Physician's Guide to Providing Professional References

As a healthcare professional, you understand the importance of both knowledge and reputation in your field. When hospitals and clinics seek locum tenens providers, they want to be confident that these physicians and advanced practice providers not only meet the necessary clinical qualifications, but also integrate seamlessly with the permanent staff and patients.

At UrologyLocums.com, we recognize the significance of this and take a proactive approach to ensuring our candidates are the best fit for the job. As part of our initial credentialing process, we require three professional references to provide a more complete picture of our candidates. And, as the National Association Medical Staff Services (NAMSS) suggests, we encourage you to choose these references with care. 
When selecting your references, consider the following factors:

1. Familiarity: Choose individuals who have worked with you in the same environment and specialty in the past two years.
2. Medical knowledge and clinical judgment: Pick individuals who can attest to your medical, clinical, and technical capabilities.
3. Communication and interpersonal skills: Look for individuals who have seen your rapport with patients, family members, and colleagues.
4. Professionalism: Your references should be able to assess your professionalism, including your documentation efficiency and job conduct.

The ideal reference is responsive and easy for a credentialing person to reach. To maximize the impact of your references and make hospital credentialing run efficiently, keep these best practices in mind:

1. Maintain accurate and up-to-date reference information, including names, titles, place of employment, and contact information.
2. Ask the reference for permission and provide clear details about who will be contacting your references and why.
3. Mix it up. Try to avoid using the same references repeatedly as they can become less responsive due to either fatigue or confusion caused by a high volume of requests.
4. After you use someone as a reference, thank them with a phone call and/or a small token of appreciation such as buying them lunch or a cup of coffee.

If you follow our guide, you will be able to maximize your time, energy, and happiness throughout the locums credentialing process.

​At UrologyLocums.com, we are dedicated to providing the best possible information about locum tenens opportunities for urologists and urology NPs. To learn more, visit us today.