Locum tenens is a phrase that means "substitute" or "placeholder." In healthcare, it refers to a temporary clinician, generally a nurse or physician working a contract position that lasts for a period of months. Locum tenens PMHNPs make $125,238 per year on average according to ZipRecruiter (March 2019), and many rural healthcare employers rely on these contract APRNs to expand psychiatric and mental health coverage in the geographic area they serve.