What is call for those of us not in the medical field? - YouLookFab Forum

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What is call for those of us not in the medical field?

Thistle

Veteran

Don't be angry, but I really don't know what "call" is per se.

I *think* it is when there are issues you get "called" to solve them. Like my pediatrician's office. If we ever have an emergency question, we can call anytime and talk to one of the pediatrician's in the office. They will either tell us to wait until morning and what to do until then, or send us to the ER. We had to use this once when DD had a massive allergic reaction to penicillian and was only 6 months old.

Is call similar to that for you? Or something else?

I am not meaning to be offensive, just as a corporate America desk jockey, this is something I hear but don't think I understand.

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14 replies

Latest reply was from goldenpig

Suz

(website)

Veteran

When my dad was "on call" he was in the hospital the whole weekend. (He was a pathologist.) In theory, he didn't have to be there the whole time, but in fact, he usually was. It means you have to be available.

But it's different for different specialities. It can be very demanding. You often have a very heavy caseload, esp. family physicians and psychiatrists, as Lyn can attest.

Thistle

Veteran

So really, it means you work the whole time you are on call, and you are short staffed to boot, so there is a lot more workt han usual.

Sounds awful I work in heavy manufacturing, and there would be rioting in the shop if we tried this!

annagybe

(website)

Veteran

I'm not a doctor so I have different rules. I carry a pager. I have to answer a page within 5 minutes. I have to be able to get to the hospital within an hour. So basically I really can't do much while I'm on call. I should say at least my call is not 24 hours. On weeknights it goes to 9pm and 8am to 9pm on weekends. It still can be quite grueling and sometimes I work past 9pm depending on when I get called in.

Suz

(website)

Veteran

Thistle, it does depend. Some people don't have to do what my dad did. That had to do a bit with the demands of his particular position and his own work ethic.

Some of my doc. friends carry pagers when they are on call, like Anna. And sometimes they won't be required to go in at all. Maybe they will just have phone work. But it does limit what you can do with that time, even so. If you had a child, for example, you'd have to know you had child care lined up so you could go in if required.

And most people end up working the whole time, shorter staffed. Yup. On little sleep.

rachylou

Veteran

Being on call means you are on "stand by" to work, if called, but are not officially working. You do not get paid, or are not paid in full, for the hours you're on call, and you cannot use the hours to earn a full wage - you must reserve them in case you're wanted.

If you're always called in, when on-call, you are working overtime. No life.

When I worked as a shop girl, we had to be on-call and got paid nothing for it.

Kristin L

Veteran

I remember when my dad had to work call (he was the physician on staff at a large plant). We'd have to stay near the house for the weekend and sometimes he'd have to leave whatever we were doing so he could go to the office.

I once babysat for a doc who was on call. It was kindda different babysitting kids with one of the parents there.

Elly

Veteran

Not in the medical field, but it works similarly for other professions.
The SO is a police officer. His department doesn't do call, but he sometimes works call-shifts for the town he lives in. In places where they run a limited number of staff or no staff during certain hours or days (i.e. weekends), most municipalities or counties are mandated by law to have emergency services people available. So, if you live in a small town and the cops go "off duty" at 3 am, if you call the police dispatchers will call an officer who is required to be within a certain area and sober. For being within a certain area, being sober, and potentially getting called in to work the officer gets paid a small hourly sum. If he gets called in, he then begins earning regular wages on top of his call pay, and sometimes at a higher wage.

I know for some medical people this works similarly (waves at Anna) --- as far as I understand being on-call as a Doctor usually means being able to sleep or do other things at the hospital, but being available to take patients and consult. For other docs, this might mean they can be out of the hospital but can be called in (in my small community most of our specialists rotate call-hours with the hospital for emergency consults, but the nuero may never get called out of her own office or home on any given day because the smallness of the hospital, for example).

Makrame

Veteran

I also think you may have to be within certain distance from the hospital, is that right? So if you live two hours away and commute to work, you may have to be somewhere close by during the call hours.

lyn*

(website)

Veteran

Call for me is different than for staff attendings (real doctors). Because I'm a resident, I function as a doctors eyes/ears, essentially, so they can stay at home and advise over the phone for an appropriate care of action. Essentially, staff doctors function as our "backup" for day-to-day issues, and we run by our care plan and addmissions by them for all new admissions.

Our requirements are 26 hours direct patient care maximum, and we are paid about $175 or so for a weekend 26 hr block. The maximum you can be on call is 1:4 on average in a month (which means you are on call every 4 days, ie: Monday call, Tuesday sleep, Wed regular ward duties, Thursday call).

We have to answer our pages ASAP - generally I try to answer < 5 minutes, and we can have up to 2 hrs to respond in person in a hospital, if we are on home call. We have rapid pagers as well, and when those go off you're expected to be in hospital ASAP. There are also code pagers for STAT response, but luckily, I don't have to carry a code pager.

In addition, we are expected to teach the medical students who are on call with us, as well as any other individuals from other professions (sometimes we get EMS, nursing, etc who want to come along for call).

Right now, we are responsible for all the patients on three medical wards, and the emergency department if they are admitted to us and awaiting a bed on the ward. We are additionally responsible for "consultation" to see the ER patients whom the ER doctor feels should be assessed, or any inpatients who may require additional help.

Hope that helps

ETA: Thistle, what your paediatrician has is "outpatient" call. What I have described above is inpatient call Outpatient docs always have "send to ER" as an option, and then they become the responsibility of the doc on inpatient call, if deemed necessary by ER doc (who work shifts).

ETA#2: I am a resident at a teaching hospital - so our staff attendings have us to help them out on call! Most of them are very lovely and will come to the hospital if we need them to, and sometimes their billing is different if they see the patients vs. review on them on the phone. There are also "physician extenders" who function as residents but are full GP's who work as "eyes and ears" of specialties - they bill about $1000/24 hr period.

Raisin

Veteran

Well in the policing field, being on call means you are glued to your cell phone on your time off, and you have to answer it and be prepared to go into work if needed. It can be very demanding if you have to do a lot of it, and if your job is particularly busy. We had a year where we were down to 2 people out of 4 due to illness and such, and I had counted up my on call and it was 2888 hours for the year! I was glad to see then end of that year....lol.

Police go on call if they work in a small, rural area where they don't need 24 hour coverage due to the amount and times that calls normally come in. But if they get called after hours and it needs attending to, they have to attend, and be ready. So this means having a patrol car at home, and living within a certain distance of your area. It also applies to certain specialized sections such as mine, like Forensics, dog man, etc.

L'Abeille

Veteran

As a family physician in a small town, when I am "on call" it means I AM the ER physician, present at the hospital to see and treat all comers. Well, from midnight till 8 am I don't have to be in the building, just available within 15-20 minutes if called. But for specialists and bigger hospitals, it may mean carrying a pager, and having a (remote) chance of not being called to go in.

velvetychocolate

Veteran

Not in the medical field, but I was often "on call" (IT for a bank). That meant carrying a pager all weekend long and answering pages within a few minutes as well as going into the office at the drop of a hat if needed. It meant that weekends weren't really weekends, and you really couldn't go anywhere or do much - you had to be ready at a moment's notice for just about anything. The "anything" could include a 14 hour shift on a Saturday (out of the blue), or it might include answering questions via phone or e-mail (no big deal). The good thing was that when we were 'on call' - we were paid very well for carrying that pager around and being available for whatever came up.

You still have to put your weekend (off-time) on hold "in case." You can't go anywhere or do anything if you're 'on call'. Have to be within half an hour's driving or commute distance of your workplace, have to answer any query or request that comes up on your pager. It's not fun. You can't relax. You're supposedly "off", but you're really not "off" at all.

You're essentially "on hold" for just about anything that comes up, including going in at 3 am if need be. And doing that at the drop of a hat - expected to show up within minutes to deal with whatever's going on. You can't relax. Speaking personally, I'd much rather be scheduled for a proper shift than be "on call".

Oh, and being "on call" means that if you *do* get called in - there are no qualms about having you work 10, 12, or 16 hours straight on no sleep, because you're the "on call" person. And further, even if it's only three or four hours - it's going to be at 4 am. Leap up, throw on your clothes and go in. No matter what.

It's not fun.

Marley

Veteran

When I worked at a psych hospital, to be on-call meant you had to answer your pager in less than 5 minutes, and be no further than 30 minutes from the hospital at all times. Sometimes I'd get called in several times over the weekend or in the middle of night during the week - other times I wouldn't be called in at all, but would consult on the phone. When I worked at an outpatient mental health clinic - we had to be available by phone for not just our own patients, but for all of the patients who were seen at the clinic - we rotated our "on call" shifts between all of the therapists. When I was in private practice, I was on call everyday/night - 24/7 - never a break. (Yes, it was stressful - especially with patients who were in crisis.) I'm glad that I don't do it anymore!

goldenpig

(website)

Veteran

When I was an intern/resident, being on call meant being at the hospital overnight, usually every 3rd or 4th night. For example when I was in surgery we would get there at 5 am and stay until the next day when our work was done, sometimes until 10-11 pm the next day, then come in again the next morning (there's been some work hours reforms since I did it, so it's a little better now). And usually we were up all night on busy nights. If there was down time we could sleep in a call room at the hospital. But in between admitting new patients we would get pages from the nurses about the patients in the hospital, so there was usually very little time to rest (the worst page was "Patient X is refusing to take his multivitamin"---gah! You woke me up for that?) Of course there is the stress/excitement of a trauma arrival or code blue as well. During my specialty fellowship we were allowed to go home on call, but would have to come in to see consults or do procedures.

Now I take call one week at a time, and am on 24/7 for the whole week. What that means is I work every day including weekends, but I go home at night (usually get out between 5 to 7 pm depending on how busy it is). I carry a pager and have to answer calls from patients and from the hospital. I don't have to go in during the middle of the night as much anymore, unless there is an emergency procedure that needs to be done. But I do have to answer pages in the middle of the night. Between DS1 and DS2 waking me up a lot at night and also answering pages, I am very TIRED! I'm on call this week too so I'll be working this weekend including Labor Day. I've been on call four weeks out of the last two months (partners away on vacations this summer), so I need a break! Calgon take me away!