Yes, you can work as a locum psychiatrist immediately after you complete your residency.
But you might need to meet the licensing requirements for each state where you plan to work and get any other credentials you’d require going into locum tenens.
These would depend on the state where you’re looking to work and the type of healthcare facility you work in.
With a locum job, you will have a flexible work schedule, travel frequently, be exposed to various healthcare settings (like telepsychiatry, clinics, and hospitals), and get to work on your own terms, which are just some of the perks that encourage people to find these types of jobs.
See our guide to learn more about this opportunity.
Key Takeaways
- You can work as a locum psychiatrist right after completing your residency.
- Locum psychiatrists work in diverse settings like telepsychiatry, clinics, and hospitals.
- Average annual locum psychiatrist salary is $259,497, with top earners exceeding $399,000.
- Key steps include meeting state licensing requirements and negotiating a fair contract.
Table of Contents
Can You Work as a Locum Tenens Psychiatrist Immediately After Training?
Yes, you can work as a locum psychiatrist immediately after you complete your residency. But you might need to meet the licensing requirements for each state where you plan to work and get any other credentials you’d require going into locum tenens. These would depend on the state where you’re looking to work and the type of healthcare facility you work in.
Where Do You Work as a Locum Tenens Psychiatrist?
You can work in the following facilities as a locum tenens psychiatrist:
1. Inpatient Psychiatric Facilities
Inpatient psychiatric facilities provide round-the-clock care to patients. You’ll manage patients with severe mental health disorders like schizophrenia, major depressive disorder with suicidal ideation, and bipolar disorder.
You will conduct psychiatric evaluations, develop treatment plans, and care for patients undergoing long-term treatment—as decided beforehand in your locum contract.
2. Outpatient Clinics
These clinics provide mental health services, such as therapy and medications, to patients who don’t need to be hospitalized. You’ll most likely manage and treat patients as they come to the clinic.
You could work with patients having common mental health conditions like anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to severe mental illnesses (SMIs) that interfere with your patients’ lives.
3. Community Mental Health Centers
Community mental health centers provide outpatient services, 24-hour-a-day emergency care services, day treatments, and other partial hospitalization services to people with limited access to care.
In these centers, you’ll work with patients who have limited resources to deal with their mental health conditions. You’ll also be responsible for crisis intervention and medication management, depending on your contract.
4. Telepsychiatry
Telepsychiatry helps psychiatrists provide mental health care to patients remotely using phone calls and video conferencing software. This helps you reach people in underserved areas. You can also work from anywhere in the country as a telepsychiatrist.
As a telepsychiatrist, you’ll be responsible for psychiatric evaluations, therapy (individual and group), medication management, and patient education.
5. Emergency Psychiatry in Hospitals
Emergency psychiatry requires you to provide urgent care to patients in crisis in a hospital’s emergency department (ED). This often means working with patients going through acute psychiatric emergencies, like suicidal behavior, psychosis, or severe agitation.
You’ll typically be on call in these settings (you decide when) and work with other ED physicians to provide care.
6. Correctional Facilities
Correctional facilities are prisons and jails that house convicted felons. In prison, you’ll be providing mental health care to felons with a sentence longer than one year.
In jails, you’ll be working with incarcerated people awaiting trial or having shorter sentences, one year or shorter. Working in these facilities can be dangerous, so you may have to undergo additional training to qualify.
Aside from providing mental health care to incarcerated felons, you may also have to perform forensic evaluations of criminals and provide expert opinions on their mental state at the time of the offense or their ability to participate in the offense they’ve been charged for.
How Much Do Locum Psychiatrists Make?
In 2024, the average locum psychiatrist makes $259,497 a year—around $125 per hour and $21,624 per month—according to ZipRecruiter. But annual salaries can be as low as $68,500 and as high as $399,000.
Locum psychiatrists earn the highest salaries in California, New York, New Jersey, and Washington—$310,000 on average.
Locumstory also reports that locum psychiatrists make $180-$210/hour on average on locum jobs with an average length of six to ten months.
Here’s a table of the percentage of total psychiatry jobs by region that are locum tenens:
| Region | Percentage of Jobs |
| West | 21% |
| Southwest | 8% |
| Midwest | 13% |
| Southeast | 16% |
| East | 43% |
Begin Your Locum Tenens Career With Physicians Thrive
While locum psychiatry jobs can be a great way to pay off student loans right out of college or save for a rainy day, there are a million things you have to consider before working as a locum tenens provider.
You have to find the right recruiter, get your credentials, manage your own insurance, and find a locum job in a psychiatric specialty and location (such as at home) that you can live with. And then you also have your locum contract, which can be hard to decode and negotiate.
If you’re struggling to understand what certain clauses mean or want to negotiate your contract for better hours or pay, we can help. At Physicians Thrive, we help you ensure you’re not legally confined by an unfair contract. Reach out to us today and begin your locum psychiatrist journey on solid footing.
