Rbnz Posted October 29, 2015 Share Posted October 29, 2015 So I am a new grad and am working in surgery doing general, OB/GYN and ortho along with some family practice on the side. This is a critical access hospital in arizona. We only take first assist call. So if a surgeon needs a first assist on a case in the middle of the night we get a call. Here is the break down of on call pay. We (as there are 3 PAs who split this call) get $46 for every 8 hours of call. And if we have to come in we clock in and out as we are paid hourly. If we get called in for a lap appy and it takes 30 min, that time is added to our 2 week pay check. That 30 min time is also subtracted from the 8 hour call time as well. If all 3 of us are gone for a weekend they have PAs that they call in and pay them 1500 for 2 days of being on call. This is a huge difference from what we would make for a weekend of call. I know some people get paid for at least 2 hours work even if they are there for 30 min. Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated. I don't know what the norm is or if this is actually good pay for call. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reality Check 2 Posted October 30, 2015 Share Posted October 30, 2015 The pay scale you describe sounds all messed up and way too complicated. I graduated in the early 90s and my first job was ortho. We got paid $50 a weeknight just for being on call. Never deducted from - $50 to be sober and within 30 minutes of the hospital. This is when cellphones were the size of suitcases so we carried beepers. If you went in on a weeknight - clock in and do whatever it is. Paid by the hour. Never deducted from the $50 on call fee. At the end of the week - if you were over 40, everything over was time and half. A weekend on call was $150 - flat fee again. Come in - clock in - round - whatever. You stayed clocked in for rounding, scrubbing in, waiting on the ER etc. THAT was 25 years ago. Just for inflation and cost of living - that should be double to triple now. My ortho job in the late 2000s paid $500 just to be on call on the weekend. No hourly rate. That covered rounding. If you scrubbed in - you got a percentage of the surgery fee because there was NO office overhead. Weeknight call was only one night if that and it was kind of a cluster - can't remember if we got a flat rate. Just BEING on call - sober and available - should be a flat non maligned fee. Coming in can be hourly with or without a percentage of the surgical fee. I am not sure I understand what happens when they use a sub when you guys are out. The fees should be equitable to the regular staff. Do NOT give your time away and do not work on the cheap. Being on call is duty and takes away from personal activities and travel. Stay strong!!! My very old 2 cents…... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator ventana Posted October 30, 2015 Moderator Share Posted October 30, 2015 just to carry a pager = 25% of daily pay - for week nights for weekends - i would say at least a days pay -again just to carry pager to come in and work - 1.5 time pay with a minimum of 2 hours pay (discourages them from calling you for silly stuff) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rbnz Posted October 30, 2015 Author Share Posted October 30, 2015 Thanks for you help. I will have a talk with the other PAs and see what they think. I really think this and many other things need to be changed in my current job but am afraid of the "lack of experience" I have in matters like these. Its pretty frustrating to be on call this much and not get paid very well for it. In a 2 week period I clocked well over 100 hours of on call time and got paid like 500. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boatswain2PA Posted October 30, 2015 Share Posted October 30, 2015 I'm one of those guys who come into town so you (and your cohorts) can have vacation time. You can't expect me to drive (or fly) into town, find the hotel/rental house, find the hospital, learn the new EMR, learn the new nurses, what medications this hospital have, policies & procedures for this hospital, etc, etc, etc......all for the same price that you get when you're sleeping in your own bed with your spouse and kids in the next bedroom.Doing locums is often like having your first day of work occur over and over again...but being expected to perform like you're an established member of the team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheDude Posted November 4, 2015 Share Posted November 4, 2015 At least some of you get call pay. I am in CV and MCS/Transplant Surgery. Call is 1:4, see all the services patients on that weekend which averages 15-25 people on the service during that time. During that week, anything that comes in the hospital that is cardiac/heart-lung transplant/vascular surgical, I have 30 mins to respond to do the consult, OR etc. I am called all hours of the night for the most ridiculous things no matter how clear we have our order sets in or how simple the issue is...like a pt. who only had 1 bm today instead of 2. I asked our money man about call pay and was practically laughed at. The surgeons make a butt-load for call pay. END OF RANT. Enjoy getting call pay at all, you could be like myself and the other PA's (3 of us, 5 docs) in the group and get zilch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delco714 Posted November 4, 2015 Share Posted November 4, 2015 At least some of you get call pay. I am in CV and MCS/Transplant Surgery. Call is 1:4, see all the services patients on that weekend which averages 15-25 people on the service during that time. During that week, anything that comes in the hospital that is cardiac/heart-lung transplant/vascular surgical, I have 30 mins to respond to do the consult, OR etc. I am called all hours of the night for the most ridiculous things no matter how clear we have our order sets in or how simple the issue is...like a pt. who only had 1 bm today instead of 2. I asked our money man about call pay and was practically laughed at. The surgeons make a butt-load for call pay. END OF RANT. Enjoy getting call pay at all, you could be like myself and the other PA's (3 of us, 5 docs) in the group and get zilch. Leave the job then. Sounds like bull to me. Not ok Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boatswain2PA Posted November 4, 2015 Share Posted November 4, 2015 Sounds like you need another job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheDude Posted November 4, 2015 Share Posted November 4, 2015 I love CV Surgery, and I really like working for this group of surgeons. Its a large healthcare system, so it's not up to the surgeons to say whether we get all pay or not. It is something I am putting together a small group of people to approach our upper management to see if we can make some changes or at least have an organized proposal brought to the table. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delco714 Posted November 4, 2015 Share Posted November 4, 2015 I love CV Surgery, and I really like working for this group of surgeons. Its a large healthcare system, so it's not up to the surgeons to say whether we get all pay or not. It is something I am putting together a small group of people to approach our upper management to see if we can make some changes or at least have an organized proposal brought to the table.Truly hope that gets some where! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roger777 Posted December 25, 2015 Share Posted December 25, 2015 just to carry a pager = 25% of daily pay - for week nights for weekends - i would say at least a days pay -again just to carry pager to come in and work - 1.5 time pay with a minimum of 2 hours pay (discourages them from calling you for silly stuff) Wow that's fat. I could get a hotdog cart or something near the hospital to make a little extra during my downtime Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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