One of the most difficult parts of a medical career is that your health is often a secondary priority to everything else. Most physicians are on-call for the day, so they’re forced to push hard to ensure their career goes smoothly. There isn’t enough time for rest, so, ironically, the most talented doctors have a challenging time watching their health, all the while taking the best care of their patients.
As such, many people prefer a locum tenens lifestyle over the traditional physician’s lifestyle. In this guide, we’ll look into why locum tenens as a career is better for your health as a physician.
What is locum tenens?
It’s a career focused on temporarily filling in vacant positions in a facility. As such, a locum tenens physician focuses on the job and little else. If you want to get started, you’ll need the help of a physician recruiter that can help you get assignments.
The interesting thing about locum tenens assignments is that you can shape them to be whatever you want, especially if you have the help of a skilled recruiter.
What makes locum tenens good for my health?
The trouble with the traditional careers for physicians is that there isn’t much time for anything else. However, a locum tenens assignment means you only fill in for a vacant position. That means you don’t have to worry about administrative work, which means an easier schedule overall.
So the first and most important reason locum tenens is good for your health is that it allows you to balance your lifestyle. A proper work-life balance is crucial, and it’s one of the things physicians often neglect the most.
Is there anything I need to watch out for with locum tenens?
The gist is to take on different assignments as a locum tenens physician. As such, you’ll have to figure out where you want to go and how long you want to do it. If you’re the type to enjoy traveling, then locum tenens is undoubtedly for you. On the other hand, those who have difficulties traveling but still want to give it a try would benefit from longer assignments.
It’s another reason locum tenens as a career is good for your health. Considering that you can choose your type of assignment, you don’t have to push yourself too hard. Instead, you can go for one of the easier assignments to start and move on to more involved jobs as you go. Life as a traveling physician can be fantastic, provided you’re willing to make lifestyle changes.
Conclusion
While there’s nothing wrong with a traditional medical career, exploring your options is good, especially concerning locum tenens. If you don’t want to deal with a hectic schedule and a lack of control, you can push for locum tenens as the ideal career option.
Of course, locum tenens comes with its fair share of challenges, but there’s no doubt you’ll accomplish your goals by going at your pace and not rushing things.
