Hello, I am a Nurse in the State of West Virginia.
We are currently in the wake of Winter Storm Jonas which has left our hospital in a bind with staffing. I am well aware of the mandation laws currently in action for the state of WV. I understand that a nurse can be mandated to work a 16 hour shift if staffing is needed for the safety of the patients, which I have no problem with and will gladly volunteer in this time of need. However, at our specific facility after a nurse has worked a 16 hour shift, management will not let us leave the building, even if we are not scheduled to work for several days, requiring us to sleep here.
They are at this point threatening us with discipline.
I have just worked a 12 hour shift and am not needed to work an additional 4 hours as my replacement has arrived, they have no use for me. They will not let me leave the hospital even though they have no need for me. They say, "they cannot guarantee that I will make it in for my shift tomorrow night and I am not allowed to leave due to this."
Although extreme, I feel that this is somewhat a hostage situation, lol. I live 5 minutes away from the hospital of which I work, I have even said that I can walk to work of for some reason my 4WD lifted truck cannot make the 2.2 mile trip.
This cannot be legal, refusing a nurse from going home if they are not mandated and are not needed. For instance, a nurse worked her scheduled shift this past Friday and was going to leave at 7pm. They told her she was not needed but she was not allowed to leave.
She isn't scheduled to work again until Monday morning and are forcing her to stay here throughout the weekend? I cannot see how this is legal in anyway, and then on top of forcing us to stay they are intimidating us by throwing termination in our face if we leave.
A snowstorm so bad that essential personnel are being asked to stay at work and work extra? Are you forgetting who you are and what you do? What if you went home and your relief refused to come in ? Or what if the hospital had no one to come in?
And did you miss the part where she said she lives 5 minutes from the hospital and could WALK to work if necessary? I don't know if you read the papers but there are plenty of us who walked farther than that to work in this snow......and in lots of other snowstorms too.
I objected to their distrust of my critical thinking skills. They trust me to recognize and intervene in critical health status changes but not trust me to determine my ability to return for my next shift from a mile away in the morning. I get that adequate staffing is essential for patient safety however; I paid $300 dollars for a hotel to prepare to make it and they not only want me to eat that but won't even pay me to basically be on call and not ensure that there was access to meals after 6:30 pm for us? No. That's bull. Lucky for me, our unit management conveniently. Didn't make it in and my charge that night is outstanding and reasonable and trusted that this middle aged woman would stand by my word and be back for my **** if I had to walk. I woke up and left myself an hour and a half to get there on time when in actuality took me 5 minutes.
I wonder if the facility was "disciplined" or had any consequences for contributing to the nurse's heart attack. I think it is inhumane to expect someone to work to the point of having a heart attack. I guess they needed to let them off work at the point of the heart attack occurring.
It is interesting that these policies only apply to nurses not other staff such as health care aides, dietary staff, etc. They cannot be mandated and they do not have to wait until their shift replacement arrives. They just leave and there is nothing that can be done about it.
I say ask that they provide you I writing ( or you email them and get them to reply in email) what they ask you to do. What they are doing is imprisonment which is a crime.
But, if I were you and I would like to keep my job at least until I can find a better one, then I will just find another reason. You can say you are too to work - stomach ache :-), backache. How about an emergency at home that you need to get to - your roof is falling under the weight of snow???? I don't know, I am saying they are tricking to work so you can play the same game with them. I don't know.
I would not force someone to stay if they had a cardiac condition and did not have their meds with them. I would not expect my staff to work to the point of having a heart attack that was preventable. I would work with other management staff to provide a safety plan that is safe, reasonable and does not jeopardize patients or staff. I have been stuck at facilities for 4 consecutive days several times. Most staff want the overtime so it isn't an issue but there are extenuating circumstances, like a nurse needing to get their meds. Maybe a doc could have written them a prescription and gotten it filled from the hospital pharmacy. But that was not done in the example provided by the poster. It was just get to work, who cares about you and your meds. I have been a manager and I was not inhumane.
I wonder if the facility was "disciplined" or had any consequences for contributing to the nurse's heart attack. I think it is inhumane to expect someone to work to the point of having a heart attack. I guess they needed to let them off work at the point of the heart attack occurring.
What they did to that nurse is a real crime. She should have called the police. She does not need a lawyer, the prosecutor will take care of it. The nursing supervisor, the ceo of the facility, the entire facility would be charged.
You know, I used to get a lot of crap with the nursing supervisors and managers because I just said yes to what they told me to do/not do for fear of losing my job with a famous facility I started with. Then one day I realized, do I really want this job bad enough to trade my own health and dignity? Nope.
Adequate staffing isn't really a petty issue. I'm not saying the OP's employer is right. If they want to keep warm bodies in the hospital, they need to, at the least, provide hygiene items, beds, linens, free food, and the like. They need to pay them at least their base pay, too. But I do understand management's predicament. Adequate staffing is essential.
When you really think about it, what are they supposed to do? They can't pull nurses out of thin air.
For all who said you'd leave anyway and/or resign, you are braver than I am. I would have to stay, but after it was over, I'd be about trying to make sure it didn't happen again - union talks, talks with legislators, or ???
To all those nursing supervisors and nursing managers....I guess you need to know the risk you are placing yourselves by doing something like forcing your staff. Management will not come to your defense when you are arrested by the police for imprisonment, for causing death or physical injury because you prevented your nurse from the opportunity to take her meds. You will be cuffed by the police right there and then. You will spend great amount of money for your legal defense. Just think about it - for what ????
There are already laws that need to be followed by the supervisors. Forget the union, if it happens to me (prevented from getting my meds and suffering a heart attack) I will call the police.
Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN
5,047 Posts
OP's relief DID come in.