On Call hours?? Too much!

[HappyKYRN]

Does your facility require you to take call hours? We used to be obligated to take 3 12-hour call shifts per month. We work dayshift in an outpatient surgery area but when there are urgent or emergent cases at night we get called in and sometimes work most of the night then work the next day too. (They try to be nice and let us go home early If we've worked all night but it's still really hard on us!)

So anyway, some things have changed lately and now it looks like we are going to be required to work 6 12-hr call shifts per month! That's just too much, in my book! We have the potential of working 6 night shifts a month along with our Monday thru Friday, 40 hour a week job.

Is it commonplace for nurses to be on call that much? I think it's crazy and intend to start job hunting immediately.

[cleback]

Yikes. I wouldn't take a job like that. Not sure if it's common.

[That Guy, BSN, RN, EMT-B]

I worked in Cath lab and we would do 8 call shifts a month. It wasn't that bad though. My bank account loved it too.

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

Heck, I'd kill for only 6 call shifts per month. I take at least four 16 hour call shifts per two week pay period plus every fourth weekend from end of shift Friday to start of shift Monday (64 hours straight). If you aren't happy with the change, then you can look elsewhere. However, working surgery does tend to come with call unless you go to a job that absolutely doesn't do emergency surgery or after-hours surgery.

[Thesleepdeprivedmom]

Worked in a GI lab until two weeks ago. I worked Monday - Friday 0800-1630 and took 11 days of call, three of which had to be weekend, per 28 day schedule cycle. I'm back on the Bariatric Surgical Unit I worked for the 4 years prior to that as an inpatient bedside RN now doing my three 12's per week. Thanks, but no thanks. There are limits to what reasonable people should be expected to accept, and that kind of call was above and beyond. Ultimately, you have to make the best decision for yourself and your family. I waited for an opening, applied, transferred back in with a more than generous notice. No bridges burnt. I built onto my resume, but in hindsight, I'll never get that year back with my family, or the over 40% of time I spent away from home on call at the hospital for time and a half pay.