Missed a call for an on-call shift

[BabyLady]

It's been awhile since I have posted.

I have always prided myself in being professional and I make myself available to work as much as possible.

I work the night shift and I am one of those people that can go to bed that night after sleeping all day.

I was on call tonight...and they made a really big deal before I left the previous night to fully expect to work tonight at 6:00 because they were on high census.

I slept all day, washed my uniforms, got up, took a shower, fully expecting to work.

It came 6:00 ....no phone call...so I called them, and they decided to "work with the staff that they had" which meant that a couple of nurses probably got higher assignments than normal.

I was disappointed because I needed the money.

So at 10:30...I went to bed.

At 11:00...they called.

Guess what? I have a Blackberry and I got up around 3:00 a.m. and checked my phone for e-mails and discovered that I had 3 missed calls...I ALWAYS hear my phone ring.

So I tried to call from my house phone and discovered that my ringtones were not working.

I called work immediately, offered to come in right then, they ended up calling someone else in for me....and I know darn good and well that several of my coworkers probably got woke up in the middle of the night trying to get someone to cover for me.

I cannot tell you how embarrassed I was....what makes it worse is that this is the SECOND time I have missed a call from work because my Blackberry ringtones suddenly stopped working and required the phone to be rebooted in order to get them to work.

The only reason my work doesn't have my house phone number is that the clericals that work the day shift think NOTHING of calling night shift people at 11:00 am., 1:00 pm...whatever...for non-emergent reasons..even if you are already scheduled that night...calls that can easily wait another 3 to 4 hours.

It's hard enough to sleep during the day...so when I get woke up, I'm up. I can't get back to sleep and have to work that night severely sleep deprived which isn't safe.

I called and offered to come in on the day shift if they needed help...charge nurse wasn't exactly nice about it.

Now I can't get back to sleep because there is nothing that I hate worse than looking like an idiot at work and now I'm worried about getting in trouble on Monday with my manager...which I fully expect to happen because they see this no different than a no-call, no show.

Those of you that have experience on the night shift much longer than me....how does your hospital handle these? Is some sympathy given? Or do they not care that sometimes technology fails.

I would love to go to my cell phone company tomorrow and get a different phone, but I am 8 months from a contract ending and it would cost me over $200 to make the change.

Any advice and encouragement would be greatly appreciated.

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

Our policy is first time unavailable for call is one day suspension, second is three days, third is termination, no matter the reason. However, we do have a limited number of pagers that can be signed out, giving another way of contacting us.

[tvccrn, ASN, RN]

First you say..."I work the night shift and I am one of those people that can go to bed that night after sleeping all day."

Then "...so when I get woke up, I'm up."

Which is it?

And, "...I ALWAYS hear my phone ring."

Yet, "what makes it worse is that this is the SECOND time I have missed a call from work because my Blackberry ringtones suddenly stopped working and required the phone to be rebooted in order to get them to work."

I work nights myself, so I do know what it's like getting woke up during the day, so I could see that part if you didn't brag earlier about sleeping all day and then going to bed again that night. Also, if you know that there is a problem with your cell and decline to give the source of your livelihood a home number then you shouldn't be taking call.

Sorry to sound harsh, but I have been one of the ones called in the middle of the night (waking up two little ones) to cover for someone wh0o was on call that didn't hear their cell. Not fun at all.

[CFitzRN, ADN]

" I think that is part of being a nurse, being on call 24 hours a day with or without sleep."

Really? Why, are we superhuman? That comment seems utterly ridiculous to me. Medical care providers should stop deluding themselves into thinking they are so indispensible (there are others to choose from) and so uber-self-important that we should somehow be immune to the physical needs of every other human being and still be able to work miracles. The truth is, we have lives in our hands, and we bloody-well need to have sleep so as not to be dangerous practitioners. I would far rather have a practitioner who is well-rested taking care of my baby, or other family or loved one, than some self-important superman (or woman) who thinks they are above the need for sleep.

[BabyLady, BSN, RN]

First you say..."I work the night shift and I am one of those people that can go to bed that night after sleeping all day."

Then "...so when I get woke up, I'm up."

Which is it?

And, "...I ALWAYS hear my phone ring."

Yet, "what makes it worse is that this is the SECOND time I have missed a call from work because my Blackberry ringtones suddenly stopped working and required the phone to be rebooted in order to get them to work."

I work nights myself, so I do know what it's like getting woke up during the day, so I could see that part if you didn't brag earlier about sleeping all day and then going to bed again that night. Also, if you know that there is a problem with your cell and decline to give the source of your livelihood a home number then you shouldn't be taking call.

Sorry to sound harsh, but I have been one of the ones called in the middle of the night (waking up two little ones) to cover for someone wh0o was on call that didn't hear their cell. Not fun at all.

I'm assuming that in nursing school that you learned about circadian rhythm.

That is why I can go to sleep easily AT NIGHT vs back to sleep when I'm woke up during the DAYTIME.

Your body is naturally programmed to sleep when it's dark and to wake up during the day..that is why studies show that people who work the night shift don't live as long and have more health problems than those that work the day shift.

The fact that my house is on a major highway (which is why my rent is cheap...nothing I can do about that)...doesn't help the matter any...traffic tends to run fairly regular during the day, very little at night...thus, why I'm able to sleep at night because I don't hear the traffic whiz.

Keep in mind that if work ONLY called me during the day for true, emergent calls, I would have NO PROBLEM giving them my home number.

But when I get pure BS calls during the day, asking me questions that can easily wait until after 3:00...or even worse, calling me during the day to ask me if I can pick up a shift that night when I am ALREADY scheduled to work because someone is too lazy to check the schedule before they call, really burns me up.

Keep in mind that it wasn't the fact that my phone rang and I was in too deep a sleep to hear it...the ringer feature randomly ceased to function. Anytime I am on call I ALWAYS sleep with the phone no more than 2 feet from my pillow so I can be sure to hear it.

Another reason I don't like missing on-call shifts is because I cannot AFFORD to miss out on the overtime pay that comes with it.

Trust me, no one is more angry about missing that shift than me.

[Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN]

I agree that I don't want to keep using technical difficulties as a reason for not being able to be reached.

Especially since after a couple missed calls, that excuse isn't going to hold water with them anymore. They'll doubt whether you are really having phone problems because from what they're seeing, your phone seems to go out of service only when you're on call and yet (in their view) you won't do anything about it.

So, if you want to do something about this before it bites you in the rear:

• Give them your home phone number for when you're on call. And simply don't answer it if you see your job on the caller ID but you're not on call, or
  
• Call your phone's technical support to find out what the problem is with the ringtones and try to get it fixed, or
  
• If you're using custom ringtones, set the ringer for your job back to one of the basic ones that comes with Blackberry so it's less likely to crap out on you when you need it, or
  
• Get a new phone
  

Good luck getting things worked out.

[Bella'sMyBaby]

:dzed:BabyLady,

There's a reason that Night Shift is called "The Graveyard Shift."

LOL!!!!!!!!

:lol2::lol2::lol2::lol2::lol2::lol2:

[kcochrane]

I'm going to call my cell phone carrier and see if they'll do something for me...I have been a customer of theirs for 6 years and have never asked them to cut me a favor for anything.

We'll see.

I agree that I don't want to keep using technical difficulties as a reason for not being able to be reached.

However, the only people that have my home phone is just a couple of very close friends and my family.

I have elderly parents so they need to have a number where I can be reached at 24/7 in case of an emergency...that is the reason for my home phone.

If they won't do anything for you..try ebay for a new-used phone. I've had good luck getting different phones. Or you could buy a cheap trac phone just for on call. I totally understand the stupid calls in the middle of the day when they know you work nights.

[Katie5]

If you're on call,m I believe that should be for the whole duration of your shift.You should also let them have your home phone. All the rest are just excuses.

[cherrybreeze, ADN, RN]

I don't believe that in nursing, part of our job is being on call "24 hours a day."

However, it is our job to be on call when we are placed on call.

I am surprised by all the responses that say it's shouldn't be an issue because you called earlier in the night. To me, well...big deal. They didn't need you then, but they needed you when they called. If they could decide at the start of a shift that they didn't need you all night, you wouldn't have been on call, you'd have been called OFF.

I also disagree with whoever said, "they won't fire you over it." It may sound harsh, but yes, they could fire you for that. No call no show is a terminable offense in some places.

Suck it up and get a new phone, if you want to keep your job. I do honestly find it strange that it's only been when you're on call that your phone suddenly stops working....my job has my home and cell numbers. If I'm not on call, and they call my house, I don't answer. You can turn your ringer off when you go to bed and you're not on call, and that'll fix being woken up at stupid times with stupid questions. Simple.

[BabyLady, BSN, RN]

If you're on call,m I believe that should be for the whole duration of your shift.You should also let them have your home phone. All the rest are just excuses.

As I said in my previous posts....the only reason work doesn't have my home number is to keep me from getting woke up in the middle of the day for non-emergent reasons.

Good reason to call: We need a shift picked up and can't wait until 3:00 to see who can come in.

Another good reason to call: When you accidently take home the narc keys....even though the charge nurse is supposed to be taking these up at the end of the shift.

I don't mind taking these calls during the day.

Stupid reason to call: "Can you work tonight?" when I'm already scheduled.

Even more stupid reasons, especially since we have e-mail: Calling regarding my attendance at classes, asking if I can volunteer for something days in advance, asking if such and such paperwork was completed, etc....these are not emergent calls, can be handled after 3:00 on any given day or even better, via email which we are told that we have to check a minimum of once every 48 hours.

No one would ever think of calling a dayshift person in the middle of the night for anything but a necessary call...but for some reason, I have discovered that if you work night shift, you don't get the same courtesy.

[cherrybreeze, ADN, RN]

As I said in my previous posts....the only reason work doesn't have my home number is to keep me from getting woke up in the middle of the day for non-emergent reasons.

Good reason to call: We need a shift picked up and can't wait until 3:00 to see who can come in.

Another good reason to call: When you accidently take home the narc keys....even though the charge nurse is supposed to be taking these up at the end of the shift.

I don't mind taking these calls during the day.

Stupid reason to call: "Can you work tonight?" when I'm already scheduled.

Even more stupid reasons, especially since we have e-mail: Calling regarding my attendance at classes, asking if I can volunteer for something days in advance, asking if such and such paperwork was completed, etc....these are not emergent calls, can be handled after 3:00 on any given day or even better, via email which we are told that we have to check a minimum of once every 48 hours.

No one would ever think of calling a dayshift person in the middle of the night for anything but a necessary call...but for some reason, I have discovered that if you work night shift, you don't get the same courtesy.

Again, when you're not on call, turn the ringer off on your home phone when sleeping during the day. Problem solved.

[BabyLady, BSN, RN]

Suck it up and get a new phone, if you want to keep your job. I do honestly find it strange that it's only been when you're on call that your phone suddenly stops working....my job has my home and cell numbers. If I'm not on call, and they call my house, I don't answer. You can turn your ringer off when you go to bed and you're not on call, and that'll fix being woken up at stupid times with stupid questions. Simple.

For your information, my Blackberry ringer has stopped working on other occasions OTHER than when I am on-call, but I have not been able to AFFFORD to break my contract and get a new phone. Food on the table takes priority.

It just happened to coincide twice when I was on-call....once I signed up for call VOLUNTARILY during a snowstorm, without even being asked to do it....the second time was last night.

So yeah, I made up this whole scenerio just so I could get some sympathy on allnurses.com.

I am an only child of elderly parents in their 80's....both of which have health problems...if something happened to them I CANNOT be unavailable for hours on end and I cannot shut off the ringer while I'm sleeping during the day because if something happened to either one of my children while they are at school there is no one else that can be called....I had to go pick up my daughter just this past Friday because she had a 103 fever at 10:30 a.m.

I had a coworker that does this...she is a single mother and a police officer showed up at her house because she shut off her phone during the day, her kid got sick at school and she didn't answer the phone...she was told that a second incident would get her a CPS referral by the police officer.

Seems like it would be easier to train clerical staff to think a little before they start calling people and take into consideration the time of day they call...if that were the case, they would have had my home phone number the day it was connected....for some reason, no one is making that argument.

The only good suggestion I have got so far is to get a prepaid phone...no contract required, and use that for on-call so I can leave it off at other times.