On Call List

[kirkaw]

For those of you who have Generalists manning blood bank during evening and night shifts, who is on call for them if they have an issue?

How long does that person have to call back? If the 1st responder doesn't call in that time, who is the 2nd on call?

Thanks,

Amelia

[PAWHITTECAR]

Amelia,

Though I am no longer a generalist on night shift (though I spent 18 years there) I wish to weigh in. Here at my hospital I have made sure that everyone who is trained in blood bank knows that they can call me anytime day or night for a question of if you need an extra set of hands I can be here in 10 minutes. On the off chance that I am out of town the lab manager is trained in blood bank and would be who to call but he's~30 minutes out. He knows that if they call him for blood bank they have most likely called me first and I directed them to him so he tends to respond. I've been in this position since early September and have taken maybe 20 phone calls but only came in once and that was not because I was asked but because I felt the tech sounded overwelmed,

[Malcolm Needs ☆]

Like Trish, although my staff may be on-call, they all know (and do, I am glad to say) telephone either me or my fantastic deputy, Doris Lam, at ANY time, day or night, and they are NOT generalists - in fact they are all red cell immunohematology experts - we all need a hand some time.

[aafrin]

I am always available on phone 24 X 7 to my staff for conferring about any issue. I am also about 10 minutes away from my hospital. Although I speak to techs. or other physicians almost daily, I have not gone to hospital ever in all these years except one night in 2010 (Feb.13, 2010 to be precise) when there was a bomb blast in a patisserie/cafe just 3 buildings away from where I stay. We had around 50 casualties brought in and all our staff was called in for work that night by me. If I am out of town then my assistant supervisor takes charge; even she has not ever had to come to hospital. So far so good.....

[Deny Morlino]

The phone number the hospital has listed is my cell phone. My cell phone is with me at all times short of bathing. I receive calls at any and all hours gratefully. I have enough confidence in the folks I work with that if they feel the need to call me it is a legitimate question. It is always quicker to answer their question now, than it is to repair the damage and domino effect fallout later!!

[MAGNUM]

During off times nights and weekends, I am the go to person, and normally I do not come in but are able to resolve problems over the phone. If it is a computer issue, I have remote access and can dial in from home and fix any computer problems that might arise.

In the very, very, very few instances when I may be on vacation or unavailable I do have 2 techs with which I have full confidence that the problem can be fixed. I have had techs call be while I have been in Branson, MO on vacation before, and normally I can help them out, even so far as computer problems since I do have the aforementioned remote access.

As I have told the techs before, I would rather get a call before I have to solve a bigger problem, or walk into a problem with no heads-up.

[John C. Staley]

One time I was actually called with a problem while fishing in Alaska. I was on call 24x7 with no compensation other than an inflated title. Luckily I had a staff that were fantastic. I seldom was called more than a couple of time a year and then only had to go in once or twice and that was usually for an exchange transfusion for a baby.

[Malcolm Needs ☆]

Yep, 24/7 too. The same for my deputy.

[Mabel Adams]

I am not required to carry my phone at all times, but I am available to my staff 24/7 pretty much anyway. They don't call much. I can print off panel sheets from the internet at home and help them evaluate Ab IDs. Mostly I answer Ab ID and policy questions. I have some backup staff that often handle more of the computer calls than I do. My boss and a senior BB tech usually take responsibility when I am not available. This is more expected if you are salaried.

[AMcCord]

I also encourage calls - home or cell phone. (My husband loves the middle of the night calls.) I have a printer/scanner/fax machine at home and a few times I have asked someone to fax me the ID panels they are working with so I can take a look. That makes it easier to decide whether or not I need to go in to work (which is rare). I do receive a rare call on vacation as well, but that's usually from my more experienced techs asking for advice on how to handle a particular issue when they feel out of their zone. If I'm not available, the call goes to one of the 2 techs who rotate into blood bank 2 or 3 days a week. They are both good at solving antibody problems and are good decision makers in regards to policy issues.

[OxyApos]

I too am the uncompensated "on call" person.  Like many of you, I'd rather text or reply an answer than clean up a mess.  Most of mine are related to our computer system with unusual events or our Echo having a hiccup.  I have only came in when an emergent situation that required xx hands with better work flow habits in BB.  I have learned to write very user friendly procedures and that has helped alot.  I also made a separate computer manual with print screens for everything and that had drastically diminished my calls.

[LCoronado]

I too am the uncompensated "on call" person.  Like many of you, I'd rather text or reply an answer than clean up a mess.  Most of mine are related to our computer system with unusual events or our Echo having a hiccup.  I have only came in when an emergent situation that required xx hands with better work flow habits in BB.  I have learned to write very user friendly procedures and that has helped alot.  I also made a separate computer manual with print screens for everything and that had drastically diminished my calls.

This sounds much like my situation, except for the Echo.  We have all generalists; some are better/moreconfident than others but most of them have called at one time or another.  For most questions, I'd rather have them ask me than another tech who only thinks she knows the right answer. Our second shift supervisor is very good and has many years of experience, so she is a great help on the off shifts and when I am away, but even she has called with a particularly puzzling situation.  Often she really knows the solution but feels better after running it by me.  Computer procedures with detailed screen shots have been invaluable since 75% of the issues are with the computer system .But, once a generalist becomes flustered, people seem to need the calm (and sometimes sleepy) voice to help them reason through.   

[tbostock]

On the eve and night shifts we assign a "charge tech", the generalist with the most seniority/experience.  I ask to the techs to consult him/her first, check the policies, then call me.  I also have my cell phone 24/7, and have remote access to my work PC so I can solve most problems from home (40 mins away).  If they can't reach me right away, they know to call my experienced day shift BB staff.

 

The only time I would ever need to come in is for a disaster/mass casualty situation.

[Likewine99]

When I was a BB sup I was the on call person but in over 12 years at 2 different hospitals I was called in the night maybe 2 times!  The only time I was called in was after I went to a PRN status and the hospital was on a code Disaster for a tornado.

 

We have detailed procedure and policy manuals and the techs use and they rely on each other on the off shifts.  If we had antibody problems they went to the ref lab mostly b/c we had usually worked them up as far as we could take it and those middle of the night abid's to ref lab were very few and far between.

 

For those who rely on non-exempt, hourly wage bench techs be careful that you are not violating any institutional or state labor laws.  If a non-exempt employee is on call,  in our state they were to be compensated for being on standby and if called they were considered to be "working" and should be paid.  I know most techs do it b/c of dedication to the job and the pts but our compliance people keep an eye on such things.

 

Of course any of us on this forum would want to be called regardless of time of day, after all, we do what we do to make transfusions as safe as possible for our patients.

[SMILLER]

Like others here, we have a BB supervisor who is almost always available by phone for questions, as well as a computer person for issues with our BB system.  In addition to that, for extra hands, we have a list of on-call techs to call in who live within 30 minutes of the hospital.

 

Generally, all of our techs on afternoons and nights are bloodbankers anyway, so the on-call list is only used when we are unexpectedly short for some reason.  The on-call techs might even come in to work in another Lab area, while the person they replace is in BB during a massive transfusion protocol or whatever.

 

Scott