according to a study of primary care professionals published in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine. Moreover, primary care physicians reported burnout at double the rate of other health care professionals in their practice settings.
Fear not newbie! All is not lost, and your anxiety can be controlled with these 5 tips:
- Be Aware Of Your Stress Level And Anxiety Triggers
Caffeine, skipping meals, bills and taxes can all be triggers too anxiety. Try and limit these as best as possible before your first assignment. Perhaps pay your bills or write out checks and be confident that they will be taken care of to decrease your anxiety. Prescriptions like birth control pills and OTC cough and congestion medications may create sensations that become anxiety triggers for you.
- Be Confident And Smile
If you have too much anxiety it can derail your performance. Confidence in your clinical skills is key to success. Trusting your own judgement and abilities along with valuing yourself worth can curb your anxiety. Body language can help boost confidence. Practice an open body posture. Don’t put your hands of your hips or slouch. Smiling and practicing open communication will project an energy of confidence.
- Get Informed
Before your assignment, try and get informed about what is expected from you as much as possible. Does the clinic you are going to work at require you to have a health physical, urine drug screen, TB, and COVID test? Having these done before starting your first day on your locum assignment will create less stress. Ask your recruiter as many questions as possible in order to get informed on what to expect. For example, what type of charting will you be doing? Paper or electronic? Do you have the option to work telehealth? Where will you be parking and is it secure? Who is the person you will be reporting to at the clinic? How many patients will you be seeing? The more you know, the better.
- Brush Up On Your Skills
Brushing up on your skills before starting your first day in clinic can help boost your confidence level and decrease your anxiety. Classes for skills like CPR, PALS, ACLS, suturing techniques, and several others can be obtained online easily. You may even want to check out YouTube for videos that will help you refresh your skills like adult physical exams, pediatric physicals, new baby exams, sports physicals, and pap exams.
- Network And Connect With Your Support Staff
Getting to know the clinic staff and communicating your needs can help minimize your anxiety. Introduce yourself, smile and be cordiale. Find out if you will be working with the same medical assistants on a daily basis or if you will have a new person with you. Ask them what the standard routine is of the clinic and how they usually work with healthcare practitioners. Communicate what your needs are and don’t be afraid to let them know your weaknesses.
Following these tips will help to decrease your “Newbie” Locum Tenen jitters and quantum leap you forward to success. The more confident you feel with yourself, the better your assignment will be. Anxiety can be overcome ensuring you a happy and productive assignment.
“Experience is not what happens to a man, it is what a man does with what happens to him.”- Aldous Huxley
Who are we? MedCare Staffing is a small, veteran-owned, family-oriented team. We start every day with gratitude because we LOVE what we do! We are a team on a mission to make a positive difference in the lives of our clients and providers.
What we do: We place Physicians, Dentists & Advanced Practitioners in Locum Tenens, Contract Positions and Permanent Jobs
To contact MedCare Staffing, call 888.474.3380 or visit or website by clicking here!