Are you a neurosurgeon looking for better work-life balance while maintaining your clinical expertise? It might be time to explore locum tenens neurosurgery jobs.
An increasing number of neurosurgeons are transitioning out of full-time roles and into locum tenens work. If you’re curious about whether locums might be the right path for you, we’ve got you covered! We sat down with John Morris, a senior consultant on our neurosurgery team at Hayes Locums, to provide an insider’s perspective on the world of neurosurgery locums.
Here’s what we found out:
Is neurosurgery locum tenens right for me?
Whether you’re at the beginning, middle, or end of your career, neurosurgery locums can help you maintain or expand your clinical skill set, earn a great income, and find better work-life balance. Here’s what neurosurgery locums can look like at each stage of your career:
- Physicians close to retirement who want to slow down. If you’re craving more work-life balance, locums is a great way to keep your clinical skills sharp, while giving you more freedom over your schedule. “There’s a huge trend right now of neurosurgeons retiring before they had originally planned and moving into locums,” says John. “They want more work-life balance, but they’re not willing to give up medical practice. If you do something for 30 years it is really tough to just quit cold turkey. With locums, physicians can continue to do what they love, and spend more time with their family, without dealing with all the politics that can come up with full-time employment.”
- Early career physicians looking to expand their clinical skillset. If retirement is still a long way off, locums can still be a good move. “There are younger surgeons who come out training and go straight to locums for a year. It’s a great way to make extra income and get cases,” John says.
- Mid-career physicians who are ready to change things up. Locums can also be a great fit for neurosurgeons who are transitioning out of one job and aren’t yet ready to jump into another full-time position. “I’m seeing more physicians working locums in between jobs,” says John. “There’s less pressure, so they can take their time before finding another job.”
What are the biggest challenges of neurosurgery locum tenens jobs?
If you’ve been in the same facility for most of your career, it can be intimidating to start over somewhere new. But that’s where your locum consultant can help.
“Starting at a new facility can be a lot, especially if you are only there part-time,” says John. “I always try to connect my physicians with another veteran locums provider, so they can talk in more detail about their expectations.”
If you’re transitioning to full-time locums, you’ll also want to make sure that you’re working enough to keep up your case volumes. “If you’re working locums, your volume of surgeries will naturally be lower, so you want to be sure you are finding at least one location that gives you the opportunity to operate frequently.”
How can I be sure that I’ll make a good income through neurosurgery locums?
Determining your income as a locums neurosurgeon is about determining the amount you want to work. Knowing your goals, in terms of both income and how much you want to work, can help your consultant outline what’s possible.
“If a surgeon tells me the amount of money they need to make in a year, I will back engineer it to tell them what I think they can make on a daily basis, and how many weeks per month they need to work to make that income,” says John.
Your consultant can also give you a realistic idea of what rate you can expect to make, and help you negotiate that rate with facilities.
“Physicians often get a premium rates pitch from locums companies. But there’s a difference between the rates they’re told they can make, and how much they can make. I try to be really honest about that, because hospitals have budgets, and they’re very strict with them. They’re going to look for the most cost-effective option, so it’s important to know what the fair market value is and not price yourself out,” John says.
Where are most locum tenens neurosurgery jobs located? Do I get a say in where I’m placed?
Absolutely! Communicate your preferred locations to your consultant so they can search for jobs in that area–but being flexible about location can make it easier to find good jobs.
“Hospitals don’t use locums unless they have to, so the jobs will be where neurosurgeons are most needed,” says John. “If you’re only looking in one location, jobs might be hard to find. It definitely helps to expand your willingness to travel.”
A lot of the neurosurgery locums jobs tend to be in more rural locations, because hiring multiple surgeons can be difficult in those areas. Hospitals need a neurosurgeon on call to maintain their trauma level, so they depend on locums to fill the gap.
“Let’s say you’re a rural hospital that has one neurosurgeon. That one person would be working 24/7, 365 days a year. They would get no time off because the hospital’s programs depend on that neurosurgeon. Even if there are two neurosurgeons, they would still be on call fifteen days a month, and that’s a lot of work to balance,” says John. “That’s where we come in: hospitals often use locums to cover for their full-time neurosurgeon when they need to take time off.”
The benefit of rural locations is that locum neurosurgeons have the opportunity to make a huge difference in the lives of patients and communities who depend on their skills and service, while also providing relief to their colleagues.
How do I prepare for a locum tenens neurosurgery job?
- Find a trustworthy consultant to support you throughout the process. “Find a consultant you can trust to have your back,” says John. “It’s always good to talk to a few and find somebody who will shoot straight with you and treat you right.”
- Be patient with the timeline. “I always tell my doctors, you gotta break a couple of eggs to make an omelet,” says John. “You have to send your CV to a good number of hospitals until you find the right fit for you. It takes time, so you have to be patient.”
- Get credentialed with Hayes Locums before applying for assignments to speed up the process. “There are two types of physicians, a credentialed physician and a non-credentialed physician,” says John. “Nine times out of ten, the facility is going to go with the credentialed physician, because they know we’ve done our due diligence. Then, once you choose to move forward with that facility, the hospital credentialing process is going to fly, because so much of that paperwork has already been done.”
- Speak directly with the facility before accepting an assignment. “Consultants are only provided so much detail, so it’s always best to hear it straight from the source.”
What skills make for a good neurosurgery locum?
To succeed as a locums neurosurgeon, adaptability is key. “You need to be able to work in any setting and adapt to your OR team and support staff. It’s important to appreciate that you are in someone else’s practice–which is like being in someone else’s home–and that you are there to help. Sometimes you may see things that are different from the way you’re used to, but it’s best to accept that everyone has a different way about doing things. Being nice goes a lot further than you think.”
Ready to take the locums leap?
Locum tenens can be particularly rewarding for neurosurgeons–not only because it offers better work-life balance, but because so many communities are in desperate need of their skill set. For many physicians, transitioning to locums gives them a renewed sense of why they wanted to become surgeons in the first place: to help patients, and to help communities in need.
“Neurosurgeons often try locums and fall in love with it because they get to do exactly what they wanted to do when they were in training,” John says. “Take care of patients, work with a good staff, and have great outcomes with their surgeries. It can be really reinvigorating.”
If you’re ready to make a difference through locum tenens, we’re ready to help.
