on call

NRSINGED KAREN, BSN, RN · Apr 18, 2006

We are on call one evening a week, when fully staffed from 5 pm to 8 am the next day. We are on call one weekend a month from Friday at 5pm to the following Monday at 8 am. This is in addition to a full time schedule. Sometimes there are more on call days if we are short. There are quiet on-calls and hectic on-calls. I have children and they will be out of school soon. I plan to leave my postion soon to find a shift opposite of my husband's shift for the summer. My family becomes stressed out when I am on call. The supervisors are on call for a week. They take referrals and help us when we are overloaded

G'smommy · Apr 18, 2006

Thanks, how much do you get paid for on call?

MN RN · Apr 20, 2006

We take call every 8 weeks and are on "back-up" (also every 8 weeks) when a LPN is scheduled on call. So, twice in 4 months. Call is for 7 days at a time. For the regular week of call we get paid $210. For back-up we get paid $70 and have to approve any visits made by the LPN and be available to them for any questions that may arise as they triage the calls. If (and it's very rare) a resumption of care needs to be done, the RN on call/back-up would do it. We don't use our "On-Call" nurse as the person who gets stuck with whatever doesn't get done during the day.

jnette, ASN, EMT-I · Apr 22, 2006

We are on call one evening a week, when fully staffed from 5 pm to 8 am the next day. We are on call one weekend a month from Friday at 5pm to the following Monday at 8 am. This is in addition to a full time schedule. Sometimes there are more on call days if we are short. There are quiet on-calls and hectic on-calls. The supervisors are on call for a week. They take referrals and help us when we are overloaded

We work pretty much the same way. I will end up doing a 4:30 pm- 8 am call once every ten-14 days or so. For the weekend call schedule, we usually have to pull a weekend every 6- 7 weeks.. that follows a full week of "regular visits", and you still have a full week of "regular visits" yet ahead of you after your call weekend.

On the weekend call system, we have one nurse on "primary call" who not only does all her scheduled visits, but also carries the pager, and any and all questions/messages come to her.. to triage, sort out, call back, etc.

Then there are her "back-ups" (usually two) who also do their own share of scheduled visits, and are available to help you out should you get backed up with unexpected calls or admissions, etc.

The primary call nurse is paid more than the back-ups for the call weekend, and we all get a dollar an hour for carrying the pager or being on call, so for the whole weekend it's 63.5 hours ($$) just for being on call, then the RNs get $27 per weekend VISIT.. any admission, ROC, etc. would be a good bit more. Then there's weekend/after hours pay on top of that, but I just now did my first call last weekend, and I was "primary"...so I really don't even know for sure how it's all going to add up... YET !

But I'm getting ready to find out! :chuckle