Can you just work on call only ?

[mhy12784]

I was recently discussing this with some friends of mine, but it is possible to JUST take call ? And never have scheduled shifts in the OR ?

With call generally being difficult to get filled, it just made me wonder if there were hospitals who were comfortable having nurses who only take call ?

I mean if you worked at the same hospital full/part time previously and had plenty of experience I could see why this would be beneficial to a hospital.

Does this exists ?

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

Not in my facility, nor would I want to work with or be the patient of such an employee. Sorry, but if you don't use it, you lose it. Considering how often we get called in (in other words, not that much- primarily just finishing scheduled cases), how would one be able to maintain their competency? We had one person who worked one day a week- and each week was like their first because without the repetition to reinforce, they just didn't maintain their skills.

[mhy12784]

Not in my facility, nor would I want to work with or be the patient of such an employee. Sorry, but if you don't use it, you lose it. Considering how often we get called in (in other words, not that much- primarily just finishing scheduled cases), how would one be able to maintain their competency? We had one person who worked one day a week- and each week was like their first because without the repetition to reinforce, they just didn't maintain their skills.

Well I figured there would be the potential to take call on 5-10 shifts a week and if you got called in 33% of the time, thats 2-3 times a week still

But I see your point. I guess it doesnt isnt viable, I just noticed a lot of people dont exactly enjoy call, and wondered if it was something that could ever be useful

[peabozzle]

I actually did this for a while. I had worked full time as a circulator for 9 years at the facility, then took a different full time job in another facility. For about a year afterwards, I took call every other weekend at my old job. It was good money, we got called in an average of 8 hours over the weekend at on-call per diem wages. I knew the surgeons well, they trusted me, they still saw me pretty regularly, plus I was still working as a circulator full time so "losing my skills' wasn't an issue. There was a little hiccup when the facility changed to EMR....let's call it a learning curve. But I learned it & did just fine. Eventually, the hours at both jobs got to be too much & I stopped taking call there. I am still per diem & work 2-3 shifts a month with no problem.

[JillyRN]

Our facility does utilize a call-only team. They take call 7p-7a M-F and all weekend for three weeks out of the month. The full time staff takes call for the week that they are off.

The staff that is hired for our call only team are highly experienced and work at other facilities during the weekdays. So I don't necessarily agree with the above statement regarding them "losing it". Our call team often picks up shifts during high volume days as well. And when I've seen them work, I'm amazed at how quick they are able to set up cases and gather supplies without using any preference cards. But it makes sense considering 90% of the cases they do are either unscheduled or emergencies.