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Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsFriday Night Wine-Buzz. Thank God I'm not on call anymore!...
Ask me anything...
CaliforniaPeggy
(149,310 posts)I am so glad that you're not on call anymore too!
I've done my share of being on call, and it's wearing. You have to be ready at any moment to go in, to gawd knows what!
I can tell you're glad!
So, what're you drinking to celebrate?
Aristus
(66,099 posts)Feeling no pain...
Hi, CalPeg!
CaliforniaPeggy
(149,310 posts)I am quite sure you're feeling no pain, my dear Aristus!
back atcha!
Aristus
(66,099 posts)CaliforniaPeggy
(149,310 posts)Aristus
(66,099 posts)CaliforniaPeggy
(149,310 posts)hibbing
(10,076 posts)Aristus
(66,099 posts)When I do, it's just for fun.
Sorry...
hibbing
(10,076 posts)I sat here for like ten minutes trying to come up with something not too obnoxious or too bland to ask you.
Poisoning or good messy bludgeoning?
Peace
Aristus
(66,099 posts)I'm not really that picky...
cilla4progress
(24,589 posts)for what?
Aristus
(66,099 posts)I'm a Physician Assistant practicing clinical medicine. Every couple of months, I spend a week on call, taking after-hours calls from patients regarding whatever is bothering them. Often it's medication refills or "I can't sleep", or something like that. I get paid to take call, but it's not always enough to make up for getting awakened at 2:30 in the morning.
I don't drink when I'm on call, naturally. So when I'm done, I have a few to celebrate...
3catwoman3
(23,820 posts)...evening trying to convince a mom that I could not possibly diagnose a rash over the phone. Rashes can be challenging enough when you can see them.
My question - do you check in hourly during usual waking hours, or just wait to be paged/texted. Our system has us check for voicemail messages every hour up until 10 PM, and panicked parent can have the answering service test us if they think they cannot last until the hourly check in. When people have me "emergency" texted and then do not answer the phone when I call, it is really annoying.
I am fortunate enough to only take call from 5-10 PM one evening a week, and 8 AM-noon one Sunday a month. My employers wanted me to do overnight, or a whole Sat or Sun, but were only willing to pay what would have been the equivalent of 4 dollars an hour. I pointed out that a baby sitter is paid more than that to watch just a couple of kids, never mind taking medical responsibility for any of god-knows-how-many patients in an entire practice that has 3 offices. They upped it to $15 an hour, and it has never been raised in the 18 years I have been doing it.
Docs typically say they do not get paid for taking call, but I feel reasonably certain that it is somehow factored in to their overall compensation package.
Cheers -
Aristus
(66,099 posts)I don't have to check in, although I do on rare occasions. I just wait for the service to call me regarding a patient. Every so often, I have the service hold my calls if I have an unavoidable commitment which would interfere with answering calls. I tell the service to inform calling patients that, unless they can't breathe or are spurting blood out of an artery, they can wait until I'm able to answer the phone.
TexasTowelie
(111,322 posts)for the 12 hours per night while he was on call after working a 12 hour shift at the hospital. If he actually had to return to the hospital then he would get to clock in (a minimum of two hours) at regular pay. If he was close to reaching 40 hours during the week then he would have to shorten his shifts elsewhere during the week to avoid overtime.
What was bad though was when the hospital would call me on my cell phone trying to hunt him down on his days off. If he was out of town then I would remind them that he was off from work and not available. Since I'm not an employee and hardly know anyone in this town I really didn't care about the problems at the hospital and I would ask them not to call my number. The hospital called me so frequently that I finally had to block the hospital from calling me because I couldn't get any sleep. It also doesn't help that my brother will not turn off the alarms on his phone and it literally beep for hours which drove me nuts.
cilla4progress
(24,589 posts)indeed!
TexasTowelie
(111,322 posts)What is it like in Washington now that the weather is almost as hot as it is in Texas?
7wo7rees
(5,128 posts)Oh but wait, did you hear we lost a truth teller/author this week? Jim Marrs, RIP
In_The_Wind
(72,300 posts)will I stop feeling like my head is rotting ??? I think all this rain is part of my headache.
Aristus
(66,099 posts)drinking as much as I do probably won't do anything but make it worse...
In_The_Wind
(72,300 posts)We moved Miss Frodie's without breaking anything or drawing blood. This morning was a success.
Aristus
(66,099 posts)A big breakfast did the trick. Now to digest. And after that, a workout...