Way to do it:

Find an agency.

For Germany there are a couple of them, you can find a list here. Registration is usually easy and quick via an online form. You then send your diplomas and reports from former work and it is done. I immediately received many offers. From daytime jobs over several weeks or even months to a shorter period of nightshift weeks.

Minimum requirements:

You do need some work experience in a specific medical field. But it is apparently possible to get this job as a not yet specialist with some work experience. Maybe I was just lucky the first time.

Money:

~85EUR per hour. Yes it is true. Specialists usually get 100-110EUR. Remember you will have to pay your own health insurance, pension fund and taxes. It still is a lot better than anything else I came along.

Read the story of my first experience here..

Ratings for various aspects of the activity as a doc on contract work.

You actually work with patients more than usual, as it is for a limited time and at least with one week of nightshifts, you don’t get to do all the paper work.

You get complete flexibility, if you want to work, you apply, if you want to travel and have enough earned (which goes quiet quick in my opinion, but certainly depends on your lifestyle) then you can do whatever you like.

During work weeks you do not have so much free time of course, but as you get a lot of free time in between and there is always an end to it, I’d score it quiet high.

Personally I liked the team in the hospital I worked in for a week. I could get a long well with the staff in the E.R. and also the nurses on the wards. You get to experience different places and different teams of course and you do not have one team you belong to.

Many people believe, it is just done for the money. For me this was not true. I loved being a doctor again and work with people and help. So I think it must be at least a little good for karma.

There is always a back-up someone on call, but if you are alone on the spot at night, of course that gives you a great of responsibility.

Diversity in this case counts for more than one aspect. There is diversity in cases, whatever you get to treat. And then there is diversity in places you go and clinics you experience.

Maybe one of the most important and most fulfilling points for me was that I finally get to keep up and use my knowledge again. You even learn a lot, as things are done slightly different in different places. I think, this is always good for your further education.

I got to travel to southern Germany for this job and they paid my small apartment there. It was a place I had never been to before. I know, that in the past it was even possible to do contract work outside your country, mostly inside Europe. I did get some longer term offers for Switzerland.

Medical inspiration yes, other maybe less. I noticed it creeping in on me again, that nothing else really got to my mind during the week. I was just rethinking every case I saw, or at least the more complex ones. Which is not per se a bad thing I guess, but it fully absorbed me during this time. But then again there is an end to it.

It’s all about medical content. Especially because you don’t have to worry about the bureaucratic parts.

There is an insurance, that covers most of potential accidents and mistakes, but you will need an own one for yourself too. For the rest you never know, what happens in an E.R. but you could always call the police. Social security you have to cover yourself but with a view on the salary that should not be a problem.

I have not found any job yet, that is better paid. So full points for finance. The agency even writes your invoices, nothing you have to do.

Finally!! No bureaucracy in here. No letters, no regress, no thinking about money for the clinic. Just treating patients. Heaven.