What hospitals don't take "call" and how does it work?

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Jun 4, 2015

I don't quite understand your question, but I do not take call at my place of employment (a specialty post-acute hospital).

Your question is immensely broad. Perhaps you could narrow it down to hospitals in a specific city or state. Good luck to you!

loriangel14, RN · Jun 4, 2015

What do you mean by "taking call"?

Pepper The Cat, BSN, RN · Jun 4, 2015

If you don't want to be " on call " , don't accept a jib that requires you to be on call.

~PedsRN~, BSN, RN · Jun 4, 2015

Most hospitals have at least a few departments that are required to take call. IE - emergency departments, etc. I do not have to take call on my current position. :)

Horseshoe, BSN, RN · Jun 4, 2015

What hospitals don't take "call" and how does it work?

Most if not all hospitals have departments with employees who must be "on call." This means that you are assigned a particular time period when you must be easily reached and able to come to work on a moment's notice (it might be defined with a time frame such as 30 minutes or something like that). You might be paid for having to be available while on call, but I've heard of people saying they are given no benefits at all for this.

Departments where one might be on call could be cardiac cath lab, maybe labor and delivery in hospitals who don't constantly have OB patients, nuclear medicine, ER, etc.

For the most part, taking call is not a widespread requirement, so it's not likely you would feel compelled to take such a role, unless you have your heart set on working somewhere where call is mandatory at intervals. I would have loved to work in the cardiac cath lab, but with children and my personal situation, it was not feasible, so I never got to realize that dream.

psu_213, BSN, RN · Jun 4, 2015

Most hospitals have at least a few departments that are required to take call. IE - emergency departments, etc. I do not have to take call on my current position. :)

My ED does not have any on call nurses. In my hospital, cath lab has on call nurses on off timesâ€¦GI lab and OR might also have nurses on call (?). Other departments, like MRI and US, have on call techs during the off hours. Some units may have an on call nurse for weekends and/or nights, but, I believe, call time is optional there and that nurse gets paid, albeit a small amount, for carrying the beeper.

KelRN215, BSN, RN · Jun 4, 2015

I'd be VERY surprised if there was a hospital out there that didn't utilize on call at all. If the hospital has an OR, there must be an on call team after hours. When I worked in the hospital, the OR, the PACU and IR all definitely had on-call nurses. The floors didn't because they were staffed for full census and had nursing ATC. The OR and the PACU don't routinely schedule overnight nurses because surgeries are not routinely done overnight.

Horseshoe, BSN, RN · Jun 4, 2015

Yes on OR! Forgot about them.

CRNAs talk a lot about having to be on call. Getting woken up at 2am to come in and do a case is one thing. It's another thing altogether when you have to be back at the hospital at 7am to start your normal shift after having come in during the night. Cath lab nurses would bemoan that as well. I couldn't imagine being able to function after getting up and coming in during the middle of the night, so my hat's off to them.