on call requirement

nutella, MSN, RN · Jul 12, 2016

I guess it depends on your size and agreements.

The company I worked for in home hospice had a dedicated on call staff from 4pm to around 9 pm and a dedicated night on call from 9 pm to 8 am. On the weekends it was more complicated as the day time weekend nurse would also take call but there was a dedicated night on call as well. When I started, it was only weekend work with day time call and seeing patients every 4-7 weeks depending on staffing. But people left and in addition there was coverage needed for vacations and holidays. All case managers were expected to share the call coverage for vacation times or for call outs so it could really vary.

4boysmama · Jul 13, 2016

My current company we are required to do weekends ever 6 weeks. we have dedicated on call overnight and weekend staff, so the regular nurses do weekend days (8:30-5 on sat and sunday) every 6 weeks. we get a day off the week prior and a day off the week after to compensate for the sat/sun worked. we do the scheduled visits and admissions/deaths/discharges. the on call staff does all the prn visits and all overnights. at my previous job....on call for everyone was every 3-4 weeks, friday at 5pm through sunday at 8pm. it's one of the main reasons I am no longer employed there. we got no days off to compensate for the 51+ hours straight. it sucked.

vampiregirl, BSN, RN · Jul 13, 2016

Our requirement is based on the number of nurses we have, currently we have 10. So each nurse must pick up 4 - weeknights (1600 - 0730), 1 - Friday night (1600 - 0730) and 2 weekends (1 day/ 24 hour call and 1 "scheduled/normal visit day" each of the weekends) over a 10 week period.

All of our case managers have the same call requirements, regardless of whether they are full or part time. I'm a 24 hour a week, part-time case manager.

Any calls/ visits are paid automatically at OT. We are experimenting with full time staff comping a day off during the week (but not Monday or Friday). Sometimes calls/ visits are minimal - but I've also been busy during an entire call time (in that case, we adjust the schedule if the nurse is supposed to work the next day). Our team really does make an effort to take care of each other and each other's patients, so that makes it much easier to deal with being on call.

Works pretty well. Some nurses opt to scrunch their on call time close, some of us spread it out.

Jemama · Aug 13, 2016

At my hospice we do 430pm-0800am on call during the week and 24 hours on the weekends. We used to have a weekend on call nurse but that position was eliminated. I average about 14 days a month with 4-5 of those days being weekends. We're pretty short staffed on the home care side though and the staff that work in our hospice house are not required to take call.

knitnurse72 · Aug 15, 2016

So interesting to read what other hospices do for on call! I work for a rather large hospice as a full time case manager. We are all required to be on emergency on-call for one week, Thursday through Wednesday. I am about to have my one year anniversary and have only been on call 2 of those weeks (last was 2 weeks ago) and I did not get called in either time, but it does happen occasionally. We do have regular evening, night and weekend staff, so our on-call is only activated if one of those nurses is out sick and they cannot find a replacement.

RoseK4020 · Sep 25, 2016

1 work for a hospice with a census of around 180. All RNs take one weeknight a month as backup to our on call staff. And you can pretty much count on being called in. Rarely require weekend call.

SCgirl1962 · Mar 25, 2017

I work for a smaller office and the on call is my biggest complaint. I average 10 days per month. One night per week and one weekend per month wouldnt be so bad but since we lost a nurse, it's more like 2 nights per week and 2 weekend per month.... í ½í¸«

LemonIndiscretion · Apr 9, 2017

Y'all I'm dying right now because of on call...

it was every 4 weeks, 7 days straight... then it was every 3 weeks, now it's every other week so 7 days on call 5pm to 8Am then 5pm Friday through Monday morning at 8am then I have to do a regular work week...sometimes I take a day off during the day but right now that's pointless since I have a caseload of 30 so If I take a day off during the week I end up seeing them Saturday, plus admissions, revisits, chart Evals, prn visits etc... my job makes me feel like I'm whining if I say that something doesn't feel right or say one day I just literally cannot do another admission... they make me feel like I'm the weak link or something when I'm one of two nurses right now and the other nurse has a case load of 12 because many facilities do not like her. We have an LPN who's amazing and helps with revisits. I'm also training 3 nurses right now... I've never felt so burnt out in my entire life! Is this an anamoly in the hospice world or am I being a little dramatic?

Dont think anyone will see this since it's an old thread...

4boysmama · Apr 9, 2017

i responded to your other post and now seeing this. honey, as gently as I can say this...you need to cut and run from that agency. they do not care about their nurses, nor the patients. it is not possible for you to give good end of life care to patients with a caseload of 30. it's just not. you are not a whiner, you are not weak. they are setting you up to FAIL, period.

I worked for an agency like this, and I lasted 9 months. it was the WORST 9 months of my life. soul-sucking, and i swear by the end I thught *I* was the crazy one. I wasn;t - the situations they put me in, repeatedly, were crazy. you need to get out, and find somewhere that will appreciate you and your hard work.

Lucky724 · Apr 13, 2017

I posted a questions re: hospice call yesterday..someone I work w/has been offered a high salary FT M-F position w/a very small local hospice. They are telling her she will be the RN on call nights/weekends/holidays in addition to work the M-F regular business hours... because the census is low (5 patients at this time) they are no in need of another RN. There is another PRN RN that can step in if there is an emergency of some sort & if available.. Her position would be salaried so it doesn't sound like if she goes out after hours weekends etc she would be compensated. To me this seems unreasonable to ask of one RN, even w/the low census to be available 24/7. Maybe that's how it is now but I'm not sure that is a route I would go, even for a fairly high salary.

tyvin, BSN, RN · Apr 25, 2017

I posted a questions re: hospice call yesterday..someone I work w/has been offered a high salary FT M-F position w/a very small local hospice. They are telling her she will be the RN on call nights/weekends/holidays in addition to work the M-F regular business hours... because the census is low (5 patients at this time) they are no in need of another RN. There is another PRN RN that can step in if there is an emergency of some sort & if available.. Her position would be salaried so it doesn't sound like if she goes out after hours weekends etc she would be compensated. To me this seems unreasonable to ask of one RN, even w/the low census to be available 24/7. Maybe that's how it is now but I'm not sure that is a route I would go, even for a fairly high salary.

$70,000 is not a high salary for what they are wanting her to do...it's insane. I thought you said she didn't take the offer? Salary is salary; whether you work 80 hour or 8 hours in a week.