[Katillac]

I am a hospice and palliative care nurse who takes scheduled call quite a bit (every other weekend, and every Monday night). I'm curious about how on call pay is structured in other organizations. Here's how ours works: We get paid by the hour to "carry the beeper" weekend nights from 1630 until 0830, and a little more for the weekend 24 hour periods from 0830 Saturday until 0830 Monday. We get mileage door to door for visits. No extra money for admissions, Friday nights, holidays or middle of the night visits.

Many healthcare organizations get a base rate for call and then a different hourly rate for visits. Are there hospices out there in allnurses land who operate that way? No need for specific dollar amounts, I'm just curious how others are set up.

Thanks!

Kat

[Angelica]

I get $3 per hour on call, door to door mileage, and $25 per each after hours admission. My weekend call starts 5 pm on Friday and ends 8 am on Monday. I only get weekend call once every five weeks. I get $4.50 per hour for call on holidays.

[aimeee]

For weekday on call the nurses don't receive anything extra, just paid by the hour if they go out, plus travel time and mileage reimbursement. Weekend call starts at 8a on Saturday and runs through 8a on Monday. They get 16 hours of pay for that. Then they are off 2 days on the following week. Frequency of weekend call depends on staffing levels. Usually its once a month or a bit less.

[Katillac]

Originally Posted by aimeee

For weekday on call the nurses don't receive anything extra, just paid by the hour if they go out, plus travel time and mileage reimbursement. Weekend call starts at 8a on Saturday and runs through 8a on Monday. They get 16 hours of pay for that. Then they are off 2 days on the following week. Frequency of weekend call depends on staffing levels. Usually its once a month or a bit less.

Thanks for the reply, aimee, but I am a little confused. When you say they don't get anything extra, does that mean they don't get paid to be available to take calls (and do phone triage, I imagine) during the week except if they make visits? Also, when you say they are off the two days the following week, do you mean they take regularly scheduled days off and are paid for them, or are they just not required to work? Also, can you tell me what the average census is of your agency, both hospice and palliative care if you have PC on call?
Thanks!
Kat

[Katillac]

Originally Posted by Angelica

I get $3 per hour on call, door to door mileage, and $25 per each after hours admission. My weekend call starts 5 pm on Friday and ends 8 am on Monday. I only get weekend call once every five weeks. I get $4.50 per hour for call on holidays.

Thanks for your response, Angelica. Could you please tell me what your average census is?

Thanks,
Kat

[Angelica]

Originally Posted by Katillac

Thanks for your response, Angelica. Could you please tell me what your average census is?

Thanks,
Kat

We've been a little slow the last few months. I haven't gone over 8 pts since April. At one point this summer I had 2! That's a little TOO slow. I'm at 6 right now. Never had more than 14.

[renerian]

Most of the on call people at the agency I volunteer for area are salaried and there are 2. They get their salary. Per diem fill in and get 2.00 per hour for the pager and 50 per visit if they need to go out.

renerian

[aimeee]

For weekday on-call the nurses are paid only if they make a visit. We have a separate phone triage team. When they are on call during the weekend since they are being paid for working (2) 8 hour days, they have two days off (without pay) during the week so their total paid hours for the work week is 40.

[medsurgnurse]

At our agency we have nurses who are strictly 'on call nurses'. We get a flat salary for a week of being call after hours and all weekend. Census over 100. no extra pay for going out. but we do get milage pay.

[Mandee]

Originally Posted by medsurgnurse

At our agency we have nurses who are strictly 'on call nurses'. We get a flat salary for a week of being call after hours and all weekend. Census over 100. no extra pay for going out. but we do get milage pay.

We have full time on call nurses who are paid a salary, they work one week on and one week off, 5pm-8am during the week and all weekend, our case managers are paid $2/hr to carry the pager and then their hourly wage for any work they do(visits or calls), they don't do a lot of call though due to the full time call nurses.

Mandee