Mandatory "on-call" scheduling

[IttyBittyBabyRN]

Due to our having some short staffed days on our unit schedule, or manager has implemented a "mandatory on-call" policy. While our unit is in no way nearing a staffing crisis, I work in a unit where you NEVER take care of more than three babies. Those who have never worked elsewhere PANIC if it is suggested...........anyway, everyone in the unit, including part time and supplemental positions, are required to sign up for the same number of extra shifts. Even if you voluntarily signed up during the initial scheduling period for more hours than your position requires, you are expected to do the same amount of on call time. So a full time nurse who, say, voluntarily signed up for 48 hours each week, is expected to add on additional on call time as "extra.". Our manager put out the list of days that may be somewhat short, and everyone has to grapple for the paper and try to find two shifts to sign up for. No seniority.......no "I'm already working a ton of extra, so I'll go last"......nothing. You call two hours before the shift to find out if you are needed. Horrible for a night person, because obviously if you

work the night before and then are on call you have to sleep all day "just in case.". Is anyone else dealing with this or are we just in management hell????

[nicurn09]

Is your mandatory on call just to cover the staffing shortage or is it also to cover transports, call-ins, etc. We have always had mandatory on-call to cover transports and call-ins. Regardless of how many hours you are scheduled we have had to cover at least one on-call shift per month. We typically staff our short shifts by the manager, or charge nurse calling around until they find someone willing to work. Worst case scenario our charge nurse can take an easy assignment and we can just absorb it if they have to go on transport.

[NicuGal, MSN, RN]

Wow..am I glad we don't do on call. And if I were picking up a lot of extra time I certainly would stop that if they expected me to be on call too. Are you getting on call pay? If not, I'd be talking to HR about that. I think what the manager is asking isn't fair to the ones that are already working extra. In my hospital we don't have mandatory anything thanks to Magnet and our Nurse Senate! Do you have anyone you can run all this by?

[NICU_babyRN, BSN, RN]

Talk to your HR or Departament for scheduling guidelines regarding on-call. don't sign up for more hours than what you are required to have and yes, most places do on-call shift.

I have to take at least one 12hr call/month. We have a large staff so it's not much to ask for but it is indeed a required on-call! Nurses who work <.6 don do on-call. those who ecmo call also>

[babyNP., APRN]

Wow, yeah, we don't have any of that. We'll have the other ICU RNs float over to our unit and we have a team of people who float between all the ICUs as their job, plus a lot of people voluntarily sign up for over-time. If things get really short, then the critical care director can put out bonuses for people who will come in. And it's very rare that we have NICU travelers on the unit.

[mgturtle]

We do mandatory on-call in our unit between October-April. This is mainly to cover the RSV surge that hits the rest of the hospital. Every nurse no matter how much they work is required to sign up for 1/month during this period. Honestly, most of the time we don't have to work. But it is still a pain like you mentioned to know that you might possibly have to work that night. Yes, you get all the on-call pay and call-in pay. I think it is a pretty common practice and something nurses just have to expect.

Just a side note - I laughed when I read your comment about the 3 patient assignment since in our unit we never have more than 2 patients.

[nicurn5]

Right now we are on mandatory call 12 hours in 2 weeks. We have had several people quit and the last few months and are trying to replace them but it is taking a while.

[blackjackA10]

Hi everyone! We use a online program to manage our oncall schedules. You can check out how it works here https://mioncall.com/howItWorks.php

[Jfp1024]

I'm a nurse manager and our institution recently adopted mandatory on call scheduling. This was adopted due to the up and down nature of our census and to ensure safe staffing levels when all other resources are unavailable. We have it set to where each nurse volunteers for the shift they want based on the days we need. So in a schedule period we assign the days we need on call nurses (high call in days). We give on call pay. We also try to make sure we rarely will need the on call. We use nurse resource pool first then voluntary overtime and last resort is to call on the on call person. As a nurse first and now a manager I understand that on call in and of itself can be a pain especially for those with children and who work nights. I try and make it as painless as possible by allowing volunteers who may want the extra shifts sign up for as many they want. I then have to fill the remaining slots by assigning nurses based on a rotation to keep it fair.

[Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP]

We do mandatory on-call 12hrs per 6-week schedule. After regular signup is finished, then they put out the remaining available shifts (and there are always enough remaining shifts to go around!) for people to sign up mandatory. If they don't need you (which is, like, never, I have always had to go in) you stay home on call for $2/hr. If you go in, you get call-back pay which is time + 1/2.

This is a very busy level IV that staffs NICU, well-newborn (which is also technically a level II), and baby nurse for all deliveries in L&D....so we've done mandatories for a very long time already. Everyone accepts it as a fact of life.

Very few people sign up extra before signing up for mandatories.