Locum tenens positions are hired to fill in for absent employees or when extra staffing is required. In order to sufficiently take care of patients during staff shortages, facilities will hire locum tenens, which are temporary.

Locum tenens means “to hold the place of, to substitute for.” The term was originally coined as part of a grant that provided physician staffing to rural health clinics. Because the program was so widely successful, many hospital administrators and physicians began searching for locum tenens physician staffing assistance.