How Locum Tenens Help Alleviate Physician Burnout In The Healthcare Industry
How Locum Tenens Help Alleviate Physician Burnout In The Healthcare Industry
Physician burnout is an issue that must not be taken lightly. Physicians suffer from extreme stress and pressure daily, and most often, the facilities they work for can’t do much to alleviate the situation. Eventually, the intense schedules and the physical demands of work will affect a physician mentally and emotionally. This, in turn, can result in a feeling of unhappiness, cynicism, and worse, the absence of willpower to put their best foot forward at work. Can you relate to this? If you do, maybe it’s time to consider locum tenens work for a better work-life balance.
Symptoms of Physician Burnout
Sometimes, it is hard to tell whether you are just stressed out or are already suffering from physician burnout. Here are the symptoms of physician burnout to help determine the next course of action for you:
- You are no longer happy meeting patients, as if you feel resentment towards them.
- You have a negative attitude when you meet your patients.
- You are exhausted from work, completely unmotivated and unhappy.
- You cannot even unwind or enjoy in your free time.
- You have lost your purpose in your career and feel that what you are doing is meaningless.
How Can Locum Tenens Help You?
Regardless if you are suffering from some of the symptoms above or are already having a full-blown physician burnout, it is crucial that you do something about it now. One of which is switching to a locum tenens practice, or at least, use it as a way to cope with the burnout. So, how can it help you?
- Flexible Schedule
One of the most significant reasons why physicians suffer from a burnout is because they are always working overtime and can’t get enough rest in between shifts. And when they feel extremely tired, they do not have the luxury to get enough time off to unwind. If they choose to go on a vacation or even seek counseling, this will reduce their work hours, resulting in a lower salary for that period. It seems as if physicians have no choice but to continue working despite what they’re feeling.
By shifting to locum tenens, you are in total control of your schedule. You can set the time and days for when to work and when you do not want to. You can even take on work in different cities and explore these places at the same time. You decide how many hours you will work while enjoying competitive pay. It is, indeed, a wonderful benefit for physicians who choose to go locum tenens.
- Get Your Passion Back
When you first started this line of work, you found purpose in helping people. Somewhere along the way, that faded. With locum tenens, you can regain that passion once again. Since you are not stressed out, you can happily provide high-quality care to your patients, which will then make your job more rewarding and fulfilling. And when you feel happy about yourself, your passion for your job continues to grow as you feel more inspired to help others.
- Focus on You
When you were an employed physician, what matters at the end of the day is how many patients you handled. It is all about productivity, thus, removing the focus on providing quality patient care. The same thing goes if you run a solo practice. You are too stressed out thinking about the different aspects of managing your practice.
But with locum tenens, you do not have to worry about the numbers at the end of the day. You will be focusing your efforts on helping patients in the best way you can, resulting in more job satisfaction. Plus, since you will also have more time for yourself, you will find more ways to stay motivated and stay deeply rooted in your purpose.
Being a physician is a rewarding career. However, if you are on the verge of burning out, your efforts will sometime feel purposeless. All it takes is making a change to ignite your passion for your career again. Do not hesitate to give a locum tenens career a try if it can provide you the work-life balance you seek. And if you need any assistance or guidance, you can call Adelphi Medical Staffing at 770.485.1684.
