Why being on-call can disrupt doctors’ and nurses’ sleep – even when the phone never rings

Being on-call means you can’t fully switch off and must stay reachable and ready to work if your employer needs you

Tourialay Akbari/Getty It’s 4am, you’ve finally drifted off, and then the phone rings. It’s work calling. You have to go in. The right to disconnect from work has been protected by law in Australia since 2024. This means most employees can refuse to answer calls from work outside their regular work hours. But for many