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Post On Call Responsbilities
Author: jeriburn
Date: Nov 30, 2007 4:45 pm
Hi, my name is Jeri Burn and I am a nurse practitioner who is working with Dr. Robert Zalenski of Wayne State University in Detroit to start a palliative care team at Sinai-Grace Hospital, also in Detroit. We are in our infancy and currently, I am the only full-time member of the team. My question is: Should our program be available 24 hours? How can we provide 24 hour coverage with such limited staff? Currently, my hours are 10 AM to 6 PM M-F and the PC pager is on between the hours of 7 AM and 7 PM M-F. Is this reasonable for a fledgling program? On the other hand, what if a patient is having a pain crisis ont he weekend? Does anyone have any suggestions/ideas for us?
Thank you,
Jeri Burn
Replies: order by [Date] [Author] [Subject]
+ Re:On Call Responsbilities (by mrabow on 12/05/2007)
Hi, Great question... For sure, the goal of palliative care is to provide continuity and certainly to be there for crises. In reality, many programs are limited to M-F, 9-5... or specific hours such as yours. I think it is appropriate to start with what you have and then try to grow toward the the goal of 24/7 coverage. To maximize the service there are a few things to take care of: (1) make it clear to patients and referrers what your hours are so they're expectations are appropriate. (2) make it clear who they should call if you are not available (typically this would be the primary clinical team... i.e. the referring doc) (3) consider low-level availability (e.g. phone consult only) during the hours you can't be there (4) consider deputizing others (e.g. hospitalists) to cover patients in emergencies if you can't be there. Great work and congrats on getting things started. Mike Rabow, UCSF Palliative Care Leadership Center
Re:On Call Responsbilities (by MarkCarl01 on 12/18/2007)
This is great information as we are in our infancy also. This is something I had wondered about. It makes sense to start simpler and advance as the program grows. Thanks for your insight. Mark Carl

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