COVID-19 has put extreme stress on the United States healthcare workforce, causing shortages and increasing fatigue, burnout, and trauma among healthcare workers. Unanswered questions are what the pandemic means to the healthcare workforce, as well as the patients they serve since it's extending on without end.
As a result of COVID-19, the country lost approximately 1.5 million healthcare jobs in the first two months as it shut down clinics and restricted non-emergency services at U.S. hospitals to contain the novel coronavirus. Despite the return of many of those jobs, the number of healthcare workers remains below pre-pandemic levels with a reduction of 176,000 workers compared to February 2020, according to the labor department.
COVID-19 has been exhausting and burnout-inducing for the healthcare workforce. One in three healthcare workers who remain said that they considered quitting during the pandemic. According to the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), which analyzes the physician workforce, the United States had nearly 20,000 fewer doctors than needed in 2019. The group estimates that by 2034, the gap could reach as many as 124,000 due to a lack of primary care doctors.
As reported by AAMC, Medscape, and Definitive Healthcare, nearly, 117,000 clinicians and 333,942 healthcare workers left the workforce in 2021. Several specialties reported 60% burnout rates and this number correlates with higher rates of physician loss. Currently, 45% of clinicians are older (>55 years). Hence, in the next 10 days, more than 40% of clinicians will become 65 or older.
According to National Nurses United, an organization that claims 175,000 members across the country, the majority of states have sufficient nurses to meet demand, but hospital staffing and safety policies discourage nurses from working in hospitals.
Some governors, including those in Alabama, Colorado, Maine, New York, and Wisconsin, are pushing for higher compensation for healthcare workers. There have been proposals to expand nurse education programs in Alaska, Georgia, Hawaii, Maine, New Mexico, and Oklahoma. A proposal from Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, for example, proposes training more nurses and adding medical residency slots with millions of dollars. Eventually, he said, 1,300 more healthcare workers are to be hired.
COVID-19 has affected hospitals and health systems throughout the nation, and hospitals and health systems are taking action in many ways to help their communities. Despite the slow recovery of hospital volumes, patient acuity and demand have increased. Hospitals have had to incur significant costs in recruiting and retaining employees due to an increase in demand that has not been met by increases in staffing. In the meantime, physicians are fighting against compensation cuts with their employers and the Federal Government. Above all, the major shocking factor is the decision of care providers to make a change as they are unable to put up with the ever-rising demands.
The rise of new technologies makes it possible to be much more flexible when it comes to staffing as well. Here’s the staffing platform named ProLocums for physicians and Voysta for nurses and allied health professionals. They verify the qualifications of healthcare professionals and connect them to employers with open positions in healthcare.
Employers should develop long-term strategies for recruiting and retaining employees if the labor shortage is expected to persist for the next decade. To attract new applicants and create a strong pipeline of future employees, businesses should offer benefits like student loan repayment, referral bonuses, and subsidized housing.
Healthcare workers lost 1.5 million jobs because clinics and hospitals temporarily closed in April 2020 and postponed surgeries to prevent the spread of SARS-CoV-2, multiple studies suggested.
While healthcare employment returned to pre-pandemic levels by the fall of 2020, it still lagged 2.7% behind. Between January 2019 and March 2020, 1.3% of physicians were either unemployed or left the labor force, according to the researchers. This increased to 1.6% by December 2020, then to 1.7% by October 2021.
Hence, many industry stakeholders will be looking for solutions as the healthcare staffing shortage continues. Multiple technologies and effective strategies can be adopted to curb the problem as well as many government initiatives can also help.
In the meantime, address your care facility staffing shortage by signing up ProLocums for hiring locum tenens physicians or Voysta for hiring nurses and allied health professionals.
If you're trying to pay off medical school loans while avoiding the rat race—or you're planning a more relaxed route toward retirement—a medical staffing agency might be exactly what you need. These agencies help healthcare professionals, including physicians, nurses, and allied health workers find temporary contract opportunities across medical facilities. Whether you're after flexibility, diverse clinical exposure, or high-paying contracts working through a staffing agency can help you meet your personal and professional goals.
Malpractice insurance proves to be the major pros of partnering with a credible healthcare staffing agency. These agencies typically offer full coverage, so you’re listed as an additional insured under the policy. Understanding key insurance terms—like claims made and occurrence-based policies or tail and nose coverage—is important.
Staffing agencies partner with hospitals, clinics, and rural facilities across the country, so you can work in various healthcare settings. This exposure not only enhances your clinical skills but also expands your professional network making you more competitive in the long run. Whether you want to try out a new region or test different specialties these contracts offer flexibility.
Continued education resources, help with licensing, travel logistics, and even housing arrangements are often part of the package. Great agencies also help with out-of-state credentialing so you stay compliant and up to date with your documentation. A strong credentialing department will notify you of expiring licenses or certifications before they become an issue.
With so many agencies to choose from it's important to find one that aligns with your values, goals, and preferences. Here are some tips:
Searching online for a healthcare staffing agency near me will help you narrow down options that fit your location and specialty needs.
Contract jobs offer great opportunities, but you need to take charge by excelling in temporary positions:
Medical workers now turn to staffing agencies to get flexibility and make more money. Those in the middle of their careers use agencies to test different work settings or travel. Professionals close to retirement take on short-term jobs to stay in healthcare but work less.
If you want to discover your options, looking up for a healthcare staffing agency near me is a smart way to begin finding jobs that fit both your goals and how you live your life.
A healthcare staffing agency offer more benefits in addition to finding jobs. They provide what you need to succeed, including help with insurance, credentialing, learning opportunities, and access to various roles in today’s fast-changing medical field.
If you want to move forward your career, ProLocums stands out as a great option. They link healthcare workers to clinics and hospitals all over the country. Their team provides custom support and contracts designed to match your goals. Whether you want more freedom new experiences, or better pay, ProLocums helps you land the right opportunity.
06/11/2025
The healthcare sector is growing swiftly, and telemedicine is at the forefront of this growth. For locum professionals, this transformation presents an exceptional opportunity. In the past, people had to relocate for short-term assignments, but today they can perform the same job from a home office with a secure internet connection.
Telemedicine isn’t the future. It’s the present. And for locum physicians, it’s changing the manner you work, connect, and provide care.
Usually, locum tenens work was very flexible, though it could interrupt a person’s routine in other ways. Clinicians were tasked with going to many locations, getting accustomed to new ways of working, and dealing with different levels of help in each facility. Telemedicine changes that equation entirely.
Today, you have the ability to give excellent care to patients anywhere in the country without traveling. Now, you can overlook prolonged car rides, daily hotel stays, extensive travels, and instead manage your schedule, finances, and time with utmost flexibility.
Care facilities are undergoing grave staffing shortages. As demand increases, so does the requirement for accessible care. Telemedicine service has stepped in to fill that gap, and locum physicians are uniquely suitable to succeed in this model.
1. Practice from Anywhere, Serve Everywhere
Consider the possibility of working from your living room but still helping people living far away. Since telehealth allows remote communication, you can serve patients from different places. Instead, you can:
2. Expand Your Reach, Not Your Commute
Thanks to telemedicine, you are able to treat more people than before. When you choose virtual care, you are getting the full benefits of medical care.
3. Build a More Varied Career
Using a simulated environment, you can encounter various care procedures, modern platforms, and what patients require. As you go on, these experiences can make you more skilled and attractive to employers. Not having the same cases all the time helps prevent the professional exhaustion that usually comes with traditional locum work.
1. Understand Licensing Requirements
Nowadays, patients search for ‘telemedicine service near me’ in order to consult physicians virtually. Each state has its own rules for telehealth, and in most cases, you must have a license in the patient’s location. Luckily, some strategies can help make the process less difficult:
Working with a staffing agency means that you don't have to worry about paperwork and credentialing
2. Get Comfortable with the Tech
You don’t have to know everything about computers, but you do need to feel secure using technology. Before starting your first assignment, you should ensure you are trained and prepared on all you need to know.
3. Focus on Virtual Bedside Manner
In the end, taking care of patients is mostly about connecting. You should communicate in a different way when working remotely.
Trust and love are still important, even when the interaction is on a screen.
Telemedicine helps in locating professionals and finding ways to succeed, change, and work as they please. If you wish to increase your income, avoid exhaustion, or get a better balance in your life, telemedicine offers you a great solution.
Perform a Google search by typing ‘telemedicine near me’. At ProLocums, applicants can take part in top telemedicine assignments. We help with licensing, training, and finding the right candidates for you so you can concentrate on what you are good at. delivering excellent care.
Want to take part in the advances of the healthcare industry? Get in touch with ProLocums now to find remote locum positions that are a good fit for your needs and aims.
05/20/2025
Absolutely! Here’s how. Doctors who work in locum positions possess high levels of specialization because they can work in multiple medical fields through their varied work opportunities. The locum physician industry features specific positions for medical professionals who are OB/GYNs, radiologists, or cardiologists. Locum doctors select full-time roles because they enjoy the flexibility and higher compensation levels as well as the diversity of roles available to them.
ProLocums collaborates with professional-specific providers each day to assist them in their locum physician job search. The specific breakdown of how specialization operates within locum practices can be explored through the following details.
The locum positions extend beyond general practice clinical work. All medical specialties currently experience a growing need for locum workers. The development of medical expertise by doctors leads to positive outcomes for them in this situation. The locum jobs online opportunity exists for both high-risk neurology specialists and emergency medicine practitioners who want to use their expertise.
Top specialties in demand include
High demand exists in locum practice because of workforce deficits alongside rising patient numbers and the requirement for short-term medical staffing solutions, primarily in rural medical areas without sufficient physician presence.
Medical practitioners remain the leading community of locum professionals, but the employment sector continues to expand. Various healthcare occupations currently provide temporary roles with similar working characteristics to locum positions.
The workforce of advanced practice providers incorporates NPs together with PAs who fill positions in different healthcare settings, including primary care, urgent care, and specialties.
Nurses (RNs & LPNs) are in high demand for temporary roles across the country.
The field of locum work includes various allied professionals such as pharmacists, along with physical therapists, lab scientists, and radiologic technologists.
On-demand dental professionals consisting of specialists and dentists have priority placement requirements in specific geographical areas where physician staffing remains challenging.
Healthcare professionals seeking both flexibility in work and meaningful employment will find a good match through locum jobs online.
The practice of locum has evolved into a permanent locum physician job choice for multiple doctors in healthcare fields. More physicians now opt for locum-only practice because they receive the following advantages:
Locum offers physicians complete freedom to determine their working hours along with their locations and work frequency. Similarly, they get higher pay, often better than permanent roles, especially for high-demand specialties. They will experience less burnout due to reduced administrative burden while focusing more on patient care.
Healthcare professionals who choose locum roles have the chance to see different medical systems at urban hospitals and rural clinics. This lifestyle appeals to early-career doctors exploring different settings. Physicians who have stopped working full-time can utilize such opportunities to work as they please. Similarly, they can enjoy adventurous trips, thereby maintaining work-life balance. Specialists choose this path for obtaining elevated salary prospects together with expanded professional variety options.
Locum and specialization complement each other in powerful ways:
1. Precision Matching
The databases and matching systems at locum agencies help identify facilities requiring specialists according to your recorded skills. Your opportunities to work at your full licensing scope will increase when selected through locum services.
2. Filling Critical Gaps
Hospitals depend on locum specialists to handle vacancies, which become especially important in areas where permanent staff cannot be hired easily. The depth of your skills ensures continuous patient treatment remains strong during critical healthcare moments.
3. Expanding Your Experience
Locating your practice in diverse settings allows specialists to encounter multiple healthcare environments, clinical approaches, medical systems, and patient demographics. Early-stage medical practitioners can boost their careers by working as locums, while professionals at any stage can use locum work for clinical refreshment.
Doctors usually select locum because it provides them with control over their personal lives. Doctors who choose locum can accomplish their goals of finding improved work-life balance and career development as well as exploring new opportunities.
ProLocums exists to assist your professional development. The recruiting team at our company connects medical professionals with roles matching their field through high-demand positions. Our company enables all locums to simplify their lifestyle because we provide premier compensation alongside certification aid with flexible positions and travel benefits.
Ready for your adventure era? Contact our ProLocums staff or view current openings through our website. The right opportunity is waiting.
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