As organizations around the country struggle with staffing shortages, some providers have turned to recruiting recently retired doctors and nurses who may be interested in jumping back into the fray. The strategy offers two unique benefits: health systems can fill in workforce gaps, while younger clinicians get the opportunity to learn from their peers’ decades of experience.

Dr. Marye McCroskey was one such clinician. In 2015, she wasn’t ready to retire fully at age 55, but she was burnt out after nearly three decades of private practice and wanted to do something different. She connected with a recruiter who found her a locum tenens position in Hawaii. There, she was able to work off and on for around 32 hours a week, sometimes signing up to work for three months and taking the next month off.

Now employed part-time as a primary care and urgent care physician with Keys Medical Group in Florida, McCroskey said her experience with working at a lower capacity has been positive. The annual pay is slightly less than a typical physician salary, although the position covers her car and housing expenses.