Neurosurgery Awareness Month 2016: A Look at Locum Tenens Neurosurgery Jobs & Salaries

To mark Neurosurgery Awareness Month 2016, the Locums Link Blog takes a closer look at the career prospects for locum tenens neurosurgeons in this month's Staff Care Specialty Spotlight.

Perhaps needless to say, neurosurgery is a highly specialized surgical specialty requiring extensive education and training — and for that, neurosurgeons are rather richly rewarded, earning a median income of $558,094 (within a general range of between $420,158 and $706,166) according to Salary.com, citing data from as recently as July 2016.

This average salary rate puts neurosurgeons well above the highest standard physician specialty as reported in the 2016 Medscape Physician Compensation Report, which ranks orthopedics as the highest doctor salary at $443,000. (Of course, it should be noted that these aren't surgical specialties).

To generate that level of income — i.e., to achieve the status of a senior-level neurosurgeon — is no small task. Generally, years of surgical experience are required for surgeons to advance into the neurosurgeon profession. In addition, neurosurgeons share many duties with neurologists — i.e., examining, diagnosing, and treating disorders relating to the brain, central nervous system, and spinal cord.

But neurosurgeons differ from neurologists in the treatment, i.e. operation, of the brain and spine, in order to restore spinal stability, correct entrapped nerves, offset neural deformities, and related corrective surgical procedures. It's an extremely high-level, exacting task — and highly stressful, as CNN Money explains in its description of neurosurgery as one of the best jobs in America in 2012 (a collaboration with PayScale).

That same CNN Money report also ranks neurosurgeons with an "A" rating when it comes to "personal satisfaction" and "benefit to society." Neurosurgery's capacity for flexibility gets a lower rank (C), while its stress level ranks even lower (D). "When they aren't with patients, some neurosurgeons take to the classroom to teach medical students," the report adds, rounding out an understanding of the many duties for which neurosurgeons are typically responsible.

"These are complex areas of practice, and neurosurgeons' work often overlaps with that of neurologists, orthopedic surgeons, and plastic or reconstructive surgeons," writes Fred Decker for the Houston Chronicle, who adds that neurosurgeons "use a variety of therapies, from endoscopic microsurgery to radiation to traditional open surgery," to treat those neurological conditions.

Of course, if you're a practicing neurosurgeon, you're already well aware of this, as well as the positive career prospects facing you — they're generally very positive, which stands to reason for someone with such an extensive, and highly useful, breadth of skills and training.

There's a nationwide demand for locum tenens neurosurgeons. If you're a practicing neurosurgeon seeking a new career path, we encourage you to view the great locum tenens neurosurgery jobs available throughout the United States from Staff Care. Our locum tenens assignments include a host of great benefits including malpractice insurance and travel allowances — read more about our locum benefits here.

Finally, we encourage everyone — neurosurgeons, their colleagues, their employers, and everyone else inside and outside of the medical community — to help us spread the word about Neurosurgery Awareness Month 2016, an effort by the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) to raise awareness of the importance among the public of this important surgical specialty.

The theme of this year's Neurosurgery Awareness Month is the role of neurosurgery in the treatment of stroke. The AANS cites the essay “Why Stroke Patients Should See Neurosurgeons ... STAT” by Christopher Nickele, MD, and Adam Arthur, MD, MPH, FAANS to describe the "vision of a neurosurgeon’s role in stroke treatment."

"Since we, as neurosurgeons, have the training that makes us uniquely able to treat these stroke patients comprehensively, we should not sit back passively and wait for these patients to be brought to our operating rooms," the authors write. "We must be involved in and lead the process even before diagnosis and lasting beyond the intervention, on through to the acute phase of the patient’s recovery." View the full essay here, and view more resources for promoting Neurosurgery Awareness Month 2016 here.

We invite you to share this article with your social networks and get the word out about the important work of locum tenens neurosurgeons in America. You can also join our social networks on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google+.