Your Ultimate Guide to Locum Tenens in Pediatrics-Psychiatry

Understanding Locum Tenens in Pediatrics-Psychiatry

Locum tenens work—temporary physician assignments filling short- or mid-term staffing gaps—has rapidly expanded across all specialties, including combined and integrated disciplines. For residents and early-career doctors in pediatrics-psychiatry, especially those coming from a peds psych residency or triple board pathway, locum tenens is emerging as a powerful way to explore career options, boost income, and design a more flexible professional life.

In the pediatrics-psychiatry space, locum tenens roles can span:

• Inpatient child and adolescent psychiatry units
• Pediatric consultation-liaison psychiatry services
• Outpatient child psychiatry clinics embedded in pediatric practices
• Integrated behavioral health programs
• Partial hospitalization and intensive outpatient programs (PHP/IOP)
• Community mental health centers focused on youth
• Academic-affiliated children’s hospitals with complex psychiatric and medical comorbidities

This guide walks you through how locum tenens physician work intersects with pediatrics-psychiatry, how to prepare during training, and what to realistically expect in terms of responsibilities, lifestyle, and long-term career strategy.

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Why Locum Tenens Makes Sense for Pediatrics-Psychiatry

Locum work can be especially aligned with the career trajectories of combined-trained pediatric-psychiatrists and triple board graduates (pediatrics, general psychiatry, and child & adolescent psychiatry). Several structural and workforce factors drive this demand.

1. High Demand for Child & Adolescent Mental Health Services

The pediatric mental health crisis in the U.S. has been well documented, with:

• Rising rates of anxiety, depression, suicidality, and eating disorders
• Long waitlists for child & adolescent psychiatry evaluations
• Scarcity of specialists in rural and underserved regions

Systems often struggle to recruit full-time child psychiatrists, let alone those with additional pediatric training. A clinician who understands both medical and psychiatric complexity in children—like a triple board or peds-psych physician—is extremely valuable, especially when they can step in quickly as a locum.

2. Flexibility and Career Exploration

For new graduates of a peds psych residency or triple board program, the first 3–5 years after training are often a period of exploration:

• What balance of inpatient vs. outpatient work do you want?
• Do you prefer academic hospitals, community settings, or telehealth?
• How much call are you willing to take?
• Do you want to maintain both pediatrics and psychiatry practice?

Locum tenens allows you to “sample” different practice models without being locked into a multi-year contract. You can try inpatient-heavy schedules in one assignment and integrated primary care in the next, discovering what feels most sustainable and rewarding.

3. Geographic and Lifestyle Freedom

Many pediatrics-psychiatry clinicians have personal reasons to prioritize location and scheduling flexibility:

• Partner job moves and dual-career households
• Caregiving responsibilities for children or parents
• Personal interests like travel, research, or global health

As a travel physician in pediatrics-psychiatry, you can design your year around:

• 3–6 month assignments in different regions
• Gaps between contracts for travel, board studying, or research
• Seasonal preferences (e.g., avoiding harsh winters, being near family holidays)

With thoughtful planning, travel physician jobs can support a lifestyle with more control than a traditional full-time permanent role.

4. Earnings and Debt Management

For many residents, especially those with significant medical school debt, the financial appeal of locum tenens is real:

• Daily rates may exceed comparable salaried pay when adjusted for hours
• Overtime or weekend pay can be higher
• Some assignments include housing and travel stipends
• Short, higher-intensity blocks of work can be interspersed with unpaid time off

Used strategically, a few years of locum work post-residency can:

• Accelerate debt repayment
• Fund a down payment on a home
• Provide savings to transition into academia, part-time work, or public sector roles later

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Types of Locum Tenens Roles in Pediatrics-Psychiatry

The specific nature of locum tenens roles in pediatrics-psychiatry will depend on your training (pediatrics only, child psychiatry only, or combined/triple board) and your comfort level with different clinical settings.

Below are common practice settings and how they tend to use locum tenens coverage.

1. Inpatient Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Units

Typical responsibilities:

• Psychiatric evaluations for children and adolescents admitted for mood, psychosis, suicidality, severe behavioral dysregulation, or safety concerns
• Medication management and safety planning
• Coordination with families, schools, and outpatient providers
• Participation in daily rounds and multidisciplinary team meetings
• Supervision of residents or medical students (in academic centers)

Why they use locum physicians:

• Coverage for leaves (maternity, sabbatical, FMLA)
• Backfilling unfilled vacancies during prolonged recruitment
• Seasonal surges in psychiatric admissions, especially winter months

For peds-psych or triple board physicians, your knowledge of underlying medical issues (e.g., seizure disorders, endocrine conditions, complex medication regimens) can be an asset in managing medically complex kids on psych units.

2. Pediatric Consultation-Liaison (C-L) Psychiatry

In children’s hospitals, pediatrics-psychiatry locums may serve on the C-L service, providing psychiatric consultation for pediatric inpatients.

Common consult reasons:

• Suicidal ideation or attempts
• Delirium or acute mental status changes
• Somatic symptom disorders or medically unexplained symptoms
• Adherence problems with chronic illness
• Eating disorders with medical instability
• Neurodevelopmental conditions with behavioral crises

A peds-trained or triple board locum is particularly well-suited to C-L because you can:

• Navigate complex medical histories
• Communicate effectively with pediatric subspecialists
• Understand the implications of psychotropic medications in medically ill children

3. Integrated Outpatient and Collaborative Care Settings

Many systems are building integrated behavioral health into pediatric clinics. Locum physicians might:

• Run psychiatry consult blocks or half-days within a pediatric practice
• Provide initial psychiatric evaluations and short-term management
• Support pediatricians with medication guidance and diagnostic clarification
• Participate in team-based care with psychologists and social workers

These assignments are often attractive to physicians who:

• Enjoy longitudinal relationships without full caseload ownership
• Prefer daytime hours and minimal call
• Want to maintain strong ties to the pediatric primary care environment

4. Community Mental Health and Telepsychiatry

Community mental health centers and telepsychiatry groups serving youth frequently rely on locum tenens for coverage.

Typical features:

• High need, often underserved populations
• A mix of ADHD, mood disorders, anxiety, PTSD, and behavior disorders
• Significant systems-level work: school collaboration, child welfare, juvenile justice
• Option to do fully remote work (for licensed states allowing telepsychiatry)

For early-career physicians seeking locum work with maximal flexibility, remote telepsychiatry roles can:

• Reduce relocation and travel demands
• Allow you to live wherever you choose
• Enable part-time or variable-hour schedules

5. Hybrid Pediatrics + Psychiatry Roles for Triple Board Graduates

Triple board clinicians are uniquely positioned for hybrid locum roles, such as:

• Splitting time between pediatric wards or NICU consults and psych consults
• Taking joint calls for pediatric and child psychiatry services
• Working in complex care clinics for medically fragile children with psychiatric needs

While pure “triple board locums” positions are less common than traditional psychiatry locums, you can often negotiate hybrid responsibilities when a system recognizes the value of your training.

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How to Prepare During Residency for Locum Tenens Work

If you’re in a peds psych residency or triple board program and considering a future locum path, there are practical steps to take now.

1. Build a Broad, Confident Clinical Skill Set

Locum assignments often require you to “hit the ground running.” During training, aim for:

• Breadth of exposures: Inpatient, outpatient, emergency, C-L, developmental-behavioral pediatrics, and integrated behavioral health.
• Comfort with acuity: Managing suicidal youth, complex psychopharmacology, and behavioral emergencies.
• Dual-diagnosis competence: Kids with both medical complexity and psychiatric needs (e.g., diabetes and depression, epilepsy and psychosis).

Ask your program director about:

• Electives that strengthen child psychopharmacology
• Experiences in rural or resource-limited settings
• Telepsychiatry rotations to prepare for remote locum work

2. Craft a CV That Highlights Flexibility and Adaptability

Locum agencies and hospitals look for evidence that you can:

• Adapt quickly to new systems
• Work with diverse patient populations
• Collaborate with multidisciplinary teams

Consider including:

• Rotations at multiple different hospitals or systems
• Any off-service or global health electives
• Leadership in quality improvement initiatives or crisis response teams
• Experience implementing new workflows or EMRs

3. Know Your Core Preferences and Boundaries

Before you accept assignments, you’ll need clarity on what you are and are not comfortable doing:

• Age ranges (e.g., 5–18 vs. including transitional age youth up to 25)
• Types of settings (inpatient vs. outpatient vs. telehealth)
• Complexity levels (e.g., managing eating disorders with medical instability)
• Call responsibilities and overnight coverage

During residency, reflect and keep notes on which settings you enjoy, which drain you, and why. This self-awareness will guide better locum choices later.

4. Understand Licensure and Credentialing Timelines

Most travel physician jobs require state licensure and hospital privileges, each with its own timeline:

• Medical licenses: 2–6 months, depending on the state
• DEA registration and state-specific controlled substance registrations
• Hospital credentialing: often 60–120 days

During your final year of residency/fellowship:

• Plan which states you might want to work in
• Look into Interstate Medical Licensure Compact (IMLC) if eligible
• Start at least one non-training state license application early to gain momentum

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Navigating the Locum Tenens Market as a Pediatrics-Psychiatry Physician

Once you’re ready to explore locum opportunities, understanding how the market works will help you be strategic.

1. Working with Locum Tenens Agencies

Most new locum physicians start by partnering with an agency, which helps with:

• Matching you to open assignments
• Negotiating rates and benefits
• Managing travel and housing arrangements
• Handling credentialing paperwork

For a peds-psych or triple board doctor:

• Clarify that you’re looking specifically for child and adolescent roles (not adult psychiatry only).
• Ask if they have experience placing combined-trained physicians.
• Request transparency on typical daily rates for child & adolescent vs. adult psychiatry in each region.

You can also register with multiple agencies to compare offers and gain leverage in negotiations.

2. Evaluating Assignment Fit

When considering an assignment, ask specific questions:

Clinical scope

• What is the typical daily census or panel size?
• What diagnoses and levels of acuity predominate?
• Are you expected to see any adults or only pediatric patients?
• Is there back-up from other psychiatrists or pediatricians?

Support and infrastructure

• Are there psychologists, social workers, case managers on the team?
• What EMR is used, and will you receive training?
• Are there standardized order sets and safety protocols?

Scheduling and expectations

• Number of clinic days or inpatient rounding days per week
• Call requirements (nights, weekends, home vs. in-house)
• Expected documentation turnaround time

Example red flag: A “child psychiatry” locum role that quietly expects you to see a large number of adult patients, or manage medical issues outside your comfort level without adequate pediatric backup.

3. Negotiating Compensation and Terms

Compensation varies widely by region, setting, and urgency of need. For pediatrics-psychiatry:

• Child & adolescent psychiatric locum rates are often at least comparable to adult psychiatry and sometimes higher due to scarcity.
• Additional pediatric or triple board expertise may justify higher rates if you are covering both medical and psychiatric needs.

Key negotiable elements:

• Daily or hourly rate
• Overtime or weekend premium
• Call pay (per call vs. bundled)
• Travel reimbursement (flights, mileage)
• Housing (hotel vs. furnished apartment; quality and location)
• Licensing and credentialing support

Know your bottom line and be prepared to walk away from offers that under-value your specialized training.

4. Risk Management and Professional Protection

To practice safely as a locum tenens physician:

• Confirm malpractice coverage: Does the agency or facility provide occurrence-based or claims-made coverage? What are the limits?
• Clarify scope of practice: Ensure job expectations align with your training and comfort level.
• Document carefully: In unfamiliar systems, meticulous notes help protect you clinically and legally.
• Keep your own records: Maintain a personal log of assignments, roles, and major clinical responsibilities; this is helpful for your CV and future credentialing.

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Long-Term Career Strategy: Integrating Locum Work into a Pediatrics-Psychiatry Path

Locum tenens can be a short-term bridge—or a long-term career choice. Thinking strategically can prevent you from feeling like you’re just “drifting” between assignments.

1. The Post-Residency “Gap Years” Approach

Many pediatrics-psychiatry or triple board graduates choose 1–3 years of focused locum work immediately after training:

Advantages:

• Financial boost to pay down debt
• Time to explore different practice types before committing
• Ability to relocate or travel without long-term obligations

To keep this structured, set specific goals:

• “I want to experience at least one academic, one community, and one integrated primary care setting.”
• “I aim to save $X or pay off Y% of my loans within 2 years.”
• “I want to decide whether to prioritize inpatient or outpatient work.”

2. Hybrid: Locum + Permanent Part-Time Position

Some physicians balance:

• A part-time, stable home-base job (e.g., 0.5–0.7 FTE at a children’s hospital)
• Periodic locum assignments during open weeks or months

This can be ideal if you:

• Want institutional affiliation (for teaching, research, or leadership)
• Desire geographic stability but occasional variety
• Aim to maintain an academic CV while supplementing income

3. Long-Term Locums as a Career

There are physicians who build entire careers around locums, particularly in psychiatry. For pediatrics-psychiatry:

• You can become the “go-to” locum for certain systems or regions
• Over time, you may negotiate higher rates or more favorable terms based on reputation
• You may curate a set of recurring assignments where you return annually or semi-annually

If you choose this path, remain intentional:

• Keep your skills up to date with CME and board maintenance
• Periodically reassess your work-life balance
• Consider mentoring residents or fellows informally by speaking at programs or conferences about locum careers

4. Planning for Boards, CME, and Professional Development

As a locum tenens physician, you won’t always have built-in institutional structures for CME or board prep. Plan ahead:

• Allocate time and funds annually for conferences or online CME subscriptions
• Track CME credits carefully, especially for multiple licenses
• Set reminders for board exam deadlines and MOC/CC requirements
• Consider joining professional organizations (AACAP, APA, AAP Sections on Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics or Mental Health) to stay plugged in

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FAQs: Locum Tenens in Pediatrics-Psychiatry

1. Can I do locum tenens work immediately after finishing a peds psych residency or triple board program?

Yes. Many locum positions welcome new graduates, especially in high-need child & adolescent roles. You’ll need:

• An unrestricted medical license in at least one state
• Board eligibility (and preferably board certification as soon as possible)
• Solid references from residency or fellowship

Be transparent about your level of experience, and seek assignments with adequate support (e.g., not being the only psychiatrist in a high-acuity unit during your first months out).

2. Will doing mostly locum work hurt my chances of getting a future academic or permanent job?

Not necessarily. When presented well, locum experience can showcase:

• Adaptability and breadth of clinical exposure
• Experience across multiple systems and populations
• Independent decision-making and resilience

To keep doors open:

• Maintain an updated, detailed CV listing your assignments and responsibilities
• Cultivate mentors and references over time
• Include any teaching, QI, or leadership activities you engage in during locum roles

Programs and departments increasingly recognize locum work as a valid and even valuable career phase.

3. Can I combine pediatric medical practice with psychiatry in locum roles as a triple board graduate?

It’s possible, but less common than pure psychiatric locums. Many systems hire you primarily into a psychiatric role. However:

• Children’s hospitals may craft hybrid C-L roles that leverage your pediatric skills
• Complex care or neurodevelopmental clinics may value your dual expertise
• You can explicitly negotiate for mixed-duty positions when a system understands the benefits

Be clear about what proportion of your time you’d like to dedicate to pediatrics vs. psychiatry, and be realistic about what the local market can offer.

4. How do locum tenens assignments handle continuity of care for child and adolescent patients?

Continuity is a particular concern in child mental health. Best-practice locum-friendly systems will:

• Assign you to defined panels with planned transition back to permanent clinicians
• Use standardized treatment pathways to reduce variability
• Emphasize clear documentation and communication with primary care, schools, and families

As a locum physician, you can:

• Be upfront with families about the temporary nature of your role
• Prioritize robust handoffs and clear treatment plans
• Coordinate proactively with outpatient or long-term providers

In pediatrics-psychiatry, your commitment to minimizing fragmentation of care is a key aspect of ethical locum practice.

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Locum tenens opportunities in pediatrics-psychiatry provide a unique intersection of flexibility, impact, and professional growth. Whether you are finishing a peds psych residency, completing triple board training, or already in practice and looking for a new direction, locum work can be a powerful tool to shape a career that fits your clinical passions, financial goals, and life outside of medicine.