Hi everyone. I joined this page to ask this specific question. I used to be a PCA, and am currently a college student. During my winter break, I was home and there was a snow storm that made visibility terrible, and the roads were not even plowed. I was scheduled to come in that night for an overnight, and had told my employer I probably wouldn't be able to get there due to the snow over 24 hours in advance. I messaged every single other person that worked as well, and everyone either did not want to or were even further away than I was. I had to end up just saying that I could not come in. I drive a very old sports car that has BALD tires. When I even hit a patch a slush doing 5 mph, I will still slide. Living in a town with all hills that was unplowed and had ice all over, I couldn't even get out of my driveway, and knew there was no way my car would make it there. My family did not allow me to take their four wheel drive vehicles, or even my brothers car which is at least a little safer. I do not live at school, so I didn't have anywhere I could stay beforehand to make it to work. I ended up being fired, and was obviously upset. I got yelled at for being "unprepared" and "irresponsible", as if I could have just snow shoed there or had any other option. This is NOT my full time job, it was simply for patient care hours. I did NOT take on this job thinking I would have to do this, nor was it ever mentioned to me. There were people on campus that just did not want to go in and cover me. Is this really my fault? I hate losing a job and a reference, but I can't control what car my family gives me, or that I have no viable option. I'm an undergrad, not a nurse knowing fully well what I have to do. Also, on overnights you get paid $20 for the whole entire night. You don't get paid hourly. I don't think totaling my car or getting hurt or killed is worth any amount, much less $20.
Maybe in your state but in mine and a lot of others nurses are exempt from travel bans.
During the great snow storm of 2013 in Kansas City, nurses were considered "essential personnel" and were not included in travel bans. Our hospital issued an e-mail at the start of the winter season that we were expected to show up or make arrangements. One of our new nurses from North Carolina whined that she couldn't drive in snow and was totally taken aback when, without blinking an eye, our manager said you can take the bus.
During the great snow storm of 2013 in Kansas City, nurses were considered "essential personnel" and were not included in travel bans. Our hospital issued an e-mail at the start of the winter season that we were expected to show up or make arrangements. One of our new nurses from North Carolina whined that she couldn't drive in snow and was totally taken aback when, without blinking an eye, our manager said you can take the bus.
"Plan was for business as usual at Truman Medical Center."
Yep, we get an email every year in October reminding us of our responsibilities during inclement weather. That is considered our warning. Termination is the next step.
Yes there is a real expectation because patients require care regardless of whatever disaster is occurring around them and the same nurses cannot safely take care of them 24 hours a day for days on end. This is why they are essential. You are correct it has nothing to do with emergencies.
That is why people ahead of time and prepared. Hurricanes are not surprises and do not last for days. Blizzards also do not last for days, although bad weather does. I can't say enough about facilities having disaster plans. We always had one and everyone knew where they were supposed to be and when, and never during the hurricane. Anyways, I found this:
Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA). The purpose of OSHA is to assure "every working man and woman in the Nation safe and healthful working conditions" (29 U.S.C. section 651(b)). This applies to all employment performed in any workplace within the United States as long as the employer has one or more employees (29 U.S.C. section 653). When it comes to natural disasters, consider the following under OSHA:
• Employers are responsible to protect employees from unreasonable danger in the workplace, which includes an imminent "natural phenomenon" that will threaten employee safety and health.
• Hurricanes and other disasters present obvious safety concerns that employers need to consider when asking employees to come into work during adverse weather, including vehicle accidents, slips and falls, flying objects, electrical hazards from downed power lines, exhaustion from working extended shifts and dehydration.
• An employee that reasonably believes he/she has been put in imminent danger because of being forced to go to work during a hurricane may file a complaint with OSHA against the employer and then ask for whistleblower protection.
• OSHA has issued fact sheets, in both English and Spanish, setting out issues and hazards relating to recovery and cleanup efforts following hurricanes or other disasters.
Regardless of the differing opions, I think this is a discussion that is needed and every new health care provider should be aware of their employer's expectations and what the laws are so they can make informed decisions. Just as the flight attendant tells you to put your mask on first, and then help others, so the nurse should keep themself safe and then show up as soon as possible to help others.
Ok...so i havent read all the responses but I understand you dont want to hear get a new car. I know how it is. I was a single mom with two young kids in nursing school and my Acura that ran fine suddenly lost its mind so to speak the last semester of LPN school. Getting a new car wasnt an option for me either. HOWEVER I worked three jobs for a year before I started school so me and my children would be ok while I didnt work. It was hard and I hated it but I had a goal and I knew no one cared if my car broke down or kid was sick or I had problems. It kind of sounds like youre not really used to working or having to make things happen and thats a disadvantage going into nursing. I worked since I was 14, and employers do not care about what is going on at home when you call off. Most dont care if youre sick your, your child is sick, etc. When you go into medical facilities its usually 24/7 and they expect you to be able to get to work. Ive driven in level 3 snow storms and had to show the police my badge so I didnt get ticketed. No one is required to cover your shift becasue you dont live close to work. It would have been nice, but its not a requirement. Many places do not have great team work either, so not to be harsh but youre going to have to get some thicker skin to survive being a nurse or even a CNA, PCA etc in a facility, and depending on the policy they can fire you for the first call off. I dont think you should have driven with bald tires and no $20 isnt worth dying over, but it was your shift and your responsiblity. Thats the case with any job...
• Hurricanes and other disasters present obvious safety concerns that employers need to consider when asking employees to come into work during adverse weather, including vehicle accidents, slips and falls, flying objects, electrical hazards from downed power lines, exhaustion from working extended shifts and dehydration.
• An employee that reasonably believes he/she has been put in imminent danger because of being forced to go to work during a hurricane may file a complaint with OSHA against the employer and then ask for whistleblower protection.
In theory this is great but, and it's a big one, employers have plenty of ways to get around this. And then there's the irony of saying you can't make an employee come to work nor can you make an employee work to the point of exhaustion. So in a hospital setting if you can't make people come in to replace the staff and the staff that's present is exhausted and you can't make them work more who's going to take care of the patients? Unfortunately there is no easy answer.
Having owned an assisted living business & hiring employees, & having been an RN for nearly 40 years, here's my reply to your questions/post: 1.) everyone I ever hired & every place I ever worked requires their employees "have a dependable means of transportation". You did not have that. 2.) you took the overnight shift job for $20. If you didn't think that was enough money, you should have declined the offer. 3.) your patient depended on you for care. That patient is _not_ "just for patient care hours"! That patient is a living breathing human being who deserves the respect of you keeping your word that you would care for them on the overnight shift. Patients already know they are sick (duh) & they internalize when their caregivers don't show up on schedule, imagining "I guess I'm not worth living" or "I guess they don't like me anymore"! 4.) if you were living in the desert & it never snows there but all of a sudden it did snow: that's a reason not to be prepared for snow. I don't see that you had a reason. I kept reading excuses.
But here's the thing about nurses not coming in to work due to weather. Please note that there is a nurse who has probably worked a 12 hour shift all night long who COUNTS on the day shift nurse to come in so she can go home and sleep. Surely you don't think the night shift can work another 12 hour shift after being up all night? This is the thing people just don't get. There is a nurse waiting for me to show up so they can go home. Not coming in is just patently unfair to the person waiting for relief. When a known snow storm is pending, nurses are expected to make arrangements to get there, whether that means getting a hotel room within walking distance, sharing a hotel with coworkers, staying with a friend/relative who lives near the facility, staying at the hospital for a couple of days, whatever it takes. Nursing is usually a 24/7 thing, 365 days a year.
An office job is another story, but you are asking this question on a nursing forum. Most nurses (not all certainly) are working in facilities where nurses are needed to relieve an offgoing shift. Working too many hours with no sleep is DANGEROUS for patients.
My mother was one of the unit clerks at the ED in a hospital in suburban Chicago. The entire staff figured out in advance who had four-wheel drive, and who lived close to who, so that on bad weather days they could coordinate. Sometimes that meant my mother (or whoever) would have to get up extra-early because the only way to get a ride into work was to carpool with someone who was working 8a-4p (my mother worked 4p-12a). But she did it, because she wouldn't have felt right leaving the ED understaffed. In Chicago, bad winters are expected, and planned for, they're not a huge surprise.
Even if OP is technically a millennial, it was a pretty snide way to begin one's post. I think that the negative implication was pretty clear to most readers.
As a fellow "technically millenial" who is on the opposite birth year cusp of the generation, I am pretty sick of the dismissive and derogatory comments that are so often made (and rarely with good will).
Lol being a millenial is the root of the student's problem? Generation X or any generation before millenial generation has a reputation of profiling young people as the root to their own problems. Instead of progressing and offering constructive advice, the blame game is played and generations before millenials are the ones usually to start the blame game.
OP, for the love of god, don't buy used tires. I don't even know why they're even legal to begin with. I believe it's a federal law that any car sold has to have AT LEAST good brakes and tires. Tires are the first thing a car touches ground with. If they're not good, it does not smoothly flow along the road therefore endangering the operator using the car with poor tires.
Hehe this just reminds me of a time when my old beater Buick wouldn't start so I had to walk 5 miles to work in the snow. I was a cashier at the time and my boss actually bought me lunch. Good times. I was broke but I was happy :)
Mavrick, BSN, RN
1,578 Posts
What state(s) are tire chains illegal? There are restrictions on when you can use them but outright illegal?