Ep. 76: Dr. Mark Pool’s journey into locum tenens, entrepreneurship, and balancing medicine with family life

About this episode

Dr. J. Mark Pool shares his journey into locum tenens and balancing his medical career with family life.

Cardiothoracic surgeon Dr. J. Mark Pool joins us to share how he rebuilt his career after stepping away from a long‑time W‑2 role and discovering locum tenens in 2023. After more than a decade of Q2 call, building service lines, and carrying a demanding surgical workload, Dr. Pool found himself burned out, navigating administrative conflict, and unsure of what came next. A three‑month sabbatical — and a well‑timed phone call — opened the door to a completely new way of practicing medicine. Dr. Pool walks through how he went from skepticism about locums to securing his first assignment in just a few weeks, thanks to the IMLC and expedited credentialing. He shares what it’s been like to work across 17 different programs, how he juggles multiple assignments at once, and why the flexibility to protect family time has been life‑changing. Dr. Pool also dives into the leadership lessons he never received in training but now considers essential. He explains how pursuing an MBA and a PhD in leadership transformed the way he shows up in the OR, builds rapport with new teams, and adapts to different environments and equipment with humor, humility, and collaboration. His approach has not…

People in this episode

Host: Locumstory

Guest: Dr. J. Mark Pool

Topics covered

• locum tenens
• entrepreneurship
• work-life balance
• leadership
• surgery
• career transition

Keywords

• locum tenens
• cardiothoracic surgeon
• entrepreneurship
• work-life balance
• leadership
• sabbatical
• IMLC
• credentialing
• patient care

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: IMLC

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