On Call Pay

[chiefPA]

I need your help. I work in a academic ED and will soon be adding an Observation unit to the mix. Because the service is getting fairly big we are going to add on call to cover sick call only. Will be 2 times a month .

Any one have experience with payment for these on calls?

[EMEDPA]

we had a similar deal a few yrs ago. 5/hr to carry pager and 1.5x nl pay to come in. call was 2 week days/week and 1 weekend/mo. call was for 12 hrs on days and the whole 48 for the weekend.

make sure you are very clear about whn the call system will be used. with us it started out as sick call coverage and quickly became" when it's busy we call you" so if we were on call we ended up working much of the time so it essentially became a mechanism for the hospital to work us 60 hrs/week. granted at big bucks but we were still cheaper than docvs so they kept calling...we use a new system now. pa's are responsible for covering their sick calls. if you can't find a replacement you work sick....

[chiefPA]

EMED....thanks for responding

Currently there is a doc on call and he/she covers for open shifts , busy crazy days, etc

The PA service is expanding to include 24 Obs coverage so they want a PA on call to cover PA shifts.

There is VERY LITTLE sick call. People generally cover their own

I think people are going to hate the time burden of on call....we don't do 12 hr shifts

[EMEDPA]

our shifts are all over the place. we staff 2 facilities and in any given day we have 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 hr shifts with the occasional 16