Can I say no to (too much) call?

[roamingnome]

Hi

I’m one year into a two year new grad contract in the OR. When I interviewed I was told 1 weekend/6 weeks and 4-5 weekdays/24 weekdays I’d be on call. 
I’ve been placed on a specialty team, which has had a mass exodus (2/3 of the nurses have quit in the last month). The next call schedule I’ll be expected to take 4 weekends/6 weeks and 18 weeknights out of 24. 

This current schedule I’m on 3 weekends and 12 weekdays. This means I have no life. I can’t go to the store, I can’t go out to eat, I can’t train for my sports, etc. I can sit at home and wait. I’ve asked my manager if I could be given some leeway on time to the OR because we now, for the first time, have an RN on site 24/7, meaning the one in house could start the case. We’re given 30 minutes from call to be clocked in, I asked for an hour. She said ‘in a few months I’m going to have to take almost that much call’ (one of our admins in retiring) the difference being, she doesn’t have to come in on call, she can, and does, post cases from home.

Can I just say no?

 

[amoLucia]

If all other staff are experiencing a similar increased call demand, I'd doubt you'd have much luck refusing. Was your commitment in writing? Unless you have a union contract backing, you'll just be expected to buck up.

Hopefully, all things will pass eventually. Sadly, it is the facility's responsibility to plug in its staff as needed. You're just one of their little cogs in the big scheme of things.

Only one year in, if you start balking, you'll not be viewed as TEAM. And you will become fair game for termination as they see fit. And then there's the conditions of your contract - will you have to pay back any hiring bonus? Will you be eligible for rehire? Any references needed?

Ask for an estimation of the expected duration and just try to be a good sport about. Otherwise, you may just need to consider a new job.

[roamingnome]

No end date in sight. And it’s only 3 of us being told to do this, out of about 40 RN/CST staff. The original pre-hire call estimate was verbal, nothing about it in the contract, but I’ll double check. 
I don’t care about the monetary penalty if I break the contract, so that’s not a huge issue. It’s just depressing to think that I’ll only have 1 weekday off, from call, and every 3rd weekend, on top of working 5 days/week. Plus, I now have to take 2 of the 3 holidays this Winter, so no family time ?

[Guest 1152923]

13 hours ago, roamingnome said:

If all other staff are experiencing a similar increased call demand, I'd doubt you'd have much luck refusing. Was your commitment in writing

    Disagree!   I've spent over 25 years as an OR RN and this would be a deal breaker for me.  Yeah your unit is short staffed.  Yeah, we're in the midst of a pandemic, I get it.  I'm big on work/life balance though and for me, this arrangement is untenable; I refuse to live, breath, sleep, and eat for any job.  When a potential employee is presented with a scenario that in reality, becomes wildly divergent, that seems like a classic 'bait and switch'.