Locum tenens offers surgical PAs a unique opportunity to enhance their careers while reaping lucrative financial benefits. By embracing a flexible work schedule and the chance to collaborate with various medical teams, physician assistants working locums can expand their skills and gain valuable experience — and that’s only just the beginning. Learn about all of the benefits from two surgical PAs who work locum tenens.
Choosing to become a surgical physician assistant
Lauren Whitley, PA-C, comes from a small town in Tennessee, a place where PA professionals are few and far between. After falling in love with anatomy and physiology in high school, Lauren started college, intending to go to medical school after securing her biology degree — until she realized that it wasn’t the right fit for her.
“I talked to my advisor, and he told me about the PA profession. I had never actually heard of the PA profession. At that point, I transferred down to the University of Florida and shadowed my first PA in Gainesville, Florida,” she says.
Lauren was instantly impressed. “My PA mentor did a cardiovascular surgery — an endoscopic vein harvest — the very first day I went to shadow her. I thought that was the coolest thing ever,” she says. As soon as she finished PA school, her first job offer was in cardiovascular surgery.
Diem Dang, meanwhile, was drawn to the PA profession for its practicality — and job security. “People are always going to be sick, and people are always going to have heart problems,” she says. “I just kind of fell into it.”
Despite it not necessarily being her “one true calling,” Dang finds a lot of satisfaction working in cardiovascular and thoracic surgery. “In surgery, there’s a problem. You see it, we fix it, you get a result, and it’s good,” she says. She has worked locum tenens assignments as a PA since 2011.
Why they chose to work locums
Dang was drawn to a locum tenens position in the hopes that it would be a better cultural fit. After some disappointing workplace environments, she was ready for a change.
“All my assignments are kind of fun because despite the surgeons being trained here in the United States, it’s so different from one to the next. What they’re taught, what their skill level is, and how they do things. No matter how many surgeons I work with, there’s never been a surgeon that’s been identical to the next surgeon that I work with,” she says.
Thirteen years later, she’s still enjoying the benefits of her locum tenens work arrangement.
“Because I’ve been able to travel and work with so many different surgeons, my skill level is a lot better than that of the average PA who’s been at one job or at the same position or same place for a long time,” Dang says.
For Whitley, locum tenens was a smart way to bounce back after the pandemic impacted her employer, a private practice group. “I thought, well, I’ll take a locum position since I felt pretty comfortable in my skill set at that time, and I’ll do locums for a little while, and then I’ll move back to Pensacola.”
But life had different plans. “I really enjoyed traveling, so I worked locums for just over two years,” she says.
Is locums for you? The pros and cons of working locum tenens
The benefits of locum tenens for surgical PAs
Whitley and Dang say there’s not one specific reason they enjoy working locum tenens — there are plenty of benefits they enjoy with the work arrangement.
Schedule flexibility
“I got to set my own schedule, I got to set my own time off. Prior to agreeing to an assignment, if I already had three, four, or five weeks of vacation planned out over the course of a few months, I just give them those dates, and they would accommodate me,” shares Whitley.
Increased compensation
Locum tenens PAs typically earn more than their counterparts with full-time positions. “We actually get paid for our time,” says Dang.
The increased pay also means more opportunities for strategic savings — and even makes possibilities like early retirement within reach.
“Because locums has afforded me a lot and gives me a bigger income, it allows me to invest and save. I don’t want to do the typical thing and work until I’m 65. Working in locum tenens, I don’t have to,” says Dang, who is considering early retirement.
Learning new skill sets
“Another benefit of locums work is the exposure to different techniques and skills,” shares Whitley.
Both Whitley and Dang tip their hats to the immense learning opportunities given as a locum tenens PA. The ability to collaborate with surgeons across a variety of facilities has given them insight into all the different ways you can fix a similar problem.
Whitley expounds, “You would think after five years of case after case you would get to see it all, but even just in my last assignment, I saw a totally new approach to a routine procedure that I have seen so many times. I was like, I have never seen anyone do it that way, but it worked really well.”
Finding community while traveling
Many PAs choose to work locums for the chance to travel and experience life in new communities. It turns out, you don’t have to give up friendships when living a more nomadic lifestyle. You can even become a regular, and in fact, this is one of Whitley’s favorite tips to share with those considering a locum tenens position.
“In my spare time, I go to restaurants and eat. I tried not to just Doordash every day and stay inside. Once I found the places that I really liked, I just became a regular. If you show up consistently to a place, other people are also regulars there, so you get to meet other customers. You get to meet the staff and know the staff,” she says.
Whitley says this strategy is tried and true across all of her locum tenens placements and has proven effective for making connections.
We’ll do the planning: How travel works for locum tenens
Minimal bureaucracy
Working locum tenens allows you to devote more time to patient care without dealing with the typical burdens of paperwork, administrative red tape, and bureaucratic issues that are common with traditional medical positions.
“The work/life balance is way better — way better than I would ever thought,” says Dang.
Benefits package
You may not have to sacrifice some of the traditional benefits of full-time employment, either.
For instance, all PAs who work with Weatherby are hired as W-2 employees. This means you get benefits like health insurance and retirement contributions, which can be a huge perk for individuals seeking such coverage.
Whitley explains, “I felt like I was just a full-time employee who had the opportunity to go to other hospitals and learn even more ways to perform heart surgery.”
We’ve got you: The benefits PAs receive when working with Weatherby
What to know if you’re considering locums as a surgical PA
- Certain settings are more likely to hire surgical PA locums than others, like hospitals and outpatient facilities.
- Some specialties are in higher demand than others. Cardiovascular and cardiothoracic surgery specialists comprise 60% of the surgical PA jobs available. General surgery, neurosurgery, and orthopedic surgery are also popular.
- Pay depends on your skill level and specialty. For instance, pay is higher for a provider that first assists. Cardiovascular and cardiothoracic PAs are typically paid the most.
Locum tenens positions for surgical PAs benefit everyone
Working as a surgical PA in a locum tenens capacity can even help bring energy to your team while you’re on assignment — impacting not just yourself, but everyone around you.
“If you show up and you show that there is still passion and excitement in your field, that really inspires the full-time providers who are kind of in a rut, being overworked,” says Whitley. “You can bring some freshness to a program, demonstrate your passion, and inspire a ‘go get them’ attitude at every facility that you work at.”
Are you a surgical PA who’s interested in learning more about locum tenens as a career alternative? Give us a call at 954.343.3050 or view today’s locum tenens job opportunities for PAs.
