LocumLife - February 2009 - (Page 13)

upon an offer to purchase a solo private practice. “I was presented with the opportunity, and we liked the area. So, at that time, I stopped accepting locum tenens contracts to focus on my new practice.” For 3 years, Dr. Pantangco built a patient roster, but in early 2008, he decided it was time for a change and joined a fellow physician in another city. Six months later, he realized his situation was not what he wanted. When the partnership failed to flourish like he had hoped, Dr. Pantangco turned back to locum tenens opportunities, accepting contracts through Salt Lake City, Utah-based CompHealth, to tide him over until he and his family could settle somewhere else. “Now, if a short-term opportunity is available for a weekend or 1 or 2 weeks at a stretch, then I will consider it because I do not want to spend too much time away from my wife and son. Being able to pick and choose my schedule is another nice aspect about locum tenens.” “There are so many opportunities out there, you are truly limiting yourself by not at least exploring a few.” —Eugene Pantangco, MD He continues, “While I am actively looking for permanent placement, I value the fact that until that happens, the staffing agency handles all of my travel, lodging, and malpractice details so I can concentrate on serving patients and assessing whether my family will like a certain area.” Dr. Pantangco admits locum tenens has helped him reevaluate his opinion of practice settings. “Earlier in my career, I would have said I preferred outpatient with no inpatient call or emergency department responsibilities. Over the past few months, however, I have accepted inpatient contracts and believe I now like practicing hospitalbased medicine more.” He explains, “The scope of practice is quite different and you have more resources at your immediate disposal.” Indeed, on his most recent opportunity, Dr. Pantangco has been charged with not just caring for admitted patients, but also covering the emergency department. “I am usually scheduled for a week at a time with full 24/7 coverage. Many of the cases are geriatric in nature with the usual complaints of diarrhea and nausea. Once in a while, I will encounter a gallstone case, and I am also qualified to do biliary procedures such as endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography,” he states. “But what I really appreciate is the collegial atmosphere among the staff as a whole. They feel comfortable enough to ask me informally about patients or ‘curbside’ consult me. That shows me they trust my opinion even though FEBRUARY 2009 LocumLife 13 Circle Career Card No. 608 http://www.staffcare.com http://www.staffcare.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of LocumLife - February 2009

LocumLife - February 2009 Editorial Insights Contents From Nalto Stat! Money Matters Resources Last-Minute Luxury Opening the Door Med Ec-cerpts Winning the Battle Career Center Advertisers' Index Opportunities Direct Residency Corner Destinations Contest Rules Anyone's Guess La Vita Locum

LocumLife - February 2009

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