Start earlier than feels necessary
Lead time is the single biggest factor in finding coverage. A locum from outside your province or territory may need to register with your regulator, which can take weeks or longer. Even a locally registered clinician may need time to complete your facility requirements, obtain privileges if you are a hospital, and arrange travel.
Keep a simple coverage calendar of known absences and post as soon as dates are firm. For extended leaves, consider whether one locum or several shorter blocks is more realistic, and whether you can offer flexibility on start dates.
Write a complete post
Clinicians decide from what you publish. Complete posts get more, better applications; vague ones get skipped. A good coverage post states:
- The role and specialty, and the setting (clinic, hospital, long-term care, community, virtual).
- The facility and location, including the site if you have more than one.
- Exact dates and hours, with call, evening and weekend expectations.
- The offered rate. On LocuPedia a post cannot go live without it, and clinicians see it before they apply.
- Required licence, certifications and experience, and any facility requirements such as orientation.
- Practical details a clinician will ask about: patient volume, support staff, travel or accommodation if offered.
The five-stage workflow
Every coverage request on LocuPedia moves through the same five stages, with a named person and a timestamp on each handoff:
- Request: you publish exactly what you need covered.
- Matching: qualified clinicians are identified by profession and specialty, location, availability against your dates and credential readiness, with the reasons shown.
- Applications: clinicians apply with their verified passport attached, and your team reviews, messages, advances or declines, with each action recorded.
- Verification: every application arrives with credentials checked against source by the verification team.
- Close-out: you close the post and record the outcome, which stays on your record as your own self-report.
Check credentials, then decide
LocuPedia verifies licences, identity, references, liability protection and required certifications against source before a clinician earns verified status. You review the status, not the paperwork, and anything facility-specific left to confirm is flagged explicitly. Items that expire during the assignment show up before they become a problem.
The engagement decision is yours. Confirm fit with the clinician directly, agree the terms in writing, and apply your own credentialing and privileging processes where your organization or regulator requires them. LocuPedia introduces the two sides, then steps out: terms and compensation are agreed and settled directly between you and the clinician.
Prepare for the first day
A locum who arrives to a locked door and no login loses the first morning. Send an arrival note a few days before the first shift covering:
- Arrival time, the entrance to use, parking and who will meet them.
- Electronic medical record and other system accounts, created and tested before day one.
- A short orientation: layout, emergency procedures, supplies, referral and lab processes, and who to call for help.
- Scheduling and templates, including booked patients, and how the clinic handles follow-up after the locum leaves.
- Contacts for the office manager and a clinical lead, and any local protocols the locum must follow.
After the assignment
Close the post as soon as you are covered. Closing ends the posting period, and nothing renews automatically. Record the outcome (filled through LocuPedia, filled elsewhere, no longer needed, or expired); it is your organization's own statement and keeps your history honest.
Then make the next gap easier. Ask the locum for feedback on the orientation and the arrival note, and fix whatever slowed them down. If the fit was good, save the clinician to your talent list or preferred clinician network so you can invite them first the next time a similar need opens, before the post reaches the wider network.
Clinics and hospitals differ
A single clinic can often move from post to confirmed locum with one or two people involved. Hospitals usually add steps: department approval, central credentialing, medical staff privileges for physicians, and unit-specific orientation. On LocuPedia, a hospital workspace carries departments, role-based teams and approval chains, so a post can move through the sign-off each department requires before it goes live. A clinic workspace stays lightweight, and clinic groups can post per location under one organization.
Posts and pricing
On LocuPedia, one post covers one location, one specialty or role and one connected coverage requirement, for a 7-day posting period. Two roles or two sites means two posts, which keeps each post specific. Small corrections stay editable while a post is live; a material change, such as switching the specialty or the whole coverage period, counts as a new coverage requirement and needs another post. Starter templates for common roles, including registered nurse and optometrist, help you get to a complete post quickly.
Every organization coverage post is free during launch. Standard pricing after launch is one flat CAD 300 plus applicable taxes per 7-day posting period. There is no fee when someone applies, no fee when a post fills, no percentage of clinician compensation, and no automatic renewal. Organizations are told in advance before standard pricing begins. High-volume organizations can arrange volume pricing, still per 7-day posting period.
Check your own obligations
This guide is general information, not legal, employment or licensing advice. Confirm a locum's registration and scope with the relevant regulator, and follow your own organization's credentialing, privileging and employment obligations.