24/7 365 on- call requirement with no pay- Privia Health

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Hello,

I am a Registered Nurse who recently took a new position with Privia Health, a health care organization with headquarters in Arlington VA. I took a position as a Nurse Care Manager after interviewing with what seemed like a wonderful team with an awesome outlook on healthcare! Now I am feeling like I've been duped. :sorry:

Now, yesterday, I was told that I needed to be on-call continuously during non business hours and on the weekend. :banghead: Yes, we are talking if a patient should call me I must be potentially available to take this call and advice the patient on what care should be given- should the patient go to the hospital? Should they go to the Urgent Care? Should I help them contact the doctor? Whatever is needed for this patient in an emergency.

It would be really be awesome if I was able to help patients all the time, but I am feeling like this is just not possible. They haven't made any allowance for sleeping time, what to do if I know I won't be able to answer during a time, what to do if my phone dies, what to do if I'm in an area with no service, what to do if I have had a glass of wine- or is that not allowed? I would think not! Worst of all, none of this time is paid.

A coworker was asking yesterday how long she had to call back a patient during on-call hours- and our manager would not even answer that.

My reason for writing in is two fold.

(1) Any legal/ethical/safety advice? What can I do to protect my license? Is this practice even legal?

(2) I really just want to warn anyone who might be an RN looking at a position with this company what they're getting in to. I have kids, and I am in school- this is really not the position for me. :no:

Thank you!

EthicalRN2

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Specializes in retired LTC.

Just got around to reading this - by any chance did you get any written job description or contract that detailed this obligation?

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Thanks for your reply. When I signed my contract it said nothing about needing to do on call hours, and I wasn't told about it. My job description at time of hire didn't say anything about them either.

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How is being on call going? How do you like your job? I'm interested in a care manager position with the company.

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