The demand and supply of locum tenens physicians has steadily risen in recent years. To keep pace with this shifting workforce landscape, hospitals and healthcare organizations need the right tools, such as medical staffing software, at their disposal to effectively and efficiently find the best possible candidates for these crucial positions.
What's driving the uptick toward locum tenens?
In the 1970s many rural areas found themselves lacking adequate medical services. In response to this shortage, a series of government grants created an impetus that attracted temporary physicians to these locales, HealthCareDive noted. While it took some time before locum tenens jobs gained traction within the medical community, these positions have grown steadily in the ensuing decades.
One of the main attractions for locum tenens physicians is the ability to work from a variety of locations when they choose, and even decline assignments if they don't want them. This allows for greater self-agency in the physician's ability to control their schedule so they can take off time when they want to travel or just relax to avoid burnout - a major problem for many physicians.
This freedom, flexibility and limited exposure to bureaucracy is driving a major surge in the use of locum tenens physicians at hospitals and other healthcare facilities. This dramatic increase stems from the growing need for fill-ins, a surge in patients from the ACA and maintaining adequate staff levels.
In addition to those who want better work-life balance, many physicians are also taking on part-time locum tenens positions to supplement their income from their full-time jobs. Medical Economics noted that many doctors pulling part-time gigs find themselves more engaged with their full-time positions as the change of scenery alleviates the monotony of their day job.
The piles of paperwork, office politics and seeming lack of agency over their work schedule at their full-time jobs will only continue to drive more individuals away from traditional physician jobs and toward these locum tenens positions.
As more staff transition toward this temporary physician contingent workforce model, hospitals and other healthcare organizations need to ensure they have the tools they need to accommodate these changes.
How BlueSky Medical Staffing Software can help
While locum tenens provides more flexibility and greater work-life balance for physicians, it creates more work for hospital HR and staffing managers. These organizations must conduct more frequent candidate searches while also ensuring new hires have the right qualifications for the open positions.
BlueSky Medical Staffing Software, a robust vendor management systems, provides hospitals and healthcare organizations with the ability to simplify and improve the complex processes around ensuring locum tenens candidates have the proper credentials.
HR departments can also reduce the time necessary to fill open shifts with the Smart Candidate Matching system. By entering the right details, a successful candidate is just a few seconds away.
Click here to learn more about how BlueSky Medical Staffing Software assists in the search for locum tenens candidates.
