Well, I want to say first that I fully understand that hospitals expect you to be at work no matter what the weather.
I always go. I go for other people. That's why I have a four wheel drive. However, sometimes there is bad timing. Such as major snow that falls heavily and rapidly.
I got up, took a shower, got in the car to go to work. I swept it off the night before, got gas the night before, washed my uniform and had it pressed in case the power went out.
I warmed up the car, went off my driveway...moved about 15 feet and it slid into the yard.
The vehicle would not move.
So for the first time in years...I don't call in sick but maybe once a year. Never for weather.
I have PTO right? Lots of it because I never call in.
Get this...hospital is not allowing me to use my PTO for that day.
Freaking ridiculous. So if anyone else makes an attempt and wrecks. Call the news right after the tow truck. The general public should know that hospitals don't care about the safety of their employees. So this crappie about the fact they do? They can stick it as far as I'm concerned.
I agree somewhat with a proviso. What suggestions do you have to disallow the employers from crapping all over us. I can make one suggestion and that is that nurses support one another. Just reading some of the posts on this site indicates that this support is seriously lacking. Some of the posters make derogatory remarks to other nurses which are quite rude and disrespectful. Management knows all about this divide and conquer strategy. Other professions just sit back and laugh at the disarray of the nursing profession. As long as there are crusty old cats and bats ripping down other nurses we will keep getting crapped on.
Yes but when the OP adds more to their story with every post, it seems less and less believable. Anytime someone made a suggestions or said this is what the do, OP would come back and say, oh my hospital won't let us do that. So someone offers a different suggestion and sudden,y the hospital doesn't allow that either.
The OP wanted people on her side and to agree that the hospital should have paid her PTO. Some people agree with that, others don't. That's just how it is with an Internet message board.
Yes but when the OP adds more to their story with every post, it seems less and less believable. Anytime someone made a suggestions or said this is what the do, OP would come back and say, oh my hospital won't let us do that. So someone offers a different suggestion and sudden,y the hospital doesn't allow that either.
The OP wanted people on her side and to agree that the hospital should have paid her PTO. Some people agree with that, others don't. That's just how it is with an Internet message board.
I worked 40yrs at a general hospital. The same people called out every snow storm..it was predictable. In 40 years I called out 3 times because of weather issues. On the 3rd time I got berated by a supervisor..the snow was over my tires...so I asked if someone could come and get me..when she found out where I lived the answer was no. I stayed home. Now if you do not go in you will get a warning. Yes it is your job to be there and yes administration does not care about you.
Specializes in Med/Surg, OR, Peds, Patient Education.
In some places you will get written up for calling off during a weather event. It sucks not getting PTO, but I'm not surprised. Too many people take advantage of circumstances. At my employer (and I'm sure at most) if you call off the day before, during, or the day after a holiday, you do not get holiday pay, regardless of the circumstance (unless you have FMLA of course). I went into work with Type A influenza on a New Years Eve due to this policy. I had proof of my illness (I had just tested positive that morning) and yet my manager wouldn't send me home so I had to stay. I was kept away from patients and had little interaction with staff, but was highly contagious regardless. I was mad, but I put on my big girl pants and sucked it up. Thankfully I had the next day off.
Your hospital takes the risk of putting patients and staff in danger of contracting Type A Influenza, that is not a good example of what a "health care facility" should exemplify. What, exactly did they expect you to do, once you came to work? You could not physically care for patients, who would be vulnerable to your flu virus, plus, you had to try to stay away from your coworkers. So, unless you were in a room designed for a contagious patient, you still were a threat to all around you. The philosophy of "coming to work, no matter what the circumstances," is erroneous at best, but more likely very unsafe for all, including yourself, who should have been home in bed, resting and drinking fluids.
Specializes in Med/Surg, OR, Peds, Patient Education.
I worked 40yrs at a general hospital. The same people called out every snow storm..it was predictable. In 40 years I called out 3 times because of weather issues. On the 3rd time I got berated by a supervisor..the snow was over my tires...so I asked if someone could come and get me..when she found out where I lived the answer was no. I stayed home. Now if you do not go in you will get a warning. Yes it is your job to be there and yes administration does not care about you.
It would be very interesting to know how many in the, increasingly, over inflated administration come to work when driving was so hazardous.
I will always take extra effort to make it to work in severe weather but I have my limits. I will not pay for a hotel and even sleeping at work the night before may not be something I would be willing to do. I have responsibilities at home that need my attention in the hours before work. I understand we are essential, but we are human, too.
Several years ago, we had a blizzard and I think my efforts were sufficient: I cleared and shoveled the night before and the morning of my shift, got up 2 hours early, had neighbors trying to push me out. I had to stop them before anyone had a heart attack. I called in to work and told them I was stuck. They said the CNO was out picking people up, so he came and got me, too. I thought that was awesome. I was 1 1/2 hours late but I got there and the CNO took me home after my shift. I would not have balked at not being paid had I not been able to get there at all.
To the poster not allowed to go home with the flu: do you do bedside care and if so, what was the point of keeping you there if you were kept away from patients?
We would still get PTO if we called in for weather-related reasons. However, if you live close enough, they sometimes will tell you they can send campus police to come get you. So for those that use the weather as an excuse, it sometimes backfires for them.
Denying your PTO is punitive and unnecessary - if you truly can't make it in because of bad weather, you should not have your pay docked. Do you have a union and if so, what do they say about this?
It's great that you are so professional and caring. However, there is a disconnect with the way many of the nurses who work at hospitals have described the employers' treatment of nurses and the nurses' high integrity. That disconnect has to change, otherwise the garbage (and rightly so) that hospital nurses talk about will continue. Some of it is just part of life, but not all of it. As for PTO, I can see the employer not paying it.
Specializes in Gerontology, Med surg, Home Health.
Flashing your ID badge does not always give you a pass. We had a surprise blizzard on Cape--woke up to 3 feet of snow. Police were telling people to stay home. I lived 1.5 miles away. It was a Saturday and I was the assistant director. The facility called me and begged me to come in. They sent someone to get me. Meanwhile, the director who lived 12 miles away thought she should come in and be of help. She was pulled over by the police and stuck at the station for a day. They didn't care that she was a nurse. The worst part of first day was when the police called me and told me they were shutting down the road into the facility. We had 50mph wind gusts so a tree was blocking the road. I had at least 6 guys who had just been admitted the day before status post CABG...cops said "I hope you don't get too tired if you have to do CPR." I was there for 38 hours straight with very little sleep. We did fine. The DON was finally let out of the police station ---from that day forward her nickname was Jailbird Judie.
Quote rncnyc: "I've been a nurse for probably longer than you've been alive, unless you were born before 1970."
Yeah hon, I was born before 1970, way before 1970 so I have been a nurse longer than YOU have been alive. You are absolutely hilarious thinking you are old because you were born in 1970.
...erm thats not what they said. They said that they have been a nurse since 1970.
No easy solution. I have "camped out" at a hospital for 3 days, stayed at motel, at my own expense, called while in a ditch and been told,"get here soon as you can." And I've called in because I couldn't get out of the yard. Ultimately I have to decide. I will not help the nurse already there, the patient, the hospital, or myself risk more than I can afford to lose, and fail. Fair doesn't factor into it.
springchick1, ADN, RN
1 Article; 1,769 Posts
Yes but when the OP adds more to their story with every post, it seems less and less believable. Anytime someone made a suggestions or said this is what the do, OP would come back and say, oh my hospital won't let us do that. So someone offers a different suggestion and sudden,y the hospital doesn't allow that either.
The OP wanted people on her side and to agree that the hospital should have paid her PTO. Some people agree with that, others don't. That's just how it is with an Internet message board.