When the public thinks about healthcare, minds often shift to television medical dramas centered around specific hospitals. Yet the writer’s room ignores the stories of locum tenens medical professionals who travel for their work, like Kathrine K. For 30 years, she’s worked as a physician assistant (PA) in psychiatry and family medicine—but since 2011, she’s expanded her horizons, traveling across the country as a locum tenens PA.
To Kathrine, the flexible nature of locum tenens is much more appealing to her than staying at one facility for most of her career. While permanent providers are subject to countless meetings, as a temporary provider, Kathrine said she’s able to push internal politics to the wayside and focus on what’s really important: her patients.
“I like to not be involved in the administrative part,” she said. “I just want to care for patients and not be bogged down by committees.”
Kathrine works in states with different communities and cultures, but what ties them all together is that they each serve marginalized communities. “A lot of people want to be in the medium to higher class places, those are coveted jobs,” she said.
“Sometimes it’s harder for [healthcare providers] to find the needs for lower-income patients—the patients that really need the help, that are going to fall through the cracks. That’s always been something I’ve been drawn to. It was never about the money or standing in the community, it was all about the patient.”
Psychiatry, Corrections, and IHS
As a locum tenens PA, Kathrine has worked at correctional facilities in Pennsylvania and Indian Health Service (IHS) facilities across the United States. Both of them render healthcare services for underserved populations.
Her duty in the Pennsylvania correctional facility was to aid inmates in managing their standards of care. Many suffered from chronic illnesses that required constant visits with providers.
“Most of my patients were not in control of their chronic illnesses,” Kathrine stated. “The facility needed me to catch them up on their standards of care, [such as] making sure they’re seen yearly for their blood pressure.”
Mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, PTSD, and other mood disorders are common among prison populations. For medical providers like Kathrine who work in these environments, the patient population calls for alert behavior and understanding.
While some may be apprehensive to work in a prison, Kathrine has felt fairly safe in these correctional facilities. She said she can alert nearby officers with a body alarm when she feels the situation calls for intervention.
Prisons are not the only places with underserved communities and people—Native American populations often struggle to obtain quality healthcare, and IHS facilities work to bridge this gap by bringing care right to reservations. Reservations are typically impoverished areas, and multi-generational trauma has resulted in Native Americans suffering from higher rates of mental illnesses, substance use disorders, and suicide when compared to other populations.
Over her career, Kathrine has worked with the Pine Ridge, Rosebud, Tuba City, and the Choctaw Nation. While caring for these patients, she couldn’t help but notice the impoverished state of these nations.
“The Navajo Nation still speaks Navajo, but Rosebud and the Lakota tribes, they’re having to teach their languages in schools because it’s almost gone,” Kathrine said. “It’s extremely sad.”
Working with Barton
The opportunities that Barton provides allows Kathrine to find employment in areas that give her purpose. “[The locum tenens positions] are usually the spots that need to be filled. Those are the spots that come across my desk, it’s very unusual for me to get a couple that are regular family practice jobs or ER jobs,” Kathrine said.
Kathrine started working with Barton after seeing an advertisement for a locum tenens position. Ever since then, Barton has helped her find employment and gather the proper credentials to work in other states.
“My Rhode Island license had to be reactivated, [the Barton licensing team is] going to help with the Wisconsin licensure, and they helped renew my Pennsylvania license,” Kathrine said. “Each state has its delays but the process and the people I worked with were very good. They worked very hard at getting [me] licensure as soon as they could.”
Kathrine has learned a lot from each locum tenens experience, not just from the patients she cares for, but from the other medical professionals she worked alongside.
“Every provider you run into, you kind of take a bit of their knowledge,” she said. “You learn a lot actually.”
Barton’s internal team also helps providers with travel and housing accommodations. Kathrine does not travel alone, as she brings a pair of Cavapoos—a cross between a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and a Poodle—named Ivy and Daisy. She adores her dogs but she noted “some days are more trying than others.”
Kathrine’s next assignment is in July at a community mental health facility in Milwaukee. “I like to be where the medical need is,” she stated.
Her advice to new locum tenens providers is to “make sure you save money in case there’s not another job coming right up. Be open to the opportunities that are presented to you. They may not be exactly what you want but you may end up loving it,” Kathrine said.
If you’re a healthcare provider looking to take on a locum tenens assignment, check out our open positions and reach out to our talented recruiters to get started.
