mandatory call time

TiffyRN, BSN, PhD · Jul 21, 2004

It's all individual to each hospital.

My husband and I work two different hospitals that are under the same big umbrella organization. The policies are different at both hospitals for the same kind of unit. Mine requires you to rotate cancelling/put on call once they've cancelled all the agency, overtime and per diem/PRN shifts. They do have to give you the option of working in some other area of the hospital (of their choosing/need). Course no one from NICU wants to risk working anywhere else in the hospital, it happens sometimes but most of my co-workers would freak out if asked to work with adults (I wouldn't, but I used to work with adults).

Where my husband works, no one can be cancelled if they don't want to be. It's kinda goofy cause they have recently had as many as 7 nurses there for about 8 infants. I'm sure it will change soon when someone figures up that budget. But the point is. . .

These are individual hospital policies, and unless you have some union going to bat for you (which honestly I know NOTHING about unions so I may be wrong) it's up to you and your fellow nurses to work something out with your individual hospital. Where my husband works; the policy used to be more like where I work but due to the efforts of him and some co-workers rocking the boat, things changed.

DANRN2000 · Jul 21, 2004

It's all individual to each hospital.
My husband and I work two different hospitals that are under the same big umbrella organization. The policies are different at both hospitals for the same kind of unit. Mine requires you to rotate cancelling/put on call once they've cancelled all the agency, overtime and per diem/PRN shifts. They do have to give you the option of working in some other area of the hospital (of their choosing/need). Course no one from NICU wants to risk working anywhere else in the hospital, it happens sometimes but most of my co-workers would freak out if asked to work with adults (I wouldn't, but I used to work with adults).
Where my husband works, no one can be cancelled if they don't want to be. It's kinda goofy cause they have recently had as many as 7 nurses there for about 8 infants. I'm sure it will change soon when someone figures up that budget. But the point is. . .
These are individual hospital policies, and unless you have some union going to bat for you (which honestly I know NOTHING about unions so I may be wrong) it's up to you and your fellow nurses to work something out with your individual hospital. Where my husband works; the policy used to be more like where I work but due to the efforts of him and some co-workers rocking the boat, things changed.

Thanks for your insight TiffyRN. Their driving away good RNs with all the call time. We're a non-union hospital and raising a fuss can be quite tricky. I spoke with many of my coworkers and told them "we are in control here" not management. Without nurses you can't run a hospital. We are begining to feel like a big pool of "per diems." I'll keep you posted on our progress.

Thanks Dan

teeituptom, BSN, RN · Aug 5, 2004

Hello-
Any other nurses required to sit at home by the telephone for $2.50/hr during times of low census? We are averaging 12-16hrs of call time per week for past year! Allowed to burn holiday and vacation time to supplement but many of us are at a zreo balance because of low census. Also- we have per diems and part time help on the schedule. How can we convince management that full timers who've had call time be allowed to bump them from shifts?
Dan

Go work elsewhere, I would

Repat · Aug 5, 2004

We are "budgeted", meaning we get a day without pay (unless we want to use our vacation time), and if we work 12 hours, we are dropped for eight, without call pay. Where I used to work (another hospital, same company), we could be dropped for four hours, so we had to sit by the phone to see if they were going to call us in at 11:00 and 3:00. It's a bad deal. Also hate being floated, which has happened alot lately.

DANRN2000 · Aug 6, 2004

Go work elsewhere, I would

It's an option. Tough to leave a place after 17 years!

tntrn, ASN, RN · Aug 6, 2004

On low census days, a nurse is not mandated to be on/call where I work. (Some part-timers, or perdiems may be able to pick up an agency shift on these days, and that's why we've fought hard to keep that in our contract.)

Fulltimers have a cap as to how many hours of low/census they can be allotted per pay period. On/call pay is $2.75 an hour; then time and a half if you get called in with a 3-hour minimum. In just the past few years did per diems become included in that one. (Guess how many per diems would take call before that?)

Full-timers and part-timers can bump per diems but only if they have not worked their FTE's due to low-census. If they request it then that doesn't apply. In our department I don't recall ever having been bumped by another nurse for that reason and I've been per diem there for 14 years.

Our docs have been throwing temper tantrums because we've asked them to even out their inductions over the entire week instead of clumping them in 1 or 2 days. When told that on the slow days, nurses had to stay at home at no pay, they said, "You must be mistaken!" So much for being observant. So educate your docs, too, and if the way they schedule things plays into this, see about trying to get management (and of course that's another uphill battle) to back you up.