Evenings and overnight on-call

[Carla_RN]

Hi all.

I am working a very stressful straight evening shift (3-11). Some days are fine, others I am not done with my work until midnight or later. I work every second weekend, so I get one day per week off. The six day stretch in between those two days is very hard. I am totally exhausted and that one day is barely enough rest until my weekend. I feel like I am living to work, not working to live.

There is usually one nurse on-call during the night to attend to emergencies. He or she stays at home in bed and will get a phone call if and when there is a problem. This used to be covered by the day nurses, who start their day at 8am and, on a good day, might be done by 2 already. My workplace has now announced that the evening nurses will now be required to participate in the on-call overnight shift program.

Thoughts?

[Marisette, BSN, RN]

I have taken call for 15 years, possibly longer in my present position. It was tolerable when I was younger, but the degree of accountability and expectations for customer service is more intense. Whenever, my phone goes rings, I jump. I dread it, even though the calls are infrequent. Still, every call is a potential problem that is not always easily resolved. Most of my calls require some kind of triage or troubleshooting. If I had to do it over, I would never take on a position with on call, but leaving now is much harder to do.

If your asking if your employer is being "fair". Possibly not, it seems the PM nurses are already missing out on family time and so on and adding call appears to be an additional burden. Just my opinion. I doubt, that will make a difference to your employer unless there is a union or they start loosing nurses and can't find replacements fast enough. It is, what it is.

[NursesRmofun, ASN, RN]

In this climate, the employers seem to have the upper hand and don't seem to hesitate to add on responsibilities. Good luck!

[Carla_RN]

Just to follow up: Our team penned a letter to management outlining all the various reasons why we should not be required to be on-call overnight. It has been considered and discussed at the top level, and then our immediate supervisor informed us that we were heard, and managements agrees. We don't have to do it! Needless to say we were all very relieved. It's nice to know that some people in management positions still care about us minions on the bottom, lol.