Jump to content

Night Coverage in ICU


Recommended Posts

Hi,  I was wondering if there was anyone out there who covers night as the solo provider in the ICU.  Wondered what that is like and also what it is like doing night shifts in regards to fatigue over time.  I was offered a job working 7 days and 7 nights per month.  I can make my own schedule.  I'm just concerned about being the solo provider as well as how hard it would be over time to work this type of schedule.  I do have past ICU experience but during the days only. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi,  I was wondering if there was anyone out there who covers night as the solo provider in the ICU.  Wondered what that is like and also what it is like doing night shifts in regards to fatigue over time.  I was offered a job working 7 days and 7 nights per month.  I can make my own schedule.  I'm just concerned about being the solo provider as well as how hard it would be over time to work this type of schedule.  I do have past ICU experience but during the days only. 

We don't do 7 on 7 off. We have 4 PAs that work nights. We started with 2 working 7/7 and quickly realized this would burn people out. We added two more so there are 2 PAs on M-F and one during the weekend. This makes things more bearable. This is for a 20 bed academic Surgical/Transplant ICU with fairly high acuity. You mileage may vary. We mostly put new grads in this position after a 9-10 month orientation. One of the good things about this position is there is a tremendous amount of autonomy. Much more than daytime. If you have good skills and time management you should be fine. We have a rotating schedule that does have a six day run (around the weekend). Most of the time it takes a couple of days to recover from that. For overtime, we post up vacation days for OT so its pretty easy to pick up an extra shift or so a month. Some don't due to the pay differential. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm surprised that they train new grads for this.  It seems like they would prefer people who had a few years of experience before taking on that amount of responsibility.  I do appreciate your input on this. 

Ideally we would have experienced PAs on nights and new grads on days transitioning to nights. However, the reality is that as you get older you don't want to work nights. So we get a situation similar to the nurses. Our situation is very similar to nursing. When you get a vacancy its filled by someone on nights creating an opening on nights. We compensate for this by having a fairly long orientation. One advantage people don't talk about is the autonomy at night. Its very different that days where everyone is sticking their nose into things. From a PA perspective it can be a little lonely, but I think that's why we have been successful with two providers. We could get by with one but we cover our salaries with two and the extra person helps when things hit the fan. Also you have someone to talk to at night. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Welcome to the Physician Assistant Forum! This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. Learn More