How long is the waitlist at your physiotherapy department or facility? Weeks? Months? Did you know that a physiotherapy locum can reduce it?

As the Canadian population ages, the demand for physiotherapy services has increased significantly. When you consider the fact that physiotherapists already play an essential role in sports medicine, accident recovery, and women’s healthcare, it’s easy to see why most facilities have such a long waitlist.

While waitlists are inevitable in healthcare, certain challenges can make them more of a problem. Staffing issues can arise without warning, resulting in longer wait times, reduced patient satisfaction, and team burnout. Even when an absence is scheduled, such as vacation or parental leave, an absent team member can increase wait times.

Engaging a physiotherapy locum for your facility can help you overcome these issues by maintaining service continuity and team morale. In this blog, we’ll highlight the ways that locum physiotherapy staffing can keep your waitlist reasonable and even reduce it altogether.

What is a Locum Physiotherapist?

A locum physiotherapist temporarily fills in for other physios when they take time off or when a hospital or facility is short-staffed. They have the same qualifications and do the same work as the physiotherapist they are covering for, although they may not work the same set hours as in-house therapists. This means that they can:

• Identify a patient’s needs and problems by taking or studying a detailed history of their symptoms.
• Develop or follow current treatment plans for patients.
• Help patients recover from health problems, surgery or injury by using hands-on manual therapy, such as massage techniques and exercise.
• Monitor the patient’s recovery progress and liaise with physicians and other healthcare professionals.
• Make suggestions on what patients can do to lead a healthier lifestyle.
• Collaborate with other health professionals to develop care plans tailored to each patient’s needs.

Depending on the needs of the employer, locums may work for anywhere from a couple of days to a year or more. Facility locations range from major cities to remote locations where physiotherapy services have a longer waitlist.

What are the Benefits of Hiring a Physiotherapy Locum?

Physiotherapy departments are like any other service provider in that they have to manage costs while reducing delays in service delivery. This means that if any of your staff are sick for more than a day or two, go on vacation, or take parental leave, you don’t always have the option of hiring another physiotherapist to pick up the slack.

Locum physiotherapists are a cost-effective means of maintaining quality and continuity of care. A physiotherapy staffing agency like ProMed HR Solutions can provide you with skilled and pre-vetted professionals who will care for your patients and support your team during staff absences and times of increased demand.

Here are some of the many benefits of hiring a locum tenens physiotherapist.

Cover Surges in Demand and Extended Hours

Demand for healthcare services is always strong, but during the pandemic, many physiotherapy departments were forced to postpone non-urgent treatments. Now that restrictions are relaxing, healthcare facilities are probably dealing with a backlog that can either increase wait times or make extended hours necessary. 

Inevitably, the increased demand will put a strain on staffing schedules. Physiotherapy locums can play a crucial role in ensuring that your team has sufficient provider coverage to meet waitlist deadlines without overwhelming your team.

Substitute for a Sick Staff Member

Physiotherapists are like anyone else in that illness or injury can strike without warning, forcing them to take time off of work. When this happens, other physiotherapists at the facility have to step in to help with their colleague’s patient list. With locum providers available to fill in, your facility can keep delivering the care your patients need without resorting to overtime and risking staff burnout.

Improve Work-Life Balance for Existing Staff

Most physiotherapists struggle to maintain a work-life balance. With the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, achieving a balanced lifestyle has become more difficult than ever for overworked professionals. When physiotherapy locums come in to help facilities deal with increased patient load, they provide welcome relief to in-house therapists who may be overworked and overstretched.

Reduce the Risk of Error

While anyone can make a mistake, they are a lot more likely to occur when a physiotherapy professional is tired, burned out, or in a hurry to see as many patients as possible. By providing additional support, a physiotherapy locum can help ensure that all facility patients receive care from a well-rested professional who is not likely to make a treatment error.

Offer More Services to Patients

Many smaller health facilities struggle to meet the needs of local residents. These facilities can provide more services to their patients with the help of locum physiotherapists. If your facility is seeing an increased need for (for example) pediatric physiotherapy, women’s health or clinical electrophysiology, you can bring in a locum provider to offer specialized treatments that are not locally available.

Increase Facility Revenue

If patients have to go to other facilities for specialized care because your location does not offer it, revenue will suffer. By ensuring that specialty treatments are available when needed, locum physiotherapists can help your facility maintain revenue, improve the quality of care it provides for patients, and retain its staff.

Save Money

Locum physiotherapists are an excellent option for hospitals and facilities that need temporary coverage. You can hire them to cover shifts without the cost of onboarding temporary replacement staff, which is often prohibitively expensive and slow to implement.

Talk to Us About Your Physiotherapy Staffing Needs

As specialists in healthcare recruitment, ProMed HR Solutions has years of experience in sourcing and providing locum professionals to clients across Canada. Whether providing large volume or ad hoc placements, our physiotherapy staffing agency offers personalized, bespoke services to meet your facility’s staffing needs.

Our personnel are skilled, experienced, and contribute to optimal patient outcomes and uninterrupted treatment delivery. To learn more about how they can help you reduce your waitlist, please call ProMed HR Solutions at 1-833-776-6336 or contact us online. 

Most of us wish we had more time to travel. After all, travelling is exciting, full of adventure and therapeutic. When you’re a physiotherapist in a busy facility, however, you usually have to wait for vacation time to roll around before you can go further than out of town.

That’s the perception, anyway. But did you know that you can actually make money AND travel as a physiotherapist?

Locum work is a great way to see the world while you work in new environments, grow your experience, and help different types of patients. If you’re a retiree, short contracts as a locum physiotherapist can bring in some extra income while keeping your skills current.

This blog highlights the benefits of locum work for physiotherapists. The freedom, flexibility, great pay, and opportunity to travel all make it one of the most exciting opportunities for physio jobs in Canada, and ProMed HR Solutions can help you get started.

What is a Locum Physiotherapist?

Locum physiotherapists essentially carry out the same duties as those employed in hospitals, clinics, and other facilities. This includes:

• Assessing each patient and developing a treatment plan.
• Educating patients on how to prevent and/or manage a physical condition.
• Using techniques to promote mobility, restore function, and reduce pain while preventing long-term disability.
• Helping athletes prevent injury and loss of mobility.

The difference is that as a locum professional, you’re filling a temporary position, usually for a few weeks or months at a time.

Healthcare facilities hire locum physios for a variety of reasons. An employee may be out on maternity leave, there may be a surge in demand for services, or the facility may temporarily need a physiotherapist skilled in a particular area, such as geriatrics or neurology. Regardless of the reason for a vacancy, locum physiotherapists are crucial. They help fill the gaps in healthcare across the country, making them one of the most important physio jobs in Canada.

If you’re thinking about trying locum work, here is an overview of the many benefits.

You Get Paid to Travel as a Physiotherapist!

Locum work gives you a rare chance to travel across Canada and see places you’ve never visited before. You could spend two weeks at a Halifax hospital to cover a vacationing employee or three months in Yellowknife helping a clinic clear its waitlist. You can even ask for jobs in a region that you’ve always wanted to explore. While you’ll be hard at work during scheduled hours, you can play the tourist on your day off and cross activities off your bucket list.

You Can Set Your Own Schedule

Working evenings isn’t for you? Not a problem. 

You can choose to work 8:00 a.m – 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday and even work two weeks out of the month and spend the rest of the time traveling. Finding flexibility and work-life balance is possible.  Connecting with a locum staffing company like ProMed HR Solutions can help you find contracts with a schedule that works for you. 

You Gain Valuable Clinical Experience

As a locum physiotherapist, you’ll often have the opportunity to work with a collaborative team of health care professionals.  This is a learning opportunity where you can share your knowledge and expertise with colleagues, and in turn, learn from your peers.  Being in a collaborative environment can help you focus more clearly and give you a renewed perspective on the work that you do. 

You Get to Spend More Time With Patients

There is very little administrative work with locum assignments which, alongside career flexibility, is one of the biggest advantages of becoming a traveling physiotherapist. Locums don’t have to worry about paying utilities, maintaining staffing levels, or completing piles of billing or third-party paperwork. If you owned a clinic in the past, becoming a locum physiotherapist lets you do what you love (treat patients) while leaving the pressures of running a business behind.

You Can Supplement Your Income

No matter which stage of your career you’re in, additional income is always beneficial. If you’ve been out of school for a few years but still owe money on your student loans, you can accept locum assignments a little closer to home to make more money during vacations or other time off. If you’re retired, these temporary contracts can supplement your income and even fund new adventures you’ve always wanted to take. ProMed HR Solutions pays locum physiotherapists a very competitive wage to assist you in reaching your financial goals.

You Help People Who Need It

Most facilities use locum physiotherapists because they simply don’t have enough physios on their team to meet patient demand. You’ll find that you’re often needed in remote areas where people often drive miles or wait months to see a physiotherapist. When you step in to help, you make a difference for people, and also lighten the workload for other physiotherapists at the site.

Every Day is a New Experience When You Travel as a Physiotherapist

If you’re starting to feel burned out at your current job, being a locum can help you re-energize and get the fresh perspective you need to get inspired by your work once more. Every assignment will bring something new in terms of location, patient types, and general work environment, so you always have something to look forward to.

Are you ready for a locum adventure? 

Talk to Us About How You Can Make Money and Travel as a Physiotherapist!

Locum physiotherapists play a vital role across Canada, from supporting staff in remote locations to providing both scheduled and emergency relief at all levels of the healthcare system. As demand for physio services increases, those seeking locum work will have a wide range of opportunities to choose from.

This type of work appeals to many physiotherapists who are seeking to cover gaps between jobs, gain more flexibility in their careers or treat patients in a wider range of disciplines. If this sounds like you, ProMed HR Solutions can help you find assignments that meet your specific goals. The minimum commitment is only two weeks, we do our best to find openings in your preferred locations, and you are under no obligation to accept a contract that doesn’t work for you.

For years, ProMed HR Solutions Ltd. has been helping professionals like yourself find flexible and meaningful work throughout Canada. To learn more about us and why so many physiotherapists recognize us as one of the best places to work, reach out to us today!

You became a Physiotherapist because you love helping people. Every time you change a person’s life, the sense of reward and accomplishment are immeasurable. You know that you help improve every aspect of their existence, from health to self-confidence. But did you know that as a travel Physiotherapist, you can do all that and travel across Canada?

Your next question is likely “How much do Physiotherapists make in Canada? Especially to travel?”

The answer is: Physios in Canada can do really well! But the rewards you may experience go beyond money alone. Let’s take a closer look at the benefits of becoming a travel Physiotherapist in Canada. 

You See Places You Wouldn’t Otherwise

According to this survey, approximately 77% of North Americans have travel goals on their personal bucket lists. When we travel, we step outside of our comfort zone to experience new things. ‌We are constantly challenged to adapt to and explore new environments, as well as to engage with new people, to embrace adventures as they present themselves, and to share meaningful‌ ‌experiences‌ ‌with‌ ‌friends‌ ‌and‌ ‌family.

If you could get paid to explore Canada, why would you not take advantage of it? As a travel Physiotherapist, you could enjoy a late barbecue under the midnight sun while on assignment in Yellowknife or take a two-hour cruise on the Bluenose II during your afternoon off in Halifax. 

‌Traveling is not only possible on assignment, but also between contracts. You can take that long-awaited vacation in Cancun for some R&R before picking up your next contract. Should you be assigned somewhere in Canada that’s on your bucket list, you can essentially get paid to have an amazing time. For most of us, this is the definition of GOALs. 

You Meet New People as a Travel Physiotherapist

You may be away from your friends and family a lot of the time, but each assignment is a great opportunity to grow your ‘friends list.’ When you’re used to being the ‘new Physiotherapist’ every few months and introducing yourself to a succession of new temporary colleagues, you become quite adept at making friends quickly. 

On your days off, you can have a fun time exploring the community with them: few things are more enjoyable than checking out all the local highlights with someone who knows exactly where they are. It’s like having your own tour guide, only better because they’re a new friend too.

You Get to Constantly Try New Things

Many of us become bored staying in one place. By exploring new places and embracing different experiences as a travel Physiotherapist, you escape the bubble that so many people live in and try new things that can become your newest passion. For example:

• Who knew dog sledding along a winter trail could be so exhilarating?
• You just had your first New Glasgow lobster supper and now want to live on seafood!
• You never knew how much fun you could have at a hockey game until you went to support the Senators while on assignment in Ottawa.

We thrive on trying new things in life. Most travel Physiotherapists say that their favourite part of the job is the constant exposure to new experiences. If you’ve been thinking about how you’d like to change up your work environment from time to time, what better way  than to decide when and where you get to work?

You Can Make a Real Difference

While there are travel Physiotherapist positions in larger Canadian cities, the need is especially strong in rural and underserved areas. In these communities, when the local Physiotherapist goes on parental leave or becomes ill, services come to a halt until they return. By filling in for them, you help ensure that residents continue to get the treatment they need.

You Build a Career on Your Own Terms

No matter where you work, you’re part of a team and take direction. While there’s nothing wrong with this, you may be someone who prefers to have more control over the direction that your career takes. Perhaps you prefer working in a clinic instead of a hospital. Maybe you’re especially interested in working with sports injuries or post-surgery patients. Whatever your goals, being a travel Physiotherapist makes it easier to accomplish them on your own terms.

The Pay Is GREAT

You can make an excellent living traveling as a Physiotherapist. Not only is the pay great, but your travel and accommodation costs are covered. By not having to pay for gas or rent, you can put more money toward debt and save for the future. From this perspective, you actually come out ahead financially, which is an irresistible prospect.

Next time someone asks you, “How much do Physiotherapists make in Canada?” you can say, “When you travel, you can make a LOT.”

So Who Can Be a Travel Physiotherapist in Canada?

Anyone can join the club! If you are a licensed Physiotherapist, there are travel opportunities out there for you.

At ProMed HR Solutions, we welcome applications from all of the following: 

• New Physiotherapists: If you have at least two years of experience, we’d love to hear from you. A travel position can let you try out different practice settings and locations so you can have a better idea of where you want to take your career. The money you save on accommodation can also help you pay off student loans more quickly.
• Those in Mid-Career: If you’ve been a practicing Physiotherapist for years and have been contemplating a switch in location or patient type, working on contracts that mirror your prospective goals can help you decide if a switch is right for you.
• Those Nearing Retirement: A lot of healthcare professionals explore travel positions when they aren’t quite ready for retirement. They may officially retire at their current position, take a short break, then enjoy a series of contracts that they can schedule as they wish. 

With demand for Physiotherapists continuing to be strong, you can make a difference while controlling your schedule and work location. It’s an opportunity that many professionals continue to embrace from one contract to the next.

How Much Do Physiotherapists Make in Canada? A Great Salary and Priceless Experiences!

Whether you’re looking to work in Canada’s most vibrant cities or want to make a difference in a smaller community, ProMed HR Solutions can help you identify and receive contracts that meet your needs. Our clients are always looking for skilled and caring Physiotherapists, and if you love to travel, we may have your next job ready for you! To learn more about available opportunities and how you can join our team of travel professionals, call 1-833-776-6336 or email our HR Manager kawal@promedhr.ca.