Friday Night Wish-I-Was-Buzzed; but I'm on call instead. Ask me anything.

[Aristus]

How is everyone tonight?

I need a drink...

[California_Republic]

1. On call for what?

[Aristus]

3. Outpatient call.

Waste of time, mostly. Patients call if they need something; medical advice, a medication refill they decided to wait until the clinic was closed before requesting. That kind of thing.

There's a pretty narrow range of medical conditions, between "This is probably nothing" and "Oh SHIT! I should go to the emergency room!" that people call for advice on.

I used to do three or four single evenings a month. Then our eager-beaver new clinic manager decided providers should do a week at a time. That, plus a shortage of medical providers means I'm pulling call at least one entire week every month.

It gets old pretty quick...

[3catwoman3]

12. A WEEK at a time?

That is cruel and unusual punishment. Holy crap!

Are you paid extra for this? My employers, past and present, always try to claim that they are not paid for on call, that it is just part of the job. I would lay money that the on-call responsibilities are factored into their salaries, even if it is not pay for call per se.

When they started wanting me to do it, they wanted to pay me $4 an hour for it. I pointed out that one pays a baby sitter more than that to watch one child, never mind covering calls from potentially hundreds of possible patients in our 3 separate offices I get $15 and hour, and only do it from 6-10 PM one evening a week and one Sunday morning from 8-noon.

I’d quit if I had to do it a week at a time. So would my employers. There are 9 of them, so they are only on call 3-4 times a month.

When I get parents wanting antibiotics over the phone, I tell them, “I could do that, but I need you to realize that the very best I can do over the phone is guess at the diagnosis, and I sure would hate to guess wrong for your child.” Kinda shuts down that whole thing.

[Skittles]

2. who calls you?

just curious, is your clinic 24 X 7?

[Aristus]

4. No. Clinic hours are 8-5.

Unfortunately, I get a lot of nuisance calls; lonely people with no real medical conditions requiring evaluation; they just want to screw up somebody's evening or weekend to make themselves feel better. I have one regular caller who constantly claims that he's dying. I used to call emergency services until they told me he was a troublemaker and that they don't take his calls anymore. Now I don't, either.

[Fla Dem]

17. So you're on call what 6 pm until 8 am?

Last edited Sat Jan 18, 2020, 02:16 PM - Edit history (1)

The doctor offices I deal with have a recording for after hours. Says if it's an emergency call 911 or go to the local hospital ER. If not an emergency, they then state office hours or if they want, leave a message and someone will get back to them during office hours.

Seems to me this would eliminate the need for "on call". Are they calling the office or your private phone #. Do you have to be in the office? Hope you get at least time and 1/2 when you're on call, especially if you're in the office. This seems to be asking an awful lot of their staff.

[California_Republic]

5. We you were buzzed what's your choice of alcohol.

[Aristus]

7. Anything with alcohol in it.

Downstairs in the fridge, I've got everything: gin, beer, cider, wine. In the freezer: vodka. In the cabinet: single malt, bourbon, Kalua, and several different kinds of brandy.

Monday morning: off call; but I'll defer the day-drinking...

[Foolacious]

6. Do you reckon that Spanish "fracaso" ("failure") is cognate with English/Italian "fiasco"? NT

[dawg day]

8. What drink would you like..

If you could have one?

[Aristus]

9. A glass of Calvados, Norman apple brandy, would go down very nicely right now.

[dawg day]

14. My first drink (I was a child!) was a sip of my grandma's plum brandy...

... she was Polish, so it was slivovitch.

I coughed and coughed, and never drank brandy again.

[Tiggeroshii]

10. Is it the worst thing in the world to be buzzed while on call?

honestly?

[Skittles]

16. it's not good

seriously, it just is not professional

[la-trucker]

11. I'd be terrified calling a doctor after hours now

however, you made me realize that doctors are human too

[Skittles]

15. I never thought of doctors as human

oh wait, yes I have

[diva77]

13. Have you tried concocting a non-alcoholic beverage that tastes like a real drink?

My favorite is 50% soda water with 50% pineapple juice