On Call Room Hospital

Hook ups in the on-call room like you saw in Season 2?

Do Doctors Really Hook Up In On-Call Rooms? (TV Fiction Or Reality?)

Being a doctor isn’t really anything like you see in Grey’s Anatomy.

Despite all that, people still think our lives are more exciting than the average.

Hook ups in the on-call room like you saw in Season 2?

Something, apparently, you all want to know about.

So let’s get into it.

Do Doctors Really Hook Up In On-Call Rooms?

It’s impossible to know with any certainty whether doctors hooking up in on-call rooms is something that happens on the regular. It’s not something they’re likely to admit nor speak openly about. But it probably does happen.

The big reasons why it could be a reality? Doctors are humans. They operate on instinct just like everyone else.

Not to be crude, but it could be something of a goal for some physicians too. Especially if you take into consideration the tongue-in-cheek aspiration of going into medicine to attract the opposite sex!

Why On-Call Hospital Hookups Probably Happen Less Than You Think

There are several reasons why hospital hookups between doctors probably happen far less than the racy TV dramas suggest though.

Here are the major ones:

• Considered unprofessional: there’s a big stigma attached to romantic relations while you’re at work. Medicine is no different. Your job as a physician is at the service of your patients. Not your carnal desires.
• On-call rooms are a turn off: most doctors don’t consider on-call rooms to be a particularly good setting for such kind of activity. Dr. Jen Gunter, a San Francisco Bay Area OB/GYN specialist, is one of those. According to her, on-call rooms are “gross”.
• Too risky: on-call rooms aren’t exactly guaranteed to be private. Not all of them have functioning locks and doctors, meaning nurses and other healthcare workers could walk in at a moments notice. Stairwells and locker rooms, apparently, are a far better location.
• Not all hospitals have on-call rooms: on-call rooms are a bit of a luxury. The smaller hospital, the less likely they are to be available.

The last thing most doctors want to do on a 12-hour shift from hell? Break into a sterile room, run the risk of seeing an unmade med (or even worse; used) and use it for anything other than sweet sleep.

It’s a lot less glamorous of a job than it looks on TV!

Hospital Hook Up Culture: Past Vs Present

Maybe hospital hookups between doctors (or other staff members) was more a thing of the past. This could be where shows like Grey’s Anatomy took their inspiration from in scenes like this…

Notice the pristine made bunk bed and hotel-quality on-call room? Yeah, I’ve never (in my rather limited experience) seen one so nice…

Still, according to one Quora doctor, there “definitely was a hookup culture in the remote past.”

As for why it’s maybe died out today? Here are a couple of reasons:

1. Stress: staffing issues, increased responsibility and legal threats all help to make a physician’s role more difficult. Stepping away from the job for even a moment could likely land most doctors in hot water fast.
2. Time: most hospital wards, outside the U.S. at least, operate on very tight budgets with limited staff. Where are doctors meant to find the time to scratch such itches with pagers going off constantly and phones ringing endlessly?

Maybe hospital hookups are a lot more popular with med students rather than doctors. The diminished responsibility, coupled with the fact they’re not legally employed, might help make the whole thing more feasible.

The fact that a good amount of them are young and attractive? Probably makes it a little more inevitable too…

Do Nurses and Doctors Hook Up With Patients?

There’s a strong code of ethics in medicine that means neither group can have relations with patients. Doing so could result in professional sanctions, dismissal and maybe even sexual assault charges. So it’s extremely unlikely to happen.

This is something I’ve actually written about before in my article Do Doctors Treat Attractive Patients Differently? There I touch on the power and trust relationships inferred by doctor and patient. Suggesting that consent is quite a contentious issue.

Obviously it can happen though (as an example in that article demonstrates).

Do Doctors and Nurses Hook Up With Each Other In Hospital?

It may be unprofessional, but it does happen. Just as this nurse on Reddit highlights…

It can happen, but it is rare. Last time I heard about it in the hospital I worked at the nurse was fired and the doctor was ‘let go’ as in, he had to find a new hospital to work at. Honestly, especially in the ED, where I work, hooking up is usually the last thing on everyone’s minds. It’s so busy that you don’t have any time to even think about that. Now on boring days, in other parts of the hospital, maybe, but like I said, it would be rare and risky.

u/StylzL33T

Many of the reasons it probably happens far less than people think are highlighted in this article at Nurse.org. The big factors are namely judgement from other staff and the complexities of mixing work with personal stuff.

Outside of the hospital in things like social engagements, celebrations and even end-of-shift coffee or drinks breaks? It could go on a lot.

One key thing to remember in all this is that nurses, just like doctors, are human too. To pretend that they’re some angelic lifeform devoid of temptation would be ignorant. Just as New York Times bestseller Alexandra Robbins, author of The Nurses, lays out in this excellent piece here.

Give her awesome book a read too, if you get the chance. There are plenty of stories there to whet your appetite if you’re curious about what goes on behind the scenes…

Summary

Doctors don’t hook up in call rooms as frequently as you see on TV or in the movies. The conditions, the factors of work and the risk involved; all are things that fail to make it worth it!

But of course there’s the odd one or two who say forget about all that…

On-Call Rooms Sample Clauses

On-Call Rooms. University Hospital shall provide and maintain adequate on-call rooms for use by Housestaff Officers while on duty. All on-call rooms will be maintained in accordance with reasonable health and sanitation standards. University Hospital will make a reasonable effort not to require Housestaff Officers of different sexes to use the same on-call room, at the same time. Where on-call rooms are equipped with locks, the assigned Housestaff Officer will be given a key for the time of the room assignment. When on-call rooms are being repaired or facility construction renders them uninhabitable, the Hospital shall provide reasonable notice to the Union and identify comparable alternate rooms.

Get the Official Word Add-in

On-Call Rooms. A. The Public Health PHT shall provide on-call rooms, bathrooms, and shower facilities which are safe and secure and readily accessible to patient-care areas in all PHT facilities in which HSO rotate at night. The number of on-call rooms shall be sufficient for HSOs on duty at night. On-call rooms shall have functional locks and a key shall be issued to applicable HSOs. On-call rooms shall be properly maintained at least daily. Such maintenance shall include, but not be limited to: sufficient and clean blankets, pillows, linen and towels daily; on-call room bathrooms and showers should be mopped and sanitized on a daily basis, and any plumbing or broken furniture issues shall be fixed upon notice to the Graduate Medical Education Department. Each on- call room shall have appropriate lighting, chair, working telephones, and a computer when feasible.

On-Call Rooms. The University, through agreement with the affiliated hospitals, will ensure that HSP is provided with appropriate on-call room facilities.

On-Call Rooms. ‌ On-call rooms shall be available to male and female Resident Physicians when assigned to a required rotation. Rooms shall include a bed with bedding, blankets, and pillows, a bathroom (including shower), desk, chair, telephone, and bedside lighting. Wherever possible there shall only be one Resident or Intern assigned to each call room. AHS shall change the linen for all call room beds daily. Locks that can be operated from both inside and outside will be provided.

On-Call Rooms. Resident will be entitled to utilize the designated on-call rooms provided by Broward Health to its residents when on-call.

On-Call Rooms. The Medical Center shall provide and maintain safe sleep/rest quarters in conformance with ACGME requirements. The Medical Center shall notify the CIR/SEIU of any changes in the location of on-call rooms thirty (30) days prior to the implementation of the change. The Medical Center will work with the CIR/SEIU to resolve issues around the on-call rooms should they occur.

On-Call Rooms a. The Hospital shall provide and maintain an adequate number of on-call rooms. The Hospital must notify CIR/SEIU of any change in the location of on-call rooms.

On-Call Rooms. The Hospital agrees to provide sleep quarters for on-call Interns and Residents at a level that accommodates two beds per room whenever possible. The sleep rooms will have locking doors, beds in good repair, and two phones per room where needed. Whenever possible, sleep rooms will have lockers and private bathroom facilities. They will be cleaned at least three times per week and beds will be made daily. Two sleep rooms of two beds each will be designated for female Interns and Residents. It is recognized by the Union, however, that these designations may be ignored or altered by the Interns and Residents, and that the Hospital is not responsible for enforcing this provision. Clean sheets, towels, and blankets will be provided. The Hospital will maintain dedicated sleep rooms except in emergency situations.

On-Call Rooms. The Employer shall provide safe, secure and properly maintained call rooms, in sufficient numbers to accommodate all housestaff when on call. Maintenance shall include, but not be limited to, clean linens and towels daily; rooms and bathrooms swept and/or mopped daily; pest control and other routine maintenance. On-call room areas shall be equipped with sufficient bathroom and shower facilities. A sufficient number of on-call rooms shall be provided to ensure sex segregation, but in no event shall the number of rooms be reduced from the current level. On-call rooms shall be located within sufficient proximity to ensure adequate physician response time. In-house telephone lines shall be provided in each room. Sufficient air condition and heat shall be provided in each room.

On-Call Rooms. 1. The Medical Center shall provide and maintain safe sleep/rest quarters in conformance with ACGME requirements. The Medical Center shall notify the CIR/SEIU of any changes in the location of on-call rooms thirty (30) days prior to the implementation of the change. On call rooms shall be cleaned on a daily basis and furniture shall be cleaned regularly and replaced when in disrepair. Phones, computers, air conditioning and heat shall be in working order. If something is not in working order, it will be a priority of the hospital to fix these things within 48 hours. The Hospital shall provide and post phone numbers for the appropriate person to contact in order to fix such problems. The Medical Center will work with the CIR/SEIU to resolve issues around the on-call rooms should they occur.