Posts tagged “healthcare jobs” (Page 2)

Healthcare is in a constant state of flux with an evolving landscape. There are many specialties to choose from with lots of diverse opportunities. As a healthcare provider, making a choice on where to practice and what specialty to specialize in can often be difficult. Could working as locum tenens be the answer?

What is Locum Tenens?

The word “Locum” comes from the Latin term meaning ‘place holder.’ A provider working as locum tenens is a person who temporarily fulfills the obligations of another. Therefore, In healthcare, a locums provider can be employed at a hospital or community healthcare facility that may be short staffed or need temporary coverage when another provider is on leave.

Locums providers are employed by private agencies. Working as a locums offers many opportunities to experience working in a variety of environments and specialties which may include for-profit agencies, academic health centers, state agencies, federal sites such as the Indian Health Service, individual hospitals, and or international staffing companies.

Are you a new physician not sure what area to work in? Or an Advanced Healthcare Provider looking for a change of scenery? Do you want to travel and work in a diverse area in your state or try a new state? Are you a provider who is ready to semi retire but would like to still maintain some kind of professional practice? Locum tenens may just be your sweetest gig!

Locum tenens work offers a broad range of experiences. Flexibility is also a desirable advantage. This ‘gig’ can fulfill your career and economic goals. It offers short term assignments as well as long term assignments that can lead to permanent placement is so desired. If you are looking for a healthier more controllable lifestyle, locum tenen is your gig.

What is Locum Tenens?

 Locums may open up many career opportunities you never thought were possible. The gig can lead you to bigger and better career journey with an opportunity. You can meet interesting patients, learn about local culture, see how practices are organized, learn adaptability, and broaden clinical skills.

As a provider, you may be approaches by your facility for a more long term assignment that can turn permanent. It’s best to evaluate what type of lifestyle you are looking for? If you are just looking to make extra money on a short-term assignment or an opportunity into something more long term. Those are all possibilities. It’s best to communicate your availability and career goals with your locums recruiter and facility you may be assigned to.

A long-term repeat assignment may offer you creative ways to contribute that may benefit both you and the facility you are working assigned to. It’s best to evaluate your personal career goals as well as family obligations.

Credentialing

Credentialing is the process of assessing the academic qualifications and clinical practice history of a healthcare provider. Any licensed, independent, healthcare professional who has been permitted by law and regulated by a licensing organization to provide services and care without supervision or direction within the scope of the individual’s license needs to be credentialed.

While every state has unique laws regarding medical practice, simply having a license in a healthcare profession does not mean one can start doing anything they want. For example, an advanced nurse practitioner cannot independently start to prescribe medications, or a family physician cannot begin inserting central lines. Even independent nurse practitioners have to follow specific rules, and in certain states, they work under a physician. Simply being licensed does not mean the healthcare professional is at liberty to perform all types of clinical services.

Locum Tenens have in house licensing teams that will professionally walk you through the credentialing process. They do all the work for you and send all your appropriate credentials to specific licensing boards. They may also proactively license you for assignments paying the state fees.

Work-Vacay

Always wanted to travel and get paid for it? Locum Tenens can also be considered paid the ultimate ‘Work-Vacay’ Experience. It’s literally paid tourism. You can work in amazing places that offer historical and local attractions that will add to your work life balance.

All Roses Have Thorns

While working locum tenens may seem all roses, there are some ‘thorns’ to consider. Various assignments may have you learn new EMR (Electronic Medical Records) programs. The facility may offer you a training period to learn their system. Each facility may have a different credentialing process. You may have to undergo drug testing, and physical exams for each new facility you are assigned too.  Flexibility is key when working for locum tenens.

Locum Tenens offer a variety of diverse experiences and the opportunity to see how various healthcare systems work. Locums also offers a diverse patient population from working in inner city to working in rural farmlands. If you are a health care provider looking for a change, are open minded, adventurous and flexible, you should definitely give Locum Tenens a try. It just might be your sweetest gig!

Ersilia Pompilio RN, MSN, PNP

References

Nurses, Advanced Practice Healthcare Professionals, Physicians and Dentists work in hazardous environments. They are riddled with different types of biological exposures; diseases, chemicals, environmental hazards, physical hazards like radiation, and sometimes violence. Still, healthcare professionals are often viewed as immune to injury or illness. Many times, hospital, healthcare management and administrators tend to turn a blind eye to complaints of unsafe work environments.

With the COVID19 pandemic many nurses and healthcare providers in general were denied Personal Protective Equipment. Providers were told that they would lose their jobs or be placed on suspension for bring their own from home. Others were told to clean and recycle masks.

There are more than 18 million healthcare workers in the United States. PPE’s are used to protect healthcare providers from disease as well as protect immunocompromised patients. Improper use or lack of there of place employees and patients at greater of transmitting disease. Dysfunctional safety standards in healthcare settings have recently imploded like a weeping abscess. Fearing for their safety and the safety of their families, healthcare providers have walked off their jobs.

In recent years the number of violent assaults against Nurses and healthcare providers has increased. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration reports of nearly 25,000 workplace assaults reported annually. 75% occur in health care and social service settings. Workers in healthcare settings are 4 times more likely to be victimized than workers in private industry. A 2014 survey on hospital crime attributed 75% of aggravated assaults and 93 % of all assaults against health care workers to patients or customers.

What Can You Do To Ensure A Healthy And Safe Workplace Environment While On A Locums Assignment?

Nurses and Advanced Healthcare Providers need to empower themselves to take full accountability of their own personal safety and of their work environment. Employees perceptions and attitudes can differ regarding current safety standards. For example, what an administrator who has had no patient care may see as safe, a Nurse or advance healthcare professional with many years of patient care experience may beg to differ.  

Locums work can take you to a variety of healthcare environments which may not be so safe. Some tips Nurses and Healthcare Professionals can employ when working in a healthcare new healthcare care setting are:

-Be aware of your surroundings: Always be aware of your surroundings when you are on assignment. If you are working in a city or neighborhood you are not familiar with, do your research. Do a computer research on crime statistics, ask fellow coworkers regarding safety of the area. Make sure you have proper supplies and protective equipment before starting your workday.

-Propper PPE’s: Before taking an assignment, it’s best to ask your recruiter and or healthcare facility where you will be working, what their PPE availability along with quantity and reuse.  If they are lacking in supply, you may need to ask if you can supply your own.

-Trust your intuition: Your intuition is your best guide to safety. Per Gavin De Becker the author of “The Gift Of Fear, he states “Nature’s greatest accomplishment, the human brain is never more invested than when it’s host is at risk. A strong intuition comes from experience. If you are feeling uneasy about your surroundings or a certain situation, it’s best to stop and evaluate how you feel and why?

-Ensure your own safety: You are in charge of your own personal health and safety. If you do not feel safe in, then it is your responsibility to report it to your supervisor, office manager and your recruiter. If you and your management team cannot agree on proper safety measures then you may have to re consider your assignment and your options.

The safety of Nurses, Advanced Healthcare Providers, Doctors and Dentists is not an option, it’s a requirement. When healthcare employees are made to feel safe on the job, their patients and patient care will also be safe. All healthcare providers need to take full accountability of their own PPE’s and the safety of their environment.

Ersilia Pompilio RN, MSN, PNP

When talking to providers about practicing in a rural location, we hear “I need a Starbucks” or “My family needs a community with an Apple store and a 20 theatre movie complex.” We understand. Cities like Atlanta or Denver offer you countless activities, housing, schools, etc. but rural locations usually see the most value. You can get higher pay, lower cost of living, and most of all, provide care to underserved communities. Rural communities traditionally have had a difficult time attracting physicians. recent survey posted on FierceHealthcare found most new doctors (65%) would prefer to work in communities of 250,000 or more.

Want to see a few benefits of working in a rural location? Read on below.

1. Excellent Work-Life Balance

Do you desire to spend quality time with your patients? It’s possible in a rural area. With fewer patients each day, you can work at your own pace. Then you can less time in the clinic or facility, and more time to enjoy activities outside of work. Practicing locums in rural areas will go a long way in creating your work-life balance. Since we all need more balance in our hectic lives, this is a bonus.

2. Introduction to Different Patients and Styles of Training in Rural Locations

If you choose to practice in rural locations, you will have the opportunity to provide care to an assortment of patients. Creating a chance to encounter various styles of training as you give the patients care. As a result, you can expand your experience with medical procedures and tactics.

3. Higher Demand Means Higher Pay

With the shortage of physicians in rural areas, some offer a higher rate for qualified physicians. Add this to the cost of living, housing, etc. you not only make more but save more. Some physicians and advanced practitioners use the savings to pay off debt, save for retirement or pay for unexpected expenses that happen in life.

4. Provide Care to Underserved Communities That Need It!

In an article posted on Becker’s Hospital Review, the following quote really hits home. “Physicians are disappearing from the map of rural America. Twenty percent of the country’s population lives in a rural area. The ratio of physicians to patients is 1 to 2,500, which means that 60 million people are dealing with the impact of this shortage.” Based on the shortage, you will be giving back to a community and the overworked providers. Just another added benefit of practicing in rural or remote locations.

Are You Ready To Practice In Rural Locations?

Since rural locations have more to offer, consider experiencing it for yourself. Give us a call or click here to see our job board.

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 & 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!

Are you considering a locum tenens agency to fill your staffing needs? If you read any healthcare related articles, you are hearing about the physician shortage and how it is having a significant impact across the country. Click here to read an article by Kevin Pham posted on The Heritage Foundations website. Is your facility feeling the effects?

MedCare Staffing provides clinicians that can help with any short-term, long-term needs as well as or permanent needs. We will provide the right physician or advanced practitioner for any employer. Any time. Any location.

Why MedCare Staffing?

We take a personal approach to the details! We make sure we have the quality candidate for your specific needs. Our company takes each job as a unique opportunity to come through for you. We want you to continue to count on us when you have the need!

MedCare Staffing is a team on a mission to make a positive difference in the lives of our clients and providers. We are a small, Veteran-owned, family-oriented team and together we start every day with gratitude because we LOVE what we do! Can we help you?

What Makes Us Different?

Our culture is all about winning! We don’t make excuses, we deliver results!

What A Few Of Our Clients Have To Say About Partnering With Our Us!

“I have worked with MedCare Staffing for years and do not want to work with anyone else. Tom and his staff display such honesty and integrity and truly care about the needs of our office. No one talks to you in a condescending, salesperson-like manner but as a partner, trying to solve a staffing need. They represent their providers but can also see issues from the office’s perspective. If there is a problem (which has been rare), we talk about it and reach a resolution. They have even found us a covering locum tenens physician with only 12 hours notice! Tom Harbin and MedCare Staffing are by far the best!!!” A.S. – Locums client

“Excellent service, great candidates provided, excellent communication between MedCare staff and myself as Clinical Director.” Dr. E.G. – Government Client

Ready To Learn More?

Just click here and fill out this short form and a member of our team will be in touch ASAP. We looking forward to assisting you with any of your staffing needs. 888-474-3380