Ob call requirements

I work in L&D as an RN. We are required to sign up for 12 hours of call per month. We get paid a small amount for being on call and get callback pay (time and a half) if we get called in. My department is larger than yours and has more staff so we usually have around the clock call coverage. There are times when no one is on call and they call people to come in, too. I don't think it's legal to not pay you if you're on call. Plus, being on call, even as part of a team doesn't appeal to me.

I work in an LDR that does about 200 deliveries a month. We do not have a required call log. We are now using texting to try to get help. Usually there is someone to come in, but there are times there is not someone and we have to just struggle through (scary right). Weekends are hard to get people to come in to help! I think a call schedule is coming..... We do not have a lot of per diem staff so it is getting harder!!

I worked in a unit that you had to take 12 hours of on call a month. (That could be 4 hour shifts or 8 hour shifts).

We do get mandated occasionally and we do get $3.00 an hour of on call pay. We do not get extra when we are called in, just regular pay.

Hope this helps!! Good luck

Hmmm. You have a lot of space for your deliveries/month. Why is that? Are your labor nurses and M/B nurses crosstrained to both units and can flip flop as needed? Do you have call for a just in case kind of scenario? Are your call days above and beyond your regular shifts? Is your core staff of 2 just for labor and delivery or all of your units?

We pay call time and time and a half when called in.

We get a whopping $2/hr to be on call. It should be paid because you have to be ready to go at anytime.

When I worked in a large hospital we took 10 call slots every 4 weeks. We always had two people on call per four hour block. Now I work in a rural hospital and we only have 1-10 deliveries a month (crazy, I know!). We do not take any call. They call all of our staff if we need help. If no one will come in, they divert our patients to another hospital. Not the best solution, but when you only staff one RN per shift and only have 4 full time nurses total for the unit, it's what we have to do.

One more thing, I would look into the legality of being on-call and not getting paid. I'm not sure that they can do that.

Hmmm. You have a lot of space for your deliveries/month. Why is that? Are your labor nurses and M/B nurses crosstrained to both units and can flip flop as needed? Do you have call for a just in case kind of scenario? Are your call days above and beyond your regular shifts? Is your core staff of 2 just for labor and delivery or all of your units?

We pay call time and time and a half when called in.

After I read back, it does seem like we have a lot of space. Our numbers have actually increased. Last month we had 92 deliveries! Yes, most of our LH nurses are cross trained to MB and newborn nsy. The "call team" is the "just in case scenerio". We already have to take 24 hours of call per month above and beyond our regular shifts to make our core of 3 LH nurses. And sometimes our "oncall" person is a MB only nurse!! They can float but not take a LH pt load. Our core is 3 LH, 2MB, 2 NICU

Not an OB nurse, but pretty sure that if you are actually on call, they have to pay you for that.

We are thinking the same thing. Some one is supposed to discuss this with HR. I wanted to try to get other ideas to remedy this situation before my work life overtakes my home life!! Lol

I said that because I have 12 LDR beds and have 200+ deliveries a month.

Seems to me that your core goal is a good thing. You need to hire to meet that instead of all that overtime. Thats a budget buster right there. The just in case is always going to be there, no matter what you do or have. You just have to cross your fingers some days. I know that isn't what you want to hear, but its what happens. EVERYWHERE.

We are required to do one or two on call shifts per schedule (4 weeks). We are payed $4/hr when we are at home and if we get called in, we get time and a half pay.