On-call position

[bth44]

Hi everyone. I'm a new grad who's been working as a RN since August, and I was hired for an on-call position. My question is this: since I was hired as on-call, should I feel guilty about going out of town when I'm not scheduled? I was working full-time on all shifts to orient to my new role. After my orientation was complete, I requested time off earlier this month to go on a two-week vacation and was granted that time. Now, for the month of December, I was placed on the schedule for nine 8-hour shifts, which I feel fine about. I wasn't expecting to be guaranteed that much work; I expected to be called in on short notice almost all the time. The last ten days of December I'm not scheduled. I would LOVE to fly back east and spend that last week with my boyfriend. My friends think, that since I'm not scheduled to work, I should be able to go do whatever I want with my free time. My parents think that maybe I should forget all about going out of town; I've been unavailable to be called into to work on short notice most of this month, and if I make myself unavailable, I'll eventually never get called in. But what do all of you think?

[ratchit]

You're a per diem. Everywhere I have worked that meant you had the right to say "I am available these days but not these days." Once the schedule is out, they shouldn't be adding you in without asking you, either.

I think you're in the clear to go do whatever the heck you want. :) You're not leaving anyone short handed, you're not calling out sick... They might not have scheduled you because a) the FT and PT staff have to be assigned to the right # of holidays for it to be fair and b) they are expecting the hospital census to drop since very few people have elective procedures this time of year.

I would suggest that you thank the scheduler for such a wonderful chance to head home- let a couple key people know that you're taking the opportunity to head home for a few days but you're available to pick up extra shifts on short notice before and after your trip, then go have fun!

[akcarmean, LPN]

I agree I work per-diem and they always call and ask before I am scheduled. Go ahead and go out of town. If they wanted you to work they would have scheduled you. It's the holidays for goodness sakes. GO and have a good time. Just call them and say since I am not scheduled I have made plans to be out of town. I will be available for calls before and after my trip.

Angelia