Do your on-call nurses come in if short?

Chel · Jun 29, 2005

We have another name for 'on call' nurses. We call them It's on your side, you have to stay over and work it nurses.

Blackcat99 · Jun 29, 2005

My DON decided not to come in for nights when one of the night nurses called in even though she was "on-call." I got stuck with 60 patients and I felt my license was on the line. That was my last night at LTC. I resigned at the end of my shift. :angryfire

CapeCodMermaid, RN · Jun 30, 2005

My DON decided not to come in for nights when one of the night nurses called in even though she was "on-call." I got stuck with 60 patients and I felt my license was on the line. That was my last night at LTC. I resigned at the end of my shift. :angryfire

What kind of patients??? Long term? SubAcute?? Our long term care unit has 60 patients and on night shift we only ever have one nurse...3 aides and they do fine.

kathc · Jul 1, 2005

We don't have any on call nurses. If someone calls in, they either ask if anyone wants to work overtime, they call in agency help or they mandate someone. We are on the mandate list every 2-3 weeks for a week. Once you actually get mandated you are off the list for quite a while. We are a 500 bed long term care unit, so there are a lot of people looking for overtime or a lot that can be mandated.

Monica RN,BSN · Jul 1, 2005

In our facility, we have department heads who take "Manager on duty" These individuals rotate among 8 of us and when we are "MOD" we have to go in for 4 hours on Sat and 4 hours on Sun. We round the building, trouble shoot what ever is going on, look at scedules handle patient issues, etc. We get a day off later in the week to make up for it since most of these staff are salaried.

On call people are not paid to be on call. We have rotating on call for the nursing staff, taken by a nurse. I say that because the manager on duty people are not always nurses, it is made up of dietary, maintenance, laundry, and every one who is a dept manager. THe nurse on call gets the call outs. No one can call out to the facility. The on call nurse will search for coverage and notify the facility. If the on call is not able to get coverage, then yes they have to go in. Really sucks if it is an 11-7 call out... and you been up all day. I take manager on duty but very rarely on call as I am the DON. I am willing to take a cart if needed, but have not had to do so because the staff is very good about coverage. I do have call M-F, however the staff call unit managers before I get the calls. It most always comes together though.

I find it interesting how facilities vary on the on call procedures.

BabyRN2Be · Jul 1, 2005

In our area, several hospitals have ECB (emergency call back) which serve as PRN nurses. If an area gets stuck and needs extra help, they call one of these nurses to come in at a moment's notice. They have to work at least one shift a month, maybe one weekend, but they fill in staffing needs when it looks like they are short and they get called when someone calls in sick.

Maybe I'm reading your post wrong, but I thought that this was the norm in a lot of hospitals.

Nascar nurse, ASN, RN · Jul 2, 2005

Wow, other nurses get paid to actually be on call even if their phone never rings! I've always wondered if it was even legal to tie me to a beeper/phone, demand I answer within minutes, but don't pay me to do so. Anyways, as MDS coordinator, I take rotation about every 4-5 weeks. I go in as a last resort. As previously said, no one helps me with my work and I've already done my 40+ for the week.

Blackcat99 · Jul 2, 2005

What kind of patients??? Long term? SubAcute?? Our long term care unit has 60 patients and on night shift we only ever have one nurse...3 aides and they do fine.

I had been working at an LTC facility that had lots of treatments,skin checks, and early meds for the tube feeders scheduled to be done on the night shift.

The DON knew it was too much for one person but she chose not to come in.Therefore, I chose to resign. :chuckle

boulergirl, CNA · Jul 2, 2005

It's the Fourth of July weekend, and already we have had two people call in sick. (I have a feeling that the one that I had to replace last night was either out there cheating on her boyfriend or spying on him from the parking lot at his workplace (to see if he really works when he says he does...long story...). My co-worker told me that over the phone, this girl did NOT sound like she was sick at all!! Suffice it to say, we have a rule that if you call out, you must be prepared to come in and work your shift if no one can replace you. She didn't answer her phone when we called her, I got to work evening AND night shift :angryfire :angryfire and she lost her job (no call/no show). Oh, and in the morning, oh joy! another person calls in cause her kid is sick. So I had to try to find a replacement and almost ended up working yet another shift. What IS it with all the call-ins? :no:

Anyhow, I'd better get home and sleep while I'm still able to drive with my eyes open... :yawn:

donmomofnine · Jul 2, 2005

"Wow, other nurses get paid to actually be on call even if their phone never rings! " Yep! I am on call this week so I am working on the floor 3-11 shift on Sunday and Monday. But I think of all the weeks I collected my $150 per week and never even had a phone call!:)

nurse_kim · Jul 3, 2005

We have 2 on call nurses..the DON...and myself...the ADON/ MDS/Careplan coordinator/ TILE Nurse...I have not had a day off since June 7, 2005...our 6P/6A nurse quit...I work Tues - Thurs 8/4....Fri, Sat, and Sun 6P/6A and stay over on Mondays until about 12P ....so TIRED...FED UP.....BURNING OUT....yep that's me....I love my job, I would just love it better if all I had to concentrate on was MY job....during the night shift I am able to come to my office and work on MDS, careplans, 3652's but I also have 2 serious residents that require suctioning a trache often....an on call nursing staff would be great.... :uhoh3:

RainbowzLPN, LPN · Jul 3, 2005

Where I work, we don't have mandatory overtime, which is nice, even though they still pressure you/make you feel guilty. The concept of the DON/ADON coming in to work on the floor just make me laugh, that would never happen. We're short staffed, & when the schedule comes out, there's always 3 or more holes, esp on the weekends. I just wish they'd wake up & hire an extra person or two, otherwise they'll be digging a hole with more people quitting, & teh staff will be even less. :uhoh3: