Sumo Medial Staffing

Locum tenens doctors and many other locum healthcare pros truly stepped up as needed in the first few months – and long after – the start of the Covid pandemic in 2020. 

Hospitals contended with an incredible surge of critically ill patients in those first awful months and found that brining on locum tenens pros was more crucial than ever. 

How many locums helped?

True numbers are hard to ascertain, but about 71 percent  of locum tenens doctors, NPs, physician assistants, and CRNAs (certified registered nurse anesthetists) reported in June 2021 that they had treated Covid patients.  

Locum professionals such as pulmonary, critical care and emergency medicine were especially in demand, with one study staying that demand for these locum specialists rose by more than 30 percent.  

Yet locums’ work in the pandemic’s first month contributed far more than filling vacancies or helping healthcare facilities cope with the patient onslaught: their many different skills and their experience working at different types of medical/healthcare facilities became a huge plus to those health providers who used them.  

Yes, locum tenens doctors and other temporary healthcare professionals provided critical respite to permanent staff. Yet they, too, worked long hours under extremely stressful conditions.  

Having more “hands on deck” helped maintain physical/mental health of facilities’ permanent workforce, but – and some would say, most importantly – made it far easier for facilities to deliver a sustained high quality of patient care.  

What’s more, many locums often worked at the crossroads where healthcare and community support meet by providing seminars both in-person and virtually to the public about how Covid symptoms, prevention and vaccination. 

What’s more, many healthcare facilities used locums for testing and vaccination drives, taking advantage of many locums’ experience in diverse healthcare settings and ability to adapt quickly, particularly in new or challenging environments. 

Using locums for these important activities took a lot of the burden of doing so from permanent staff, allowing them to focus on patient care.  

Locum tenens doctors, RNs, NPs, and other invaluable health care professionals especially helped in those regions or facilities that struggled greatly with staffing shortages. 

In short, locum pros provided much more value to the healthcare/medical facilities that used them than staffing: they make great healthcare educators, and advocates and can quickly become true aides in a medical facility’s broader public health work. 

SUMO Staffing can provide hospitals, government agencies, medical practices and other healthcare entities with internal medicine professionals, physician hospitalists, ER docs, pediatric physicians and nurses, and many more talented professionals in other healthcare areas for short-term, temporary assignments, as needed. 

Learn more about how we can help you ensure a high-level of care for your patients wherever they may be.