INPUT please - ON CALL GUIDELINES

[Bell13, ASN]

Hi everyone! I'm interested in some feedback to make changes or suggest a better system for our on call team.

Our call begins 7p-7a on the weekdays and 7a-7a on the weekends. During the week our team returns to work for the 7a shift. We are closed on the weekends and only take call. 

We work in a hospital and the surgeon calls the nsg supervisor directly. The nsg supervisor contacts the on call team and advises them of the surgical details. The nsg supervisor has other duties within the hospital but have contacted the on call team during the wee hours of the morning or before the call team is on call.

For example: calling at 2am for a 9am case. I'm not sure about anyone here, but some people cannot go right back to sleep after a phone call. I am just curious to know what other facilities do. The nsg supervisors give us some pushback on these requests and I understand they just want to get the item off their plate. Unfortunately, just because they are up doesn't mean the rest of the world is.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

[RickyRescueRN, BSN, RN]

If you are being paid "on call" pay during the time that they call you, you are on the clock and that is the nature of being on call. That being said, I do think its VERY unreasonable to be called at 2am for a 9am case (on the weekend I assume) . This is something you can bring up to your Union ( if you have one) or jointly with all the others affected by this, to the management team as a point of huge job dissatisfaction . In this day and age, hospitals should be doing EVERYTHING in their power to make the workplace one that is a pleasure to be in where the lives and time off and work/life balance of the staff are placed in high priority. If this continues to be a problem, vote with you feet. Many hundreds of hospitals are desperate for good staff and will treat you better elsewhere.