Renée Bacher is a freelance medical writer based in Louisiana.
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November 2022Locum tenens: A Military Doctor’s Experience
Scott McCusker, MD, a comprehensive otolaryngologist with Mercy Medical Group in Sacramento, Calif., strongly recommends that all military otolaryngologists do locum tenens work. “It really is a win-win situation,” he said. “It isn’t that hard, it broadens your clinical skills, and it pays really well for the amount of effort involved.”
Dr. McCusker, who focuses on facial plastic surgery and sleep apnea surgery in his current practice, attended the United States Air Force Academy for college, went to medical school on a military scholarship, did an internship at Northwestern, and then went back to the military for his residency. He finished in 2011 and served for the next nine years as an attending otolaryngologist in the Air Force before separating from the military in 2020.
His main motivation for doing locum tenens work was financial. “The military doesn’t pay its physicians very well and California is an expensive place to live, especially with two young kids,” he said. But he also liked being able to experience different practice environments and see different places, which helped him to decide what he wanted to look for in a subsequent career after the Air Force. “Sometimes my wife and kids would join me for at least part of the trip, which was a fun little adventure,” he said.
The downsides included the challenge of finding the right balance among the primary practice, locum tenens time, and time off. “Sometimes there’s a lot of need all at once,” he said, “but there’s also dry periods, and it isn’t something you can necessarily depend on even once you get established.”
Dr. McCusker stopped doing locum tenens when he left the military because his current practice doesn’t allow it; even if it did, he doesn’t need to supplement his income. But one of the advantages as a military physician, he said, was that he could use the skills stateside that are important to be proficient in downrange, which is something many military doctors struggle with.