Call 24/7/365, no back up - is this reasonable?

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A coworker of mine was offered a hospice position for a small company that has not been in business much over a year. They told her the census is "less than 10" so at this point she would work M-F 8:00- 5:00 plus take call every night and weekend until the census increases and the need for hiring another RN comes into play. She would be salaried so she would not be paid for call time or mileage since call would not be, she was told, very busy. The salary is high but she is concerned about the low census, the fact the company is new and is a little leery of taking call all the time w/o any other RN back up. She also expressed concern at how they can offer a high dollar salary with a census of less than 10 and haven't addressed benefits other than to say they will go over them at orientation. I asked her if there was another RN at all employed there - she said there is one but she is only helping guide the owner on building the business. I asked her what happens when the current few patients pass? How is she going to get paid if there are not patients? She said she was told that would not be a concern due to "excellent investors" who are willing to ride things out as the company grows...I told her I was going to post this on allnurses to get her some other view points..what do you seasoned hospice nurses think about this?

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A coworker of mine was offered a hospice position for a small company that has not been in business much over a year. They told her the census is "less than 10" so at this point she would work M-F 8:00- 5:00 plus take call every night and weekend until the census increases and the need for hiring another RN comes into play. She would be salaried so she would not be paid for call time or mileage since call would not be, she was told, very busy. The salary is high but she is concerned about the low census, the fact the company is new and is a little leery of taking call all the time w/o any other RN back up. She also expressed concern at how they can offer a high dollar salary with a census of less than 10 and haven't addressed benefits other than to say they will go over them at orientation. I asked her if there was another RN at all employed there - she said there is one but she is only helping guide the owner on building the business. I asked her what happens when the current few patients pass? How is she going to get paid if there are not patients? She said she was told that would not be a concern due to "excellent investors" who are willing to ride things out as the company grows...I told her I was going to post this on allnurses to get her some other view points..what do you seasoned hospice nurses think about this?

I think that your friend should post herself if she is a nurse and would like an opinion.

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I'll pass this along..thanks

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Specializes in LTC, Hospice, Case Management.

I'll give you a comment. A couple years ago I helped open a local hospice company. I had been a friend of one of the owners (also an RN) for years. I was offered a great salary too due to knowing their was great financial backing for the start up of a new company and getting paid was never an issue. But, it's amazing how busy you can be day and night with 10 patients. The owner shared some of the call with me but I still found myself being out all day and at least part of the night 2-3 times a week plus weekends. The worst is as census grows, we couldn't seem to keep up with hiring fast enough & getting the new ones trained, therefore it just got harder and harder. Over the 2 year span, it seemed like I always had to take the most call because I was the one with the most experience out there. I eventually burned out from the job that I just loved because I found myself working day and night forever.

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Specializes in Hospice / Psych / RNAC.

It's crazy you're suspicious of the place not getting anymore business when I think it sounds insane to take that whole thing on as a salary position. When you say high salary what are you saying? Don't forget the benefits as well.

As far as not getting paid with no census...she's salary, they have to pay her anyway.

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That's what I think will happen in her case...that she will end up being burnt out and basically working everyday - especially since she is the only RN. Thank you for the reply.

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Not sure what you meant by suspicious of the place not getting more business..but I agree..she said the salary is "a little over 70/yr" but the benefits I don't know about - she didn't say. Didn't think about her getting paid regardless of salary..just didn't make sense to me how they would be able to pay if they have so few patients so there would not be revenue - anyway..thank you for replying. I have no idea what she is going to do but I will pass the responses along to her. Thanks again

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Specializes in Hospice + Palliative.

nope nope, nope, NOPE. they're paying her 70k a year to OWN HER. 24/7/365 is not a sustainable employment plan.

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Specializes in LTC, Hospice, Case Management.
nope nope, nope, NOPE. they're paying her 70k a year to OWN HER. 24/7/365 is not a sustainable employment plan.

Oh yea - this is basically what happened to me. And it was never good enough, never a thank you and IT WILL BE NEVER AGAIN!

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She met with the hiring CEO again..promises were made but the basics were still the same. She declined the position.

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Specializes in Psych, HIV/AIDS.
She met with the hiring CEO again..promises were made but the basics were still the same. She declined the position.

Smart decision!

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