VISTA Archived Blogs

Our nation’s veterans served and sacrificed to protect our freedom. Now they deserve high-quality care, and the Veterans Health Administration provides that to millions of veterans each year. 

The growing physician shortage has a huge impact on healthcare staffing, creating challenges for medical facilities. More specifically, it’s making it difficult for them to recruit and retain quality physicians to provide proper care to patients.

According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, the median medical school debt is $195,000, and nearly 46% of medical school graduates plan to enter a loan forgiveness program. Not surprising, many physicians struggle with the costs of education, and those with extreme student debt can expect to pay more than $2,000 each month for nearly 10 years.

Your significant other plays a major role in your healthcare career. He or she has been with you through the tough times and celebrated your successes by your side. But when you first tell your partner about potential locum tenens assignments, there are a few things they may want to know. And their understanding of this arrangement will help you make the right decision together. Fortunately, we’ve anticipated four questions your significant other may have about a locum tenens assignment so that you'll be ready with the answers.

Demand for healthcare practitioners of all kinds has been on the rise. In a recent report by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), data shows that the United States could see a shortage of up to 120,000 physicians by 2030. The same report also notes that one-third of active doctors will be retiring within the next decade, further impacting the supply of qualified physicians.

Not surprisingly, the physician shortage has spiked demand for locum tenens clinicians in several specialties. And while some have turned their gaze to the future - hoping to clear the bottleneck in medical training - we want to address what can be done to meet patient needs in 2018. Let’s look at the four locum tenens specialties in greatest demand below.

Deciding to start working locum tenens right out of residency isn’t something a lot of new physicians do, but it’s a decision Dr. EmmaLeigh Smith, a Family Medicine Physician, embraced wholeheartedly. Almost seven years after she started working locum tenens through VISTA, we caught up with Dr. Smith who is currently working in Portland to talk about her experiences and  why she is “still loving it!”

 As a government locums provider with VISTA, you can take great pride in providing care to the men and women who have served, or are currently serving, America’s military, as well as others in underserved areas such as the Native American populations. Locum tenens work comes with a lot of inherent advantages — like a flexible schedule, the ability to travel, plus the comfort of job security. Government healthcare facilities offer the opportunity to enjoy those benefits with the added fulfillment of personal and professional satisfaction.

Working locum tenens in the government sector comes with unique professional and personal benefits. You have options across the nation, the flexibility to make your own schedule, plus the chance to give back to deserving populations in potentially exciting settings. And when you partner with VISTA, you have dedicated recruiters by your side, just as passionate about finding the right match as you are about finding a rewarding experience.

Last week, the World Health Organization released an advance preview of its new International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11), which includes significant improvements on previous versions that aim to help health professionals record conditions more easily and completely. The revision simplifies the coding structure and is now completely electronic, introducing a more user-friendly format that reflects years of collaboration.

Getting enough quality sleep is a common struggle for all Americans, no matter their occupation. Add in frequent travel, and it can be even more challenging. For locum tenens clinicians, the ability to travel is a unique benefit, but it can require some adjusting. Fortunately, there are a number of tips you can follow to maintain healthy habits and feel ready to take on your assignments at your best.