How much call is enough?

[TidyRN]

At my hospital based facility (we also have an associated ASC) we are trying to increase the number of people taking call. If you get called in once every couple of months, is that enough to remain competent for emergency situations if you only do basic colons and egds as your regular job? What do you require as training for call and do you have on-going training and competencies? This will be one tech and one nurse on call with an attending and a fellow. 5pm-7am weekdays and 7am-7am weekend days. Thanks.

[brownbook]

Hi, your question is great. No clear cut answer. I haven't dealt with on-call GI nursing for 7 years. So my knowledge may be out of date. And fortunately I was only peripherally involved in a bad GI bleeder on off hours. It was a real SNAFU, but the patient survived.

Of course few nurses (or at least not me) can feel competent to deal with an after hour emergency (like a GI bleeder, Sengstaken Blakemore tube, etc.) if you are only on call once every few months!

Ask for (demand) an in-service on GI bleeders or other typical on-call emergency situations. Ask to shadow a nurse when there is an emergency case before you are expected to take call. Have a mock model of the Sengstaken Blakemore set up, make it as realistic as you can. You can "play" with it during normal hours.

I don't know if you have the option to refuse call. I am not encouraging you to do that, but I know it can be scary. My nursing philosophy has been grit you teeth, be scared to death, and dive in.