“A lot of the locum tenens things I’ve been doing are at critical access locations that wouldn’t otherwise have any sort of head and neck presence, and it’s rewarding to be able to deliver care in places that have less access,” he said. While Dr. Tennant starts his new job this November, he said he would consider taking the occasional call in some of the locations in which he has practiced, doing weekend work or vacation coverage.
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November 2022Currently, Dr. Tennant is working in Ohio County, Ky., the largest county in the state by land size, but the smallest by population. The otolaryngologist who worked there was nearing retirement age and left during the pandemic; Dr. Tennant filled his position in a locum tenens capacity.
I have friends who have pursued regular locum tenens work post-military service for years as a way to have variety in their practice, avoid burnout, and be able to work in different locations and systems. —LaKeisha Henry, MD
As a provider who offers subspecialty service in head and neck cancer in outlying areas, Dr. Tennant said he now has a better understanding of barriers to access in rural environments. He has had the opportunity to think about how to streamline care for a patient with tongue cancer in an outlying area, and has thought about options like telehealth, virtual tumor boards, and better communication with centralized locations.
“Being able to deliver as much care remotely as possible while continuing to offer quality is something that I’m very interested in and would love to explore in the job that I’m going to be starting,” he said. “Being able to do a large surgical intervention at a tertiary or quaternary center in the big city is one thing, but if a patient elsewhere needs adjuvant treatment or continued cancer surveillance, it would be great to grow networks of providers that collaborate seamlessly so that patients can get what they need locally.”
Increasing Demand
Mark said that after the initial COVID- 19 shutdown in 2020, his agency saw a 100% increase in the demand for locum tenens otolaryngologists. “From a call coverage standpoint, people really started reevaluating what was important to them. The reality ofbeing an older physician, or one with other risk factors, and sticking scopes in noses all day with a life-threatening virus out there and no vaccine for it just didn’t make sense.” He added that, as older physicians left practices and younger partners picked up the slack, these younger partners had also just spent two months at home with their families, considering their own mortality and what they valued in life; some realized they didn’t want to be on call every night.