OR Nursing Call Response

resqbug · Mar 3, 2015

Mapquest can be off by a little, but you would want to make sure to add in some time to allow for throwing your shoes on and getting out the door and also getting parked and walking into the building. Traffic and weather could also be considerations. I would ask them if the 30 min. is flexible at all.

brillohead, ADN, RN · Mar 4, 2015

Also, how often are you expected to be on-call?

If it's a rare event (two nights a month, say), do they have facilities for you to remain on-site during your call? And if so, would you be willing to stay at the hospital during that time? (is the job overall worth it to you to make that sacrifice)

Editorial Team / Admin · Mar 4, 2015

Depends on a lot of things: how much over, strictness of the direct supervisor (mine is fairly lenient for up to about 5 minutes unless it's a habit), critical status of the case, and so on.

Instead of relying on Mapquest, try timing the drive yourself during various times of day (driving at midnight is a heck of a lot different than driving at rush hour). Mapquest tells me it takes 25 minutes to get from my house to my workplace- however, it sticks to major, numbered routes. Using some of the other, slightly less traveled roads, I can get into our parking lot within 10 minutes.

While I don't think that's a deal breaker as to whether to take the job or not, I really think you should consider ability to stay closer- either in facilities provided by the hospital or a hotel room or a coworker or (you get the idea- there's a few options out there). And definitely consider time to wake up, get dressed, and get to the car- there's a bit more than just drive time involved.

MunoRN, RN · Mar 4, 2015

I would make sure to clarify that with them. For cath lab on-call I have 30 minutes, but that is from when the page goes out to when I'm in the cath lab, lead on and ready to go. I live about 10 minutes from hospital and I don't usually end up with much time to spare.