This is an attempt to consolidate everything you need to know leading up to a first time locum with our group. It is not exhaustive and if you are still confused about something let us know. It is challenging coming to a new institution and navigating all the red tape, new PACS, new people, new facilities, etc.
If you got this far you have probably already reached out to our recruiter or someone else in our group about a permanent position or locum.
Step 1: Licensure with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC
This is all managed by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC. You can click here for a link to register for independent practice.
It is best to start this process well in advance of your locum (at least 2-3 months if not already registered in BC). We have occasionally had delays and had to reschedule physicians at the last minute if this does not come through on time.
Step 2: Picking dates
Contact our scheduler Mike Huk by email to coordinate some time frames for availability. In general a minimum of one week is expected for a first time locum. If you are using the locum as a trial before seeking a more permanent arrangement with our group, two weeks may give a bit more time to settle in and get over the initial adjustment to a new workflow, and give you the best opportunity to test the fit for yourself. We understand everyone’s time is limited and longer trials may not be feasible if you are testing out multiple options, so a one week trial is also fine.
Step 3: Credentialing and Privileging, Assignment of Payment Forms
Once tentative start dates are decided on, you will receive an email from Island Health medical affairs to start the local credentialing process as a locum. This package is less onerous than the CPSBC, but will still generally require several written letters of reference, and there are several weeks of turnaround time in processing these documents. This can be started but not completed before CPSBC registration is finalized.
For specific subspecialty and modality privileges in Radiology, Island Health generally follows the BC MQI Dictionaries available here.
Medical affairs will also provide information on parking privileges, ID cards and facilities access.
Step 4: IT access, PACS access
Our departmental secretary Dawn Alena Brown will quarterback getting you appropriate IT access to computers, EMRs, and our PACS system. She is the best point of contact for such items.
In general our PACS IT support staff will setup an appointment to meet with you on the first day of your locum. Usually it will take them 45 minutes to an hour to orient you to our system.
At Island Health we use Intelerad PACS, and Nuance Powerscribe 360 for voice dictation. We utilize Velox PACS in our private work with West Coast Medical Imaging which uses Fluency voice recognition software for dictation, although we do not usually credential locums at our WCMI sites.