ReviewJournal of the Royal Society of Medicine2019
The quality and safety of locum doctors: a narrative review.
Review in Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 27 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
27 citing papers in PubMed.
- Motivations and challenges experienced among locums working in Norwegian rural general practice: a reflexive thematic analysis.Scandinavian journal of primary health care · 2026Article
- Understaffing and overprescribing: a register study on the role of locum physicians in antibiotic prescribing patterns in primary care in Northern Sweden.Scandinavian journal of primary health care · 2026Article
- Continuity of care in UK primary care: a scoping review of measures, challenges, and future interventions.Primary health care research & development · 2026Article
- Locum doctor working: A qualitative exploration of the implications for learning and professional development.Medical education · 2026Article
- Consultations with locum doctors in UK general practice: longitudinal analysis of electronic health records.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2026Article
- Dispatch of locum doctors to rural clinics on remote islands in Japan.Journal of rural medicine : JRM · 2026Article
- An Analysis of Diagnostic Discrepancies in the Pathology Departments of Wigan and Salford.Cureus · 2025Article
- Choosing regional, rural, and remote practice: what attracts or deters early-career doctors?BMC health services research · 2025Article
- Reorganizing outpatient spine services increased efficiency and patient satisfaction.Brain & spine · 2025Article
- 'None of Them Know Me': A Qualitative Study of the Implications of Locum Doctor Working for Patient Experience.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2024Article
- Locum doctor working and quality and safety: a qualitative study in English primary and secondary care.BMJ quality & safety · 2024Article
- Initiatives to increase colonoscopy capacity - is there an impact on polyp detection? A UK National Endoscopy Database analysis.Endoscopy · 2024Article
- Comparing the clinical practice and prescribing safety of locum and permanent doctors: observational study of primary care consultations in England.BMC medicine · 2024Observational
- Health professionals' experience and perceived obstacles with managing patients' medication information in Norway: cross-sectional survey.BMC health services research · 2024Article
- Factors that influence locum practice in public and faith-based hospitals in Malawi.Health SA = SA Gesondheid · 2024Article
- Locum doctors in English general practices: evidence from a national survey.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2023Article
- The use of locum doctors in the NHS - results of a national survey of NHS Trusts in England.BMC health services research · 2023Article
- Use of locum doctors in NHS trusts in England: analysis of routinely collected workforce data 2019-2021.BMJ open · 2023Article
- The Temporary Contracting and Visiting Doctors Program in the Saudi Ministry of Health: Development, Reform and Outputs.Materia socio-medica · 2022Article
- Continuity of care in patients with type 2 diabetes in Croatian primary care setting during COVID-19 pandemic: A retrospective observational study.Primary care diabetes · 2022Observational
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Locum doctors are often perceived to present greater risks of causing harm to patients than permanent doctors. After eligibility and quality assessment, eight empirical and 34 non-empirical papers were included in a narrative synthesis to establish what was known about the quality and safety of locum medical practice. Empirical literature was limited and weak methodologically. Locums enabled healthcare organisations to maintain appropriate staffing levels and allowed staffing flexibility, but they also gave rise to concerns about continuity of care, patient safety, team function and cost. There was some evidence to suggest that the way locum doctors are recruited, employed and used by organisations, may result in a higher risk of harm to patients. A better understanding of the quality and safety of locum working is needed to improve the use of locum doctors and the quality and safety of patient care that they provide.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.