Locum tenens practitioners are in higher demand than ever. With a nationwide physician shortage, an aging population, and increased access to healthcare through the Affordable Care Act, healthcare organizations across the country are turning to locums staffing solutions. If you find yourself working with a locum tenens recruiter, we’ve got some top tips for helping that relationship to be effective for everyone involved.

1. Be Upfront

Whether you are fresh out of your residency or a seasoned professional, you are likely to have some understanding of what you are looking for in a placement and where your strengths and weaknesses are. Being upfront with your recruiter about your ideal placement, your experiences, and your utilization will help them find the best placements to suit your needs.

If pundits are to be believed, there will be an overwhelming need for qualified healthcare workers in the coming years.  With many doctors and nurses approaching the age of retirement, fewer students entering healthcare professions, and a growing number of insured individuals seeking medical services, there will soon be a shortage of professionals to care for those in need.

What does this mean for current healthcare professionals and those just entering the medical field? For one, it could mean a lot more job openings as well as alternative job types. To fill this growing need, many healthcare providers and facilities are opening up locum jobs to fill any gaps in coverage.

As a locum tenens worker you can expect to encounter new electronic medical records (EMR) or electronic health records (EHR) systems at every job. The can all be very different, so learning one will not always make it easier to learn the next. How can you cope with having to learn your way around new systems at every job? Is it even worth trying?

All you have to do is speak with your locum tenens network to discover that locum workers are not only making the best of the situation, but many are reaping even greater rewards in the process. Here's what you should know before you turn down the opportunities inherent to locum tenens work.

Locum Tenens opportunities are more plentiful and more fruitful than ever. Clinicians who take advantage of Locum Tenens work can expect a secure future in the healthcare field.

There is no doubt that job security is a concern for the American workforce. Recent graduates hope to find a job that allows them to pay off their student loans and industry veterans look forward to a comfortable retirement. To achieve their goals, working men and women must find jobs that offer some level of security. This is no different for individuals in the healthcare field. Fortunately, clinicians who participate in Locum Tenens work are afforded the high level of job security they desire, along with numerous other benefits.

Engaging in locum tenens practice as a full-time career or on a part-time basis is simpler than you might think. While there are several steps in the process that take you from initial inquiry to being paid for providing services, each one is straightforward. The process will vary somewhat among agencies, but here are nine steps that are consistent from firm to firm.

Type "locum tenens agency" into the search box on Google and you’ll find more than 100,000 website links. Okay, there are not actually that many companies in operation, but they would all like to help you find your next temporary engagement. So how do you choose the best staffing firms for you? Here are some tips that will help.

Talk to colleagues

If you are considering locum tenens for a week, a month, or for the rest of your career, your first step should be canvassing your professional network to find out who has experience, with which agencies, and in what kinds of practice settings. Ask what they know now that they wish they had known when they first began locum tenens practice.

Whether you are a year out of residency or a year from retirement, there are certain career constants that you enjoy - or contend with, depending on your point of view - as a physician. Embracing ongoing career development can help ensure a satisfying and meaningful professional life. Consider these five practice guidelines.

Clinical advances keep you on your toes.

Physicians are fortunate to be in a field that is constantly changing. While it may feel daunting at times to stay up to date, lack of intellectual stimulation is never a problem. Keeping up clinically is easier than ever, thanks to the Internet. Online CME abounds in all specialty areas so that you can earn credit whether you are in the office, at home, in a hotel, or at the airport. Being able to read your favorite journal articles online makes it easy to keep up with the latest medical developments. It is important for physicians to stay current not only in clinical matters, but also with advances in information technology. More and more hospitals and clinics are converting to electronic systems, so being computer-phobic is no longer an option.

The interview went great. Your potential new partners were friendly and eager to show you the best of everything - within the practice, at the hospital, and in the community. You were entertained at fine restaurants. A chatty real estate agent drove you around town while boasting about the quality of the schools, the fabulous amenities in the community, and the great climate. You accept the position and 6 months later realize that the practice is on shaky ground financially, your partners are not highly thought of within the medical community, the school board is more dysfunctional than your cousin Leonard's family, and it has not stopped raining since you arrived. If I had only known, you think to yourself.

It is not uncommon for physicians, particularly young professionals, to take a first job (and even a second or third) only to find themselves disillusioned after a relatively short period of time. The reasons may be specific, or it may simply be that the practice was not a "good fit." Jumping too quickly into a permanent job is an understandable mistake, especially for doctors just out of training who are eager to get settled and start earning a living. But even mid-career physicians can be seduced into positions that turn out to be disappointing.

Negotiation often brings to mind complex transactions like selling a house or legal matters like settling a divorce or dissolving a business partnership. Even negotiating something as seemingly simple as buying a car can conjure up images of conflict. Well, there is good news when it comes to negotiating a locum tenens contract. In fact, the process is so straightforward that it usually requires very little negotiation. This is because all of the parties involved want the same thing - a qualified physician to take care of patients on a temporary basis.

The recruiter responsible for matching a doctor with a particular opportunity wants to do a good job for both the client facility or practice and for the doctor. On the one hand, the hospital or clinic has a need to fill; whereas the locum tenens physician wants to practice in a setting and geographic location that will be professionally and personally rewarding. When three motivated parties have a vested interest in seeing "the deal" come to fruition, negotiation really comes down to engaging in open, honest communication that satisfies everyone's needs.

To answer the question, "Why choose locum tenens" requires first addressing the question of who practices locum tenens as either a full-time career or on a part-time or occasional basis. In this article, we break the who question into five categories, each one followed by answers to the why question.

Just out of training

Doctors fresh out of residency or fellowship who have yet to decide where they want to settle down find that locum tenens offers an excellent opportunity to explore different areas of the country. Like the idea of living in Montana but not sure how you would handle the winters? With locum tenens, you can find out firsthand.

Whether you practice locum tenens full-time or accept only the occasional engagement, there are ways to make yourself more attractive and marketable to both locum tenens agencies and their client facilities. It is all about flexibility, adaptability, affability, thinking strategically, and staying organized.

Physicians who enjoy steady locum tenens contracts know the importance of being flexible. This means being willing to travel to locations outside your immediate area and to practice in a variety of medical settings. For instance, locum tenens physicians may find themselves seeing patients in a rural community with a 40-bed hospital one month and in a metropolitan university hospital the next. You may think you only want to practice in outpatient settings in California, but opening yourself up to different locations and practice environments can be very rewarding. And, while the majority of locum tenens placements are arranged weeks or months in advance, occasionally an emergency arises that requires immediate coverage in a hospital or clinic. Be that physician if you can.

When the economy is unstable, as it is now and most likely will be for some time to come, even high-income professionals feel the impact. An economic downturn probably will not mean, as it does for many people, that doctors will have to cut back on essential purchases such as food, clothing, and fuel. But if you are watching your retirement account balance fluctuate wildly and have seen the value of your home decline over the last couple of years, you may be feeling the pinch—if only in terms of your ability to plan for the future and afford a few luxuries.

Depending on how long you have been out of training, your curriculum vitae (Latin, meaning "course of life," CV for short) may fit onto one page or have the heft of a small book. Either way, it is important to keep this record of your education, training, experience, and professional accomplishments up to date.

Physicians often have questions about what to include and what to leave off their CVs. Here are tips to help ensure that your CV makes a positive impression when you are seeking locum tenens engagements.

You never get a second chance to make a first impression. That rule especially applies to phone interviews for locum tenens positions. Unlike approaching a permanent-practice opportunity where you might engage in several phone interviews followed by an on-site visit, the locum tenens evaluation process usually occurs during the course of a single phone conversation. During this brief encounter, it is important to make a good first impression, and equally important to use the time to make sure you will be comfortable stepping into the temporary practice opportunity under consideration.

Before the phone interview, your recruiter will have made a provisional "match" between you and the hospital or clinic you are considering. You will already know a reasonable amount about the scope and requirements of the assignment, and the person interviewing you will have reviewed your CV and references.