Work hours during on call

[lander]

How are your work hours like when you are on call at ICU or CCU q3-4 day/week while you are IM resident? For example, if you are on call while you are on inpatient ward, are you expected to work 24 hrs continuously (IM ward during the day and ICU/CCU at night)? If you are off the next day, who will cover your ward duty, especially if you are an admitting team?
Thanks

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[Jagleaso]

How are your work hours like when you are on call at ICU or CCU q3-4 day/week while you are IM resident? For example, if you are on call while you are on inpatient ward, are you expected to work 24 hrs continuously (IM ward during the day and ICU/CCU at night)? If you are off the next day, who will cover your ward duty, especially if you are an admitting team?
Thanks

1. Q4
2. Yes
3. The rest of the team. If you are post call you are probably not admitting.

 

[Instatewaiter]

How are your work hours like when you are on call at ICU or CCU q3-4 day/week while you are IM resident? For example, if you are on call while you are on inpatient ward, are you expected to work 24 hrs continuously (IM ward during the day and ICU/CCU at night)? If you are off the next day, who will cover your ward duty, especially if you are an admitting team?
Thanks

When you are on call you work around 24-30 continuous hours, in my experience usually without rest. The next day you will round in the ICU and should be off after that. The rest of the team should cover your post-call duties on the floor.

Now if you are on "home" call and don't have to be in the hospital the entire time, you may be expected to be in the next day, even if you were at the hospital all night.

 

[dozitgetchahi]

My program (and my med school's program) did not have people on one service during the day and somewhere else at night...i.e., if you're on call when you're on wards, you're on call for your ward team and not going to the ICU or some such nonsense.

When I did aways, I saw programs that were apparently short-staffed and had their residents doing q3 call in the ICU etc when they were on consult services...I would avoid programs that do crap like that. Most decent programs will not have you doing call on (most) consult services or have you running off to cover the ICU when you're on wards...that just seems bizarre to me. (The only exception around here is if you're on 'jeopardy', during which you can be called in to cover any service that suddenly needs you. This only happens for everyone for a few weeks a year when you're on night float.)

 

[Bostonredsox]

We have block nights at my shop, both for medicine and ICU teams. Only time I ever work a 24 hour shift is if im on an off service rotation like cardio and I pull Friday night call. Then I work 7-5, shoot home and grab a bite to eat, see the kids, them go back for ICU call from 8p-8a. Q3/4/5 call systems suck. Working a month of straight nights sun-thursday is so much less taxing and you get a nice system and flow in place. I have done 3 months of straight medicine nights (Ed admissions/floor calls), and 3 months of pure ICU nights. Love em.

 

[Instatewaiter]

Different strokes for different folks. I'd much rather do a call system than a night system. But that's just what I am used to.