On call for free?

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Where I work, the 4 nurses each take a week and take the beeper and are on call. The call is for questions,(med issues) advice, if its really bad, we come in... etc.. (residential facility for kids w/ behavior/psych issues.... NON PROFIT agency) ...But, it is completely uncompensated, we get not a dime for being on call... There is no contract, nothing, "just how they do it". Is this right? I mean, isnt this "nursing for free"... we are deffinitely off the clock, so, is this even legal, or does it even sound kosher to you BON -wise? this is a whole new world to me, and I cant find anything specific on my statesbon web site... so does anyone have any thoughts on this???? Thanks!!!

I am the ICU nurse who wrote about being mandetory off and required to be at the beck and call to the hospital during the entire 12 hour shift. Plus the hospital was making me take PTO time for the mandetory time off.

I have read the responses. I am not going to take it any longer. I have started looking for another position. I left management and a salaried position because I wanted to be paid for the time I work. I want to clock in - do my job - and then go home. The hospital does not own me.

Thanks guys for your imput.

Specializes in NICU, ER, OR.

WEll, the other issue is:

The cna we have working for us also "asesses" the kids. Like a sore throat, stomach ache, etc. But the other day, a kid hurt her foot playing in the gym. The cna did the assessment, wrote up a soap note, and told the kid to ice it, tylenol, etc... well later that night the girls family is visiting. They take her to the hospital. Her foot was FRACTURED. I wasnt on this day. The nurse that was on with her was aware. But, is it me, or should the cna have NOTHING to do with this type of thing? I mean, me, as an RN, when a kid comes to me with a possible break, my gut tells me to send them out, because, you know, you just never know if it is broken or not!!! I am thinking that because she is the cna, and we are the nurses, we are responsible for her "treating" this kid, right? This whole place is so freakin loosey-goosey, it makes me crazy. I feel so weird questioning all of this.... because they carry on like it is the most normal thing to do......I find it so hard to believe that my supervisor is really this clueless......HELP.give me the words to convey these issues to her!!!! lol No, really.....

Specializes in OB.
WEll, the other issue is:

The cna we have working for us also "asesses" the kids. Like a sore throat, stomach ache, etc. But the other day, a kid hurt her foot playing in the gym. The cna did the assessment, wrote up a soap note, and told the kid to ice it, tylenol, etc... well later that night the girls family is visiting. They take her to the hospital. Her foot was FRACTURED. I wasnt on this day. The nurse that was on with her was aware. But, is it me, or should the cna have NOTHING to do with this type of thing? I mean, me, as an RN, when a kid comes to me with a possible break, my gut tells me to send them out, because, you know, you just never know if it is broken or not!!! I am thinking that because she is the cna, and we are the nurses, we are responsible for her "treating" this kid, right? This whole place is so freakin loosey-goosey, it makes me crazy. I feel so weird questioning all of this.... because they carry on like it is the most normal thing to do......I find it so hard to believe that my supervisor is really this clueless......HELP.give me the words to convey these issues to her!!!! lol No, really.....

Wow - this is sounding scarier all the time! The RN on duty would definitely be held accountable for the assessment/treatment on this child. This is way outside the scope of duties of a CNA. It sounds like the staff there is operating under the "we've always done it this way" routine. This is not a defensible position!

I'd be looking for another position as quickly as possible. In the meanwhile, if as you said in your other post the facility has no , you need to have your own personal coverage immediately - this is a bombshell waiting to drop!

Specializes in NICU, ER, OR.
Wow - this is sounding scarier all the time! The RN on duty would definitely be held accountable for the assessment/treatment on this child. This is way outside the scope of duties of a CNA. It sounds like the staff there is operating under the "we've always done it this way" routine. This is not a defensible position!

I'd be looking for another position as quickly as possible. In the meanwhile, if as you said in your other post the facility has no malpractice insurance, you need to have your own personal coverage immediately - this is a bombshell waiting to drop!

:uhoh3: I know this is a hard question to answer without knowing all parties involved, but do you think it is conceivalby possible for a fairly intelligent RN (the sup) to be completely oblivious to this scope of practice issue? I mean, I can assure you everybody in that nsg office has the best interest of those kids at heart, so I know nothing *intentionally* negligent is going on with the RN's... so, how would you bring this up to her? I am the only one to have these questions, so far... but, when kid comes in the office or we get a call to go see a kid on the unit, I just quickly go, so as the cna won't go first, and I avoid having to tell her "no, this is not your job "... UUGHHHHHHHHH I just am so frustrated. Like I said before, I immediately thought on my first day there..."whoa, this is not right"....but, immediately following that, I thought that there were different regulations for this type of place. Now after thinking that over, and getting opinions here, I dont think thats the case, and it seems nobody has a clue in that building about scope of practices for nurses. It seems not even the nurses!!!!! I am looking for another job... But I just have to find out why it is like this... does my sup just "not know" , or what? I cant bring myself to ask these questions of her..... I just cant get my mind around a head of a nursing department just not knowing these basic scope of practice issues. I just cant believe it!!!!!! thanks so much for responding!!! please continue to do so!!!:o

Specializes in ICU-Stepdown.

Well, not knowing the full situation, I would not presume to guess about weather or not the RN on duty is totally clueless, or has just been 'beat into submission' by the 'we've always done it this way' attitude of the place. BUT its a common NCLEX question (can an LPN assess) and since an LPN cannot, it should go without saying that a CNA CERTAINLY CAN NOT. But I've seen enough over the years to know that common sense is uncommon. The place you describe is (I agree with the bagladyrn) way too dangerous to YOUR health and well-being, not to mention your license. If you stay, I'd have insurance and cover my butt as much as possible -but better yet, run don't walk -out of that situation as fast as possible. NOTHING good can come of this place.

I can't say much for todays' parents, but if I'd broken my ankle at school, and the "nurse" had just told me to 'ice it' and get on with my day at school, and my parents had to take me in later that day when I got home (or did I totally misread this?) SOMEBODY would be held accountable for not recognizing a bad situation, and calling my parents to come and take me to a hospital to get checked out.

Of course, I had parents who were very much a part of my childhood. That does kind of set me aside as 'different' from many, I suppose. :)

Quite a few times (while working in EMS) people called ambulances (and a number of times at elementary schools) and wanted us to tell them if they had broken their (leg, arm, foot, whatever) because they didn't really want to go to the hospital :angryfire but my standard response for these remarkably uh inept, comments was "I'm sorry ma'am, my x-ray glasses don't seem to be working lately. MY suggestion is that we go to the hospital and use THEIR equipment -just to be sure, of course :) "

+ Add a Comment