Since the 1850s, the need for a mobile or traveling Doctor has been around. The Latin term “locum tenens,” meaning “to take the place of,” has labeled this niche career and defined an atypical job that has grown over the last two centuries. Over time, with the regionalization of medical care as human life expectancy extends and more complex illnesses perpetuate an ever-growing population, there has been an ever increasing demand for medical providers that is constantly mismatched by the actual supply. Access to health care becomes more limited as society migrates towards bigger cities, leaving more rural communities in dire straights with decreases in healthcare providers moving out of the “big city.” Even within bustling metropolitans, due to changes in a fragmented health care system and the business of medicine focusing on profits more than equitable distribution of care with dwindling reimbursement at varying levels of the system and pharmaceutical companies and insurance companies having a general lack of transparency, there is a shortage of help. Herein lies the need for contracting help from those that are willing to jump into often unstable environments. Whether for altruism, diversification of practice or satisfying the generational growth of wanderlust, many Doctors and advanced practice providers have turned to locum tenens as a means of finding fulfillment. A “substitute” provider of sorts, a locum tenens provider must be flexible, passionate and proactive to help those in need in a variety of settings.
For more information on locums, checkout locumstory.com or email me at TheNomadicPediatrician@gmail.com
The Nomadic Pediatrician 