Unit 4 · Flagship · 6 lessons
Your first on-call shift
Preparing for on-call, handling requests, working with nursing colleagues, escalating clearly, coping with overload and handing over safely.
0 of 6 complete
- Lesson 1
Before the shift: the bleep and taking handoverPaid programme
What to find out before your first on-call, the questions that make handover useful, and the boundaries to agree with your registrar before the first bleep.
- Lesson 2
When the bleep won't stop: take requests without losing controlPaid programme
Turn fragmented calls into a safe, revisable task list, while recognising when a concern needs immediate help.
- Lesson 3
Working with night nurses: the call, the context and the plan you sharePaid programme
Overnight, the nurse and the on-call doctor see different parts of the same patient. How to clarify a call without sounding dismissive, give your own context, and leave a plan you both understand.
- Lesson 4
Escalating: the first sentence, the ask and what to do if it doesn't landPaid programme
Two separate routes, emergency response and senior escalation; a call structure that states your concern and request up front; and what to say when the answer doesn't match your worry.
- Lesson 5
When the list outgrows you: telling your senior early and specificallyPaid programme
Overload is a workload problem that needs a senior decision. What to tell the registrar, what they can do with it, how delegation should be confirmed, and how to tell wards they will wait.
- Lesson 6
Finishing a night: what can't wait, getting home and the day afterPaid programme
The jobs you must not leave as list items, the journey home after a night, and what to do in the days after a shift that went badly. Handover technique itself is covered in the first-days handover lesson.