Just a vent....oncall nurse calls me at night

[chenoaspirit, ASN, RN]

My manager admitted a patient who I would be case manager of. I hadnt seen the patient, nor had I received any info on him yet. The oncall nurse calls me and tells me that this patient called her and that I need to contact him. This happened at 9:00 at night, I have a sick child and I had paperwork all around me I was working on. She expected me to make the visit. I called my manager to get some info on him, but I decided that it wasnt my place to take care of it...my manager agreed with me.

When Im on call, I take care of whatever comes up, its my place to do so. Thats the entire point of being on call. This oncall nurse EXPECTED me to take care of it when SHE was on call. I didnt go, but neither did she! She told him to go to the ER (his f/c was stopped up). I found out today this is what happened. The ER taught the wife how to irrigate it.

This nurse is now mad at me, I can tell by her attitude. If I visited every time one of my patients called, I would never be off work. Thats why we take turns being on call, so we can each have some time to forget about work.

Im getting sick of home health, I really am. I truely feel like Im never "off" work. Im thinking of finding a different path in nursing.

[caliotter3]

Turning your phone off or using caller ID to screen your calls works wonders. That is how you stay off when you are supposed to be off.

[RNRutRO]

I think that we ALL get to the point that you are at. I think you were right in what you told the on-call nurse. Maybe she has a different side~like she's not comfortable with catheter care? Didn't have the supplies? Already talked the wife through how to flush? Who knows. We all hate getting those calls at 9PM at night! I guess it depends on your agency and what they say you have to do.

Sounds like you're under a lot of stress too. Sick little one, paperwork, and not feeling your best, I'm suprised you answered your phone! Take a couple of days and enjoy life--NO CALLS. If your patient's have your number, change your message to say "I'm sorry, I'm not available, please call the office and the nurse on-call will contact you"

We are caring people. But we forget to take care of ourselves. Hope your day gets better!

[KateRN1]

We have a situation called "admin call," whereby an administrator takes the initial call from the service and is then only supposed to call the on-call RN if a visit needs to be made. A couple days ago, the admin person called me at nearly 2230--woke me from a sound sleep--to tell me that a patient wanted to change his "appointment" time. WTH? Was there some reason that couldn't wait until 8am?

[jnette, ASN, EMT-I]

We have a situation called "admin call," whereby an administrator takes the initial call from the service and is then only supposed to call the on-call RN if a visit needs to be made. A couple days ago, the admin person called me at nearly 2230--woke me from a sound sleep--to tell me that a patient wanted to change his "appointment" time. WTH? Was there some reason that couldn't wait until 8am?

That's just insane and totally uncalled for. We ALWAYS tell our patients on the day of SIGN UP when we explain the on call policy to them that anything regarding schedule changes, etc. are to be done during BUSINESS hours, that ONLY legitimate "nursing care needed" calls are to be made after hours.

To think that admin would do this just boggles my mind !!!