How often are you called in during on call?

lola24 · Mar 15, 2006

I have the black call cloud over me, so I get called in everytime I am on call.

angel03 · Mar 15, 2006

Not enough information...is this a trauma center?? What is the staffing on 11-7 and weekends??? Is OB involved?? Is there an in-house call???

Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN · Mar 15, 2006

I get night call once a week, always get called, always out all night.

It only peezes me off when it's for an elective case, and the doc wants it done that night because he's got personal plans the next day (investigation pending).

Weekends, same thing, get called, quite awhile before i go home.

OR male nurse · Mar 16, 2006

Hi..we usually work 1 call night per week and then average a weekend every 7 weekends. I get called in mostly every time I am on call. Most of the calls are for either an emergency C-section or an exploratory lap. This past weekend I was on call and worked 14 hours straight on Saturday from 4am-6pm. We did six back to back cases. I was called in Sunday night around 8 pm to do a perforated bowel (open lap) There are some times when I am not called in, but mostly every time I get called. I'd say it averages about 80% of the time I am called in when I have a call night or weekend. Hope this helps.

carcha · Mar 17, 2006

Rarely get home, so dont need to come back in, am there already

ORSmurf · Mar 17, 2006

I am almost always called in when I'm on call. The weekends are the worst because we're on from Friday until Monday, so sometimes it feels like a bad dream that won't end! The worst one in recent memory, I worked 21 hours straight, then got called back in for a stat C-section after about 3 hours of sleep... REALLY thought about looking for a new job after that!

Kate0140 · Mar 19, 2006

Thanks for all the responses, it helps. I will definitely think about it.

Kate

shodobe · Mar 19, 2006

I am on 9 days straight when I am here from home. I work a 1230-2300 shift so I don't get called back during the week if necessary, I am already here so we work sometimes to the wee hours of the morning. The weekends are not too bad, yesterday I worked 9 hours so it was nice. Now you have to remember with me I WANT to work so setting around is non-productive time and a waste of my time. The problem I have seen over the years is when people want to work in the OR they are very concerned about call-time. It's as if they don't think call back should be necessary. It is because it is part of the game. Some places have a lot of call and others have a moderate amount of call back. We can have lots of call back in a short period of time and there are times where there is very little. I have gone a whole weekend without a single case and other times where it seems there is little time to sleep. The one thing that has kept everybody sane here is the fact we don't do C-sections in the OR anymore! The first 12 years was spent coming and going all night doing lousy sections!!!!!! The L/D,for the past 17 years, now does all of their own and we don't have to worry about them at all, unless of couse they get a ruptured uterus then it is our problem. If coming back after hours is an issue you might look at hospitals that has a L/D that do their own stuff because this will significantly cut down on call backs. Call is part of the whole scheme of things in the OR and needs to be excepted no matter what the situation is. If this is a problem then OR nursing isn't for you. I can't stand to hear people complain ALL the time about having to stay over or come back for a case. We all have times, including me, that we complain about doing this elective case or some surgeon who likes to work late or on the weekends and this is natural. I do work with a couple of people who gripe, gripe, gripe ALL the time about coming back or their few hours they HAD to come back for a case. Gets old real quick.

BoTnut · Mar 25, 2006

I live 30 mins driving from my hospital and it doesn't pose a problem. I am on call an average of 2 nights per week and maybe part of a weekend if working it. I always tell the next shift that I am 30 mins away. Sometimes I get called more often I don't. I hope I'm not jinxing something here tho! My suggestion, if it seems like a good job and everything stacks up go for it.

Good luck.

grimmy, RN · Mar 25, 2006

i, too, live about 30 minutes from work, and it hasn't posed much of a problem for me. i think the only time i really hate it is when i'm called in, sent home, and then called back less than an hour later. it makes a commute in the dark that much longer. i'm actually moving closer to work next month, so that should eliminate some of that issue. there's also quite a few times when i know, before i leave work at 5:30, that i'll be back that evening. last night was such a case, because i work on the thoracic team, our surgical fellow got a page for an in-house donor, and we were going to keep the lungs, liver and kidneys. i went home, fed, walked and watered the dog, took an hour nap, and was back by 7:30 to circ the beating heart organ donor. i got relief around midnight, and went home and didn't get called back. easy money, interesting case, and so it goes.

SFCardiacRN · Mar 26, 2006

I quit taking call because of elective procedures being performed at the surgeons convenience. Fortunately, we have a few "call hogs" willing to take it all.