Call coverage for medical units?

[Nik.S.RN]

We have made the decision on our combined unit (med/surg, tele, icu) to have a nurse on call every day, for 24hrs. I believe in a 6 week schedule it works out so that the nurses are only on call 2 times in the 6 weeks. We are on 12 hour shifts. Does any one else out there have RNs on call for medical departments? Of course they wouldn't be scheduled to work the day after their call shift, in case they had to work the shift.

We often have ebbs & flows of low census and high census days. Nurses are put on call on low census days, and in that case the "on call" person would only be on call for the next 12 hr period, or called off completely if low census for the 24hrs. We have some teamwork issues, and often the same 3-4 nurses, the "reliable ones", will fill in the gaps. We are hoping to avoid burn out, promote teamwork and reliability, and create a sense of accountability to each other. How did you work it out, what has worked and not worked for you? Thoughts?

[delphine22]

I don't really get the point of having a nurse on call 24/7. Our situation is like what you described in your second paragraph: if census is low, someone is put on call. This is done on a rotating basis (we keep a list) so everyone has a turn, and if you get benefits you have the option of using PL for that day if you are not called back in. But keeping a schedule and having someone ALWAYS on call? That doesn't make sense to me.