I live near the gulf where evacuating for hurricanes is a possibility around this time. The hospital where I work places nurses on teams. One team is forced to say, the other forced to come back 24 hrs after the hurricane is gone, and the other can come back when regular citizens come back.
My question can they legally do this? I was placed on the team that's forced to stay in the hospital with pts. They'll keep ICU, ER and MY floor open only.
There will be no extra pay, no bonus, just regular pay and time and 1/2 when you're in over time. Expected to sleep in the hospital, in semi-pvt room WITH ANOTHER CO-WORKER!
If the evacuation is mandatory how can they legally tell me to stay and WORK? Can I be fired for leaving?
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
animals are a different story. if you have animals i beg you not to leave them home unattended. it would be a terrifying and maybe deadly ordeal for them. animals would not be allowed at the hospitals but do check (in advance) of where animals could be housed. or if friends will keep them or take them if they evacuate. we found that hotels in the orlando area took our animals free during our evacuations.
we evacuated for both ivan and dennis (which we were ground zero for) and took substantial damage from both and evacuated both times.
the best way to avleviate this burden off your back and make you feel better is to get prepared... now... not when it's happening. btw.... we have a nice wave that just came off the african coast they are watching. good luck to you!
my husband and i both work in a hospital. when we were both mandated to stay during the last hurricane, he hurried home to pick up the dog and his crate. the dog rode out the storm in his cozy crate in the back of dh's truck parked safe and protected in a loading dock, underground. we both took turns visiting and playing with the dog, and he found that his ball can be thrown an awfully long way in an underground garage that is nearly empty! dh's boss thought that was a great idea, and so that's the plan for this year's hurricane season.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
this is what we object to when we object to people getting into nursing for the money only. you can move to an area that doesn't have hurricanes if you want.
i don't believe that this is a "for the money only" problem. i've seen plenty of nurses with "fair weather callings."
Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.
i have worked through tornadoes in ks and hurricane ike in the only hospital(direct hit) that was open during the storm. we were allowed to bring our family and we rode out the storm and evacuated the next day. it was one of the most scary things i have been through. we took care of pts and thier family members. the building shook and swayed and it sounded like a bomb was going off. windows broke out in the halls and patients room windows cracked and water poured in. the wind was so strong it could suck you towards the window. the day we evacuated there was no water and so we couldn't flush toilets and had a limited bottles of water to give meds and the ac went off and people were slipping from the humidity on the floor. the thing that bothers me the most is the people they made stay to work had spouses and kids but the ones without kids were allowed to evacuate. nm made that decision which i think is not fair. it make sense to have criteria for who stays which would be people without kids, not caring for elederly parents, live close to hospital and so forth. we were paid for all our time and they fed us. i still would never do it again.
why is it that some people think nurses without kids are somehow "expendable"? in a natural disaster, everyone should have to pitch in. i don't care about someone else's kids; i didn't make the choice for them to reproduce, so they are not my responsibility. my responsibility is to my patients and my family, not someone else's family.
i've been stuck sleeping on the floor with four other people...no food. i've driven in snowstorms and ice storms to give home care and hospice care. i expected the same of my co-workers who had kids. we all have our cares and responsibilities; no one is more important than the other.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
i have just started my first job today- in ltc- and i am not aware of any disaster requirements in my job description ( we are coastal carolina).
but, for those who are nurses and also mothers, maybe they don't have the ways and means to have someone else care for or evacuate their children in a crisis. and, i do believe that family comes first, if there is a choice.
so, i will have to think long and hard about taking a hospital job if it requires me to stay during a crisis and jeopardize the safety of my kids.
which job description gets top priority? parent or nurse? both are jobs in the service of others, afterall.
no matter where you choose to live, there are natural (and not so natural) disasters of one sort or another. if you're a parent, you would be wise to have a plan in place for child care in case you cannot be there. the child's other parent or grandparent, a close neighbor, you'r child's best friend's mommy or people from your church are all good places to start. none of us -- even the non-nurses -- can garuntee that we'll be with out children when disaster strikes and/or can get there immediately after. if you are a nurse, so much the better reason to have a plan. but having children is not a reason to abdicate your responsibilities as a nurse.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
i live by the okefenokee swamp n here a few years back it was on fire. i was working at that time as a lpn/prn for a ltc facility. everyone around my neighborhood was under a mandatory evac. and so was the facility i worked for. my trucks, 6 kids and husband was loaded and fixing to leave the house when i got a call from the facility for me to come in and help them evac. the patients. i told the lady on the phone what was going on at my house and that i couldn't come in.
they never called me back nor put me on the schedule of any kind. i called in several times to tell them what my schedule was at my other job and what days i could work for them. they would say 'ok', but they would never call me back.
a year later i got a letter saying that they had terminated my employment with them d/t not calling and giving them my schedule.
my question to you guys in regards to the original poster is; is that fair??? and what is your opinion on that scenario???
if i understand this, your husband was at home and caring for/evacuating your children when you got a request from your work asking you to come in and help to evaluate patients. was your concern that your husband was unable to drive the truck away once it was packed? or just that you wanted to be with your family.
i think it was more than fair that you were never put on the schedule again. and after a year of not working, they terminated your employment . . . was that a surprise to you?
Hospitals only have one choice when facing a hurricane, evacuate all those patients they can and ride it out with the rest. For those that can't be sent home they have to find a place to evacuate them to. After they locate a place they have to arrange transport. When dealing with a hurricane air evac. will not be possible for 24 hrs+ before it hits, due to the associated winds. Those too sick to be moved have to stay. You can't very well expect them to be left there alone.
If something were to happen to a patient because of not having enough staff on duty I believe there is a good chance the hospital will be sued and possibly you also for abandonment. I don't really see a jury in your civil suit siding with a nurse that chose to leave helpless patients.
Be glad you are not in the Navy. When a hurricane is approaching the ships with a skeleton crew put to sea to ride out the storm. Fun times there riding out 30 foot swells. :barf01:
I think you sound incredibly entitled and are missing the point of what it means to be a nurse. To think of it as just a job is to slap in the face to every nurse who's sacrificed their time and life to take care of others who need them, and this is a situation where you are desperately needed.
I reject the 'nurse-as-saint' attitude. I one chooses to volunteer (which I do, btw), that's one thing. As an employee, however, it is 'just' a job... and not one which compensates and covers employees who "sacrificed their... life to take care of others." Cops, firefighters... they are protected... nurses, nope.
"There will be no extra pay, no bonus, just regular pay and time and 1/2 when you're in over time. Expected to sleep in hospital, in semi-pvt room WITH ANOTHER CO-WORKER!"
Extra pay? There better be... as in double time since I expect to be paid for every hour that I'm there, sleeping or not, just like a firefighter. Where I sleep, who cares? That I'm paid? You betcha. If I were salaried, that's different - I'm an hourly employee (nonexempt, that is...) and will be paid or won't stay.
But remember, you're never forced, you just may need to find work somewhere else.
Yes, on this point we agree... they can terminate you as an at-will employee but probably not for cause unless they are paying you.
The easy way out: After about 20 hours, simply state that you are unsafe to work. Not much they can do when the "unsafe" card gets played.
Yea not trying to be rude but your in the wrong line of work if this is how you feel. I live in an area with a rough hurricane season and as "just" a CNA I am expected to be at work during a hurricane. In fact, if I don't show up and am schedule I will be fired. If I can't get there, they send for me. Yeah you have to sleep there but they're paying you while you sleep and most of it will be overtime. As a member of healthcare you should want to step up when you are needed. If your only in it for the money they're better off without you. All I've ever wanted is to take care of people and I am killing my body working my way through school as an aide to do it. I can not stand it when nurses treat patients like a task list instead of people. Not saying you are doing this but I don't understand you not wanting to step up and help when you are needed.
I am finding all of the differing viewpoints very interesting and informative. I feel really lucky.
I hadn't realized that my organization was so different than the norm. I work for a very large (faith-based) organization with facilities in many states & Mexico. Several of our facilities are in high-risk hurricane locations. The "nice" thing about hurricanes is that they usually provide plenty of warning.. We have found that 36 hours is enough time to evacuate a facility. We discharge anyone that can - then transfer patients to our other facilities, along with staff to care for them as needed. Critically ill patients are air lifted if necessary.
If a facility cannot be completely evacuated, we rely on volunteer staff to remain... no one has to stay if they don't want to. We always have plenty of volunteers, including physicians. Clinical managers are expected to be among the volunteers. There is always at least one member of the "C-level" in house, with authority to make decisions and allocate funds. We provide shelter for dependents and pets of all "stayers", including food. Stayers receive 'disaster pay'.
Since the effects of a hurricane can be long-lasting, we also provide emergency assistance for employees who have housing needs after the immediate danger is over. After Rita and Ike, this included putting people in hotels & in other employee's homes, deploying the "blue tarp" brigade to cover damaged roofs of employees, opening up the hospital laundry for employees, etc. Our payroll department also makes sure that everyone gets paid on time.. this can be a challenge if there is a long period of power outage... no ATMs, no functioning Banks, merchants only take cash. We go on-site to distribute cash to employees so that they can continue to meet their own needs.
During Ike, a relief platoon of nurses and physicians from our Mexican facilities obtained special temporary licensure permission and spent weeks providing supplemental staffing for our beleaguered facilities that were most highly impacted. One facility was on generator power for 2 months afterward.... but since it was the only hospital in the area, it had to stay open.
When a facility is damaged and can't care for patients, they don't really need any staff. So, my organization created a staffing pool & utilized them in different capacities until their place was back and open for business. Nurses ended up helping out in central supply or HIM; X-Ray techs worked alongside maintenance folks - - and they continued to receive paychecks.
BTW, my organization also fielded 3 separate groups (25 in each) of volunteer physicians and nurses for 30-day deployments to Haiti after their disaster. They all received full pay.
I didn't consider that all of this was so extraordinary, but now I am much more appreciative.
Well, while a nurse is a nurse, and we are there for hard times or good. SOMETIMES we have to make calls for our own sakes that might be unpopular with our admin/fellow nurses.
In the case of a single parent, no hands down I wouldn't stay with patients and have my children in danger without me. I love my patients, but if I am all my kids have, sorry, KIDS FIRST.
BUT i would make sure the my hosp. admin KNOWS in advance that I will not stay and why, and NOT to put me on a "team".
Here we volunteer to stay, and who will help afterwards, and SORRY but some people DO have home duties that might have to come first. (I have been on several as I live in Galv/houston area since my kids are adults so the young moms could be home, but I don't think I could have stayed when they were little, and my dad was on o2/cancer, NOPE they'd come first that time.)
BUT I want to say that IF the place is somewhere that SHOULD evac anyway and admin refuses too. Remember the nurses that were forced to stay at nsg home where admin REFUSED to evac, and then had to watch their patients drown?. I would refuse as it would be best if NO HELP then they will evac. (does that make sense?, and maybe that would have saved some of those folks lives) I would call cops and report it, and maybe even family members to come pick up. JOB be damned if lives are in danger.
I know New Orleans was a "different ball of wax". Things happened there that never happened in hurricanes in modern times before and i HOPE that hard lessons were learned by admin./nurses/pt. families.
I have nothing against nurses that CAN"T stay. As for me, I will do what I need to do for my patients AND my own life, but sometimes we need to say "NO". After all how much HELP would it be from a panicked nurse worried abt their child/whatever? NOPE, better to just state what you have to do BEFORE situation happens. ANd IMO I DON"T believe it makes you any less a nurse if you can't.
Ruby Vee, BSN
17 Articles; 14,051 Posts
my husband and i both work in a hospital. when we were both mandated to stay during the last hurricane, he hurried home to pick up the dog and his crate. the dog rode out the storm in his cozy crate in the back of dh's truck parked safe and protected in a loading dock, underground. we both took turns visiting and playing with the dog, and he found that his ball can be thrown an awfully long way in an underground garage that is nearly empty! dh's boss thought that was a great idea, and so that's the plan for this year's hurricane season.