title: Quality and extent of locum tenens coverage in pediatric surgical practices.
abstract: The prevalence and quality of locum tenens coverage in pediatric surgery have not been determined. An Internet-based survey of American Pediatric Surgical Association members was conducted: 1) practice description; 2) use and frequency of locum tenens coverage; 4) whether the surgeon provided such coverage; and 5) Likert scale responses (strongly disagree, disagree, neutral, agree, strongly agree) to statements addressing its acceptability and quality (two × five contingency table and χ(2) analyses, significance at P < 0.05). Three hundred sixteen of 1163 members (27.2% response rate) responded. One-fourth (24.1%) used a locum tenens regularly. Reasons were long-term inability to recruit a full-time surgeon (35.2%) and short-term vacancies (32.4%). One-fifth (20.4%) did locum tenens work; one-fourth (27.0%) plan to do so in the future. Two-thirds (64.2%) believe that surgical care in a locum tenens situation does not provide the same level of care as a full-time community-based surgeon. Most support locum tenens for short-term coverage (87.3%) and recruitment problems (72.1%), but not long-term vacancies (38.8%; P < 0.001) or permanent coverage (27.0%; P < 0.001). locum tenens coverage is an established feature of pediatric surgery. Most view it as a stopgap solution to the surgical workforce shortage.
authors.affiliation: Mercer University School of Medicine, Macon, Georgia, USA.
authors.forename: Tracy L
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Nolan
authors.forename: Jessica J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Kandel
authors.forename: Don K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Nakayama
mesh_terms: D003284:Contract Services; D006801:Humans; D010372:Pediatrics; D010561:Personnel Staffing and Scheduling / Q000458:organization & administration*; D010820:Physicians / Q000600:supply & distribution*; D019984:Quality Indicators, Health Care; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013531:Surgicenters; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States; D000078329:Workforce