On call, but missed call

blondy2061h, MSN, RN · Oct 2, 2017

I've tried to call people in on hospital provided pagers and not gotten responses until a panicked 3 hours later when the page finally comes through. I have had it happen with my pager, too, though, so I didn't write it up.

All methods can fail. The best choice is to have a primary way to reach you and a back up.

Editorial Team / Admin · Oct 2, 2017

It's going to depend on what your facility's policy is for not being available when on call. In my facility, there is no consideration for reason (with the exception of the nurse on call being the trauma patient that the backup team was being called in for because it was that bad)- it is expected that people have 2 ways of being reached. Most have a cell phone and landline (I live in an area where landlines will never disappear). Others utilize a cell phone and pager. Others have all 3. The first offense is a one day suspension. The second is a 3 day suspension. The third time is termination. Unlike other disciplinary issues, these do not drop off the record. It doesn't matter if the first missed call is on day 91 of hire and the third 4 days before retirement.

RiverNurse · Oct 3, 2017

The hospital should have a back up plan in the event the nurse is not reachable. I also do not think writing the nurse up is appropriate, given the situation. Reliability is important, however, reliability should not soley rest on the back of one nurse. If that is the case, there is a problem with the system.

Julius Seizure · Oct 3, 2017

Maybe a note from your funeral director might satisfy them.

...maybe.

Ruby Vee, BSN · Oct 4, 2017

I was on call last night. I have been in the hard hit Harvey area of Texas. I guess cell service was in and out, but I missed a call around midnight at work. I got up at 6:20 and took my kid to school and my phone started going off with 2 vm notifications . I called work immediately. The supervisor seemed very irritated with me, and I understand why.
This morning cell service is in and out. I seriously did not get these calls. Do I need to be worried about getting fired for this?

Getting fired is a bit extreme unless there were previous disciplinary or attendance issues. But you may get a verbal or written warning, which should be expected. When you next see your manager, make sure you express your extreme remorse that you missed the call . . . please don't justify yourself by blaming the cell service. That may be the reason you missed the calls, but it isn't a good excuse. If that makes sense.

I've done the same thing. In my case, the charge nurse left a message on my landline voicemail, but I had left my cellphone number with her and didn't check the landline. Still, it was my bad. I fell all over myself apologizing -- the the charge nurse, the manager and to the nurse who had to stay late because I didn't come in. There was no formal write-up, but there would have been if I had EVER screwed up like that again.

a1shif · Oct 5, 2017

Our hospital would allow us to sleep in house and did not let us go home if there were any worries about service being down because they knew we may not be able to be reached in those circumstances of disasters. They hated to require it, but needed to be able to depend on the on call emergency staff members.

3ringnursing, BSN · Oct 5, 2017

It won't make your supervisor feel any happier, however if you can obtain proof from your cellphone carrier that they had outages on that date during the time in question then it may at least bolster your side of the story. I'm not sure what this will do for the situation except strengthen your word as the truth, and make it less likely they will believe you merely turned off your cellphone to get some uninterrupted shut eye.

Not that I think you did that - I know how things can go awry when on call.

Many years ago I worked night shift in ICU, and we had be on call once a week (this arrangement was voted into effect long before I was hired as per an archaic agreement that the ICU nursing staff wouldn't have to float to other units as the hospital's float pool).

If you weren't called in then you earned $1.50/hr to wait on standby - if you were called in you got time and a half/hr once you arrived. You had 30 minutes to be on duty once called. If there was 2 hr's or less remaining in the shift then generally you got a pass and wouldn't be called in to work, however it was rare that anyone ever went the entire 12 hr's without being called in.

This was back in the days when internet was dial up via your landline phone, and Ma Bell (aka: Mountain Bell) still had a monopoly (cellphones weren't main stream yet - although there may possibly have been huge, expensive prototypes available only to the very rich at the time). There were no routers or modems for internet connection. And high speed internet? Laughable. Internet was frustrating and slow business back then.

While on call one particular night I got bored waiting, and dozed upright in the lazyboy holding the portable phone handset around 0030 - meanwhile, in another part of the house my doofus husband decided to surf the internet (yes, he was aware I was on call as of 1900 that night).

Around 0130 my husband cursed just as the phone rang - one of my friend's also worked nights on this unit, and she was calling. And she had a mighty strange tale to tell too: After having been informed by the charge nurse that she had been trying to call me in but wasn't having any luck reaching me, my friend took over trying to contact me instead. Oddly, my phone was busy even though I had call waiting. Imagine that!

Lucky for me my friend had been persistent - eventually she ended up knocking my husband offline and the call went through (finally). They had been trying to contact me for over 45 minutes!

I was pretty pissed off at my idiot husband. If the internet hadn't been as unstable as it apparently was back in 1998 things could have turned out a whole lot different. He was sheepish and remorseful - but I was beyond furious.

Perhaps, until you can get your landline installed, or a better cellphone carrier (if that is even possible in your area) maybe you could call your employer and check in every hour when you are on call? That way your supervisor can see that you are at least doing your due diligence and keeping in touch in an effort to prevent those circumstances from repeating themselves in future.

And cut yourself a break - everyone makes mistakes once in a while. It's not like you planned that to happen, or even had any idea. Best of luck.