I apologize, I'm aware this has been asked previously, but most of the posts are several years old, and don't know if anything has changed. But what is the med student definition for "on call?" does it involve having to be at the hospital at the drop of a hat? the reason I ask is because of family obligations I will be living about 45 mins from my rotation hospital. Thanks!
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It would be rare for students to take call from home. You should certainly check with your school.
The most common situation is for students to stay at the hospital for the duration of their on-call period. Some schools require full overnight call on every rotation, others may not have any on-call requirements. Sometimes only certain rotations will have on-call requirements. Sometimes being "on-call" means that you only stay until 8 or 10pm and then get to go home - your resident may even send you home early if nothing is happening.
Even if you are allowed to take call from home, if you live 45 minutes away, it's probably best that you just stay at the hospital on those nights if you actually want to be a part of the proceedings. Unless it's an institutional thing, I can't imagine many residents are going to be calling you up in the middle of the night and then waiting the 45 minutes to an hour it's going to take for you to come in to involve in the case.
The most common situation is for students to stay at the hospital for the duration of their on-call period. Some schools require full overnight call on every rotation, others may not have any on-call requirements. Sometimes only certain rotations will have on-call requirements. Sometimes being "on-call" means that you only stay until 8 or 10pm and then get to go home - your resident may even send you home early if nothing is happening.
Even if you are allowed to take call from home, if you live 45 minutes away, it's probably best that you just stay at the hospital on those nights if you actually want to be a part of the proceedings. Unless it's an institutional thing, I can't imagine many residents are going to be calling you up in the middle of the night and then waiting the 45 minutes to an hour it's going to take for you to come in to involve in the case.
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You stay at the hospital. Say if sign out is at 4pm and you're "on call" that night, you'll stay until 7 or 8pm or so. Or you might stay overnight.
Thanks a lot, I appreciate your reply!
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As a medical student 'on call' means you work a really long shift in the hospital. They will never call you. Not even in the hospital, BTW. If you lose sight of your resident you'll stay there all night and then will find out in the morning that one of your patients crumped/coded/something else dramatic and no one called you.
As a resident 'on call' also means a really long shift in the hospital. You may also take calls from the hospital at home, but those days won't be called 'call', they'll be called 'home call' (you take calls about patients from home) or 'backup call' (you don't take calls from patients, but you do need to be sober and nearby incase they need to call you in to sub in for a sick resident). 'Call' always just means working a really long shift
As an attending 'call' means what you think. You're home, if they have a problem they call.
When I was a medical student and resident I also found it helpful to stop calling it 'call'. Many of the nurses couldn't seem to grasp what that meant. When I said it like a nurse would, as in 'they have me working a 28 today', I found myself getting more sleep and sympathy.
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