Locum tenens is about changing your own life, even as you change the lives of others. We know we are the great connector between quality care and patients. So, it warms our hearts when we get to share the tales of IP team members jumping in to (quite literally) save the day. Read all about it here.
A county hospital in a small Ohio community with the only birthing center in the town was nearly forced to make a drastic decision when they learned of a key staff member’s departure.
The only OB-GYN doctor in the facility accepted a position in another state, which left Brenda, the facility’s recruiting director, scrambling to find a permanent replacement doctor. When she was unable to find one, the facility realized it had no choice but to close the birthing center. The news hit the community hard. The OB-GYN they came to know and love had established great relationships with her patients, and Brenda feared how the lack of a birthing center would affect this rural community.
In a desperate attempt to keep the birthing center open, Brenda decided to try long-term locum tenens physicians as a stopgap solution to at least delay the closing of the center. The facility had only used locum tenens physicians for vacation and call coverage, but never as great of a need as this. Brenda, who was hesitant to use other agencies, came directly to Kara, a seasoned locum tenens consultant at Interim Physicians. Brenda described her predicament to Kara and as usual, Kara responded to her client’s coverage request in the blink of an eye.
Kara knew that she and her colleague, Duke, had to do whatever they could to find a candidate quickly to not only keep the birthing center open but ultimately preserve it as a resource for the community.
“The history between Brenda and I definitely helped because I knew what her standards were and exactly what she was looking for,” Kara said.
Adding to the existing challenge, Kara noted that filling a locum tenens OB-GYN position is no easy task. These physicians develop such a deep and personal relationship with patients, and it can oftentimes be difficult for the patient to accept an unfamiliar doctor.
Meanwhile, Duke was hard at work recruiting for an exceptional OB-GYN. He reached out to Dr. Albert, who had tried private practice but decided to switch gears and try locum tenens assignments so he could slow down and spend more time with his wife. Dr. Albert also happened to be working a locums assignment in a nearby facility in Ohio.
Duke recognized that the closing of the birthing center would have a dramatic impact on not only the community but the entire region. Duke described this dire situation to Dr. Albert, who had a profound sense of understanding for the neighboring facility.
“The doctor was familiar with the area and knew exactly what losing the center would mean to the community, “Duke said, He had great concern for what would happen, and even though he was working for the competition, he still wanted to help.
Duke and Kara finalized their recruiting efforts and presented Dr. Albert and another physician to Brenda. After reviewing the candidates’€ credentials, Brenda agreed that they would be excellent additions to the facility.
Thankfully, this story has a happy ending. The birthing center remains open, and new lives continue to arrive at the center thanks to two Interim Physicians on long-term assignments. Brenda believes the center will remain open long enough for a permanent physician to be recruited.
Kara and Duke delivered for Brenda because they understood what needed to be done and cared about what might happen to the community without their locum tenens coverage. Kara’€s quick response and consultative approach, in combination with Duke's exceptional recruiting and placement are prime examples of our Interim Physicians associates practicing Advancing Quality Care.
In a serious crunch for staff, the Medical Director of this California facility needed someone he could count on in a bind. As a physician who had previously served as a locums provider, this Medical Director was familiar with Interim Physicians.
From the beginning of this Medical Director’s relationship with Interim, he knew this was a good fit because of the straightforward nature of Account Manager John. The Medical Director understood that John and recruiter Jennifer had built a trusting relationship with many California locum tenens which made them more likely to obtain the physician’s whole hearted cooperation and improved the physician’s willingness to undertake a variety of assignments and shifts.
The Medical Director said, I have found the Interim Physician agents to work hard to secure the necessary coverage we have asked them to provide. Few if any problems have arisen, but when questions have come up, the Interim staff is ready to respond. A day hardly goes by without some email exchange about availability, applicable rates, or clarification of physician preferences. With over a dozen shifts to fill in any 24 hour period, this has made my job easier.€
And it wasn’t just the sales team of John and Jennifer that this California facility found to be so great. The Quality Assurance team was consistently on top of paperwork and all aspects of the credentialing process for locum tenens providers. Communication was dependable and updates were constant from the dedicated team at Interim Physicians.
In fact, the Medical Director said, “I continue to have the highest regard for the Interim Physician staff and recommend them without hesitation.”
It was an unseasonably cold winter in the Gateway City. In fact, St. Louis weather had been abysmal all winter, as the roads were consistently covered with ice and snow and the wind chill, often below zero. This had led to many terrible winter-related injuries.
One hospital was in desperate need of ICU coverage during the tumultuous winter months. The hospital always turned to Interim Physicians to provide coverage because they knew through long-developed relationships with thousands of doctors that Interim Physicians would deliver a top-notch critical care medicine locum tenens provider. The hospital also chose to work exclusively with Interim Physicians because of the incredible customer service that Account Manager Katrina delivered.
Katrina was instantly ready to help. She wanted to make certain that the facility could continue patient care and not overload their permanent physicians and staff.
Katrina reached out to the recruiting team and told them about the coverage need. Recruiter Greg immediately felt connected to this job. A long-time locum tenens recruiter, resided in St. Louis, he put finding a critical care medicine physician for his community on the top of his priority list.
Luckily, after years in the business, Greg already knew just the right physicians for this position. He contacted one of his favorite doctors, Dr. Smith, who knew just how to handle increased patient census and was an exceptional ICU physician. He was available immediately for a locum assignment and was excited to help fulfill a need so close to home.
After starting the assignment, the facility administers reached out to Katrina and Interim Physicians because they were so pleased with how the locums physician, Dr. Smith, conducted herself with staff and patients.
The hospital administrators actually wanted her to extend coverage or even stay on as a full-time physician. Dr. Smith had to politely declined and tell the facility that she enjoyed working for Interim Physicians too much to give that up! But, she was willing to come back often and hopes to warm up the halls of this hospital...
Between snowbirds who stay in Florida during the winter months, and normal beach-loving vacationers, a Florida urgent care clinic in a popular vacation destination experienced a high volume of seasonal patients. With such a high patient census, working at the clinic during the winter was becoming overwhelming for the staff and leaving the solo physician burned out.
Exhausted, the physician clinic owner decided that the only possible way to continue serving the community was to add another white coat in the mix. But, the extra physician was truly only needed during the winter months and would be too costly to maintain during the summer.
This was an ideal opportunity to utilize an urgent care locum tenens physician. Apprehensively, the clinic owner began sifting through information about locums agencies. With so many options, the clinic owner did not know who he could turn to for help finding coverage.
He was referred to Interim Physicians through a trusted medical-school friend. After understanding Interim Physicians’s oath to provide high-quality service and healthcare to underserved communities, the clinic owner was convinced that working with Interim Physicians would be a walk on the beach.
Interim Physicians took the hassle out of hiring and assured the facility that our mobile workforce would provide a quality candidate for the position. The team jumped into action.
An recruiter immediately found three well-trained, quality candidates for the clinic owner to interview. After interviews, the clinic owner was highly impressed with the quality locums candidates. He even went so far as saying, “the hardest part of the whole process was choosing which physician to hire after interviews.”
The clinic owner chose a talented urgent care locum tenens physician for the position and the physician was so great that the owner said using locum tenens from Interim would be a perennial occurrence.
In fact, each winter, the clinic owner looks forward to catching up with Interim Physician€s’ team and greeting his snowbird locum tenens urgent care colleague.
The small family practice clinic is a staple on the outskirts of Denver and provides easy healthcare access to families, especially those with small children. But when a physician here quit without notice, this facility in the Mile High City had troubles piled a mile high.
Sole coverage in a clinic tyat typically had two physicians made it impossible to continue. In fact, it was driving the sole physician to burnout and he needed immediate help.
So, when their account manager was entrusted with bringing a great doctor into the tight-knit staff she partnered with Interim Physicians - charged with finding a qualified family practice locum tenens physician coverage until a permanent candidate could be hired.
After Interim grasped an understanding of the clinic's situation, he contacted Dr. Patel, a top-notch physician who thoroughly enjoyed seeing patients of all ages.
Dr. Patel was working at a nearby hospital and feeling as though hospital administration politics were overshadowing the true purpose of a hospital: keeping patients healthy. He was looking for a change and thought locum tenens work would be the ideal situation.
Dr. Patel and the clinic never imagined how the relationship would thrive. Dr. Patel had an incredible way of making staff and patients feel at ease and was great about completing paperwork and worked countless hours to provide quality healthcare to the community. He loved the staff and the staff adored him. So, as the facility continued their search for a permanent physician, no one measured up to Dr. Patel. Before long they offered him a full-time position and a partnership made in heaven (or at least close to it).
Staying permanently wasn't Dr. Patel’s original plan, but he was thrilled to join such a wonderful group. It's what we call a perfect match and Interim Physicians was the matchmaker.
