2024 Survey of Locum Tenens Physicians and Advanced Practitioners
providers can visit with relatives and friends during assignments if logistics permit, in some cases temporary separation is not avoidable. Physicians and APPs also rated “uncertainty of assignments” as a challenging aspect of locum tenens. Providers in some specialties are in more demand than others (see discussion below). Those whose specialties are in the most demand generally have little trouble booking locum tenens assignments. Those whose specialties are in less demand may not be able to keep their schedules as full as they would like. Many survey respondents rated “credentialing” as a challenging aspect of locum tenens. The time it takes to get credentialed at various hospitals and other healthcare facilities can vary and may interrupt continuity of locum tenens assignments in some cases.
Locum Tenens vs. Permanent Practice The survey asked physicians and APPs to compare locum tenens to permanent practice, weighing the benefits vs. the challenges of each. The plurality of those surveyed (47%) said that locum tenens is more satisfying than working in a permanent position. By contrast, only 12% said that working in a permanent position is more satisfying than locum tenens, while 30% said both practice styles are equally satisfying. High Morale The majority of physicians and APPs surveyed (57%) rated their morale as locum tenens providers as “high.” By contrast, in the 2022 national physician survey conducted by The Physicians Foundation, only 49% of all physicians rated their morale as “high”. In the same survey, only 49% of all physicians said they would recommend medicine as a career to young people, while 21% said they would like to retire in the next year (The Physicians Foundation. 2022 Survey of Physicians: Part 3) . While not without its challenges, locum tenens offers physicians and APPs a safe harbor from many of the aspects of permanent practice they find dissatisfying. The survey suggests that some physicians and APPs are not pulled into locum tenens by its attractions but are pushed by the unfavorable conditions they encounter in permanent practice. This assertion is supported by the fact that many locum tenens providers would return to permanent practice if the conditions were more positive.
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