On Call

donmomofnine · Mar 5, 2005

My nurse management team takes call rotation for a week at a time. That team consists of me, primary care coordinator, RNAC, informatics nurse, admissions/infection control nurse. We carry the on call phone for a week. We are responsible to answer staff questions, do event reports if needed on the weekend. Once in a blue moon, if there is a callout that cannot be replaced, we fill in on the floor for a shift. We are paid $150 for the week of call. If we come in for a shift we get eight hours off of comp. time. They used to get $150 a week for answering the phone and good old me got stuck coming in to work on the floor. Then I realized, hey I can change this! I figured if I was the one who always had to come in, I would take call (and the money) all of the time. This has been a good plan and working well. I say we each end up working the floor about once every three months, so that's not so bad!:)

LPN1974, LPN · Mar 5, 2005

RN's at my facility are the one only ones who take call, LPNs never take call.

The RNs might have to come out at night, as we do not have a nurse on campus from 12mn until 4:30am, so if someone needs something she might have to come. They only get paid for their time when they arrive and clock in.

I would not like that. I think you should get paid from the phone call until the time you get back home. And if the phone call is for advice only, I think a minimum time of at least 30 minutes would be appropriate, because they got WOKE up and now have to get BACK to sleep. Just MHO. Better them than me. lol

debRN0417 · Mar 6, 2005

On call at my facility goes like this: There is the ADON, 2 Unit Managers, Wound care Nurse and MDS nurse. They take call once during the week and then every 4th weekend , or once a month. The ADON takes call every other weekend because she covers for the DON because the DON is on Administrative call every day. We do not get paid for taking call. If we have to come in to fill a shift we may get comp time, those of us who are salaried, those who are hourly of course, get paid for the time that they are there. We do not get extra pay to carry the phone.

CapeCodMermaid, RN · Mar 6, 2005

We were told we were going to get between $100 and $150 to be on call and time and a half IF we have to go in to the building. This is the first weekend we've done this and of course on Friday we had an agency nurse missing in action so I had to stay....14 hour day....Personally, I don't mind them calling me to ask me a question, and I don't mind going in to be a presence in the building for support, but I HATE having to do the med pass. I do it so infrequently it takes me 2 times longer than anyone else(oh wait, maybe it's because I do it by the book )

On a different topic- how many of all y'all are salaried? The only salaried ones in my facility are the DON and the ED...the rest of us are hourly workers. I've been salaried before and NEVER seemed to only work my 40 hours.

donmomofnine · Mar 6, 2005

All of the people I named for my on call team are also the salaried staff. I have worked forty hours a week for the last year, except for maybe four weeks.

LPN1974, LPN · Mar 6, 2005

(oh wait, maybe it's because I do it by the book )
.

Now wait a minute. I take exception to your above comment. :stone

Do you think you are the only one to do it by the book?

I do it by the book, too, and it takes me a long time.

Doing it by the book also increases the time of the med pass but not the time frame, but state regulations still don't give you anymore time.

We still have an hour before and an hour after.

So my DON had to set up our times for our MR/DDS homes this way, 4 homes get their meds at 7-11-3-7 and 4 homes get theirs 8-12-4-8, to give the nurses more time.

That way we are still in compliance.

CapeCodMermaid, RN · Mar 6, 2005

I didn't say I was the ONLY one who does it by the book, but I have seen the other nurses on this floor cut more than one corner to get their meds out.

Antikigirl, ASN, RN · Mar 7, 2005

In my state you HAVE to be paid for the full time you are ON CALL because being on call limits your personal time so that you have to stay by a phone and not do things you normally do on time off! That is why many facilities pay nurses salaries now...low ones, but they get you then on the on call bit!

I worked at a geri psych home, and was on call 24/7 unless I actually scheduled a day off!!!! I was paid salary so no matter what I had to drop whatever I was doing and go rushing over there. This was not my thing, and left that organization because despite saying "hey, I need a day off too!" they just didn't get it...told me "well we pay you salary...". Uhhhhhgggggg.

If it was only one day a week or even 2 weeks..ehhhh may consider it since I am part time, but if I was full time...forget it! I would refuse and find work elsewhere because I know what it is like to loose your off time to on call and I was so miserable I won't put myself through it again!

debRN0417 · Mar 7, 2005

We were told we were going to get between $100 and $150 to be on call and time and a half IF we have to go in to the building. This is the first weekend we've done this and of course on Friday we had an agency nurse missing in action so I had to stay....14 hour day....Personally, I don't mind them calling me to ask me a question, and I don't mind going in to be a presence in the building for support, but I HATE having to do the med pass. I do it so infrequently it takes me 2 times longer than anyone else(oh wait, maybe it's because I do it by the book )
On a different topic- how many of all y'all are salaried? The only salaried ones in my facility are the DON and the ED...the rest of us are hourly workers. I've been salaried before and NEVER seemed to only work my 40 hours.

DON, ADON, Unit Managers Salaried...the rest are hourly. I have yet to work forty hours a week. I average a 57 hour week....that is when I'm lucky.

vortex72 · Mar 8, 2005

I'm on call for acute dialysis.

Our call pay is $2/hour. This doesnt sound like much but you get paid that every hour of every day you are on call. If you are on call 1 week a month, thats an extra $336 for the week you took call not counting whatever you got paid for working.

I take continuous call for a hospital that doesnt have many unexpected emergencies. I rarely get called in unexpectedly but I have worked 7 days a week when its busy. I will make 16,000 this year just from my call pay for that job. My gross should approach 100k

nursetootsie · Mar 12, 2005

We just started an ON CALL system at my facility. Nurse managers and charge nurses will be on call once every 8 weeks. Do any of you have on call, and are you paid for your time?

I am a nurse manager (RCM/Unit Manager) and take call every 6 weeks. I don't get paid for it, unless I actually go in to the facility and clock in. I am also responsible for the unit throughout the week. The last facility I worked at paid a flat rate of 150.00 for weekend call. No such deal here. Our admin says we get paid the "big bucks" and it's all figured in.... hmmm.... :uhoh21: