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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?
Not every plan works all the time, but it does get tiring to hear people using their kids as an excuse to be less of an employee day in, day out. Just today one of our techs didn't get her way this morning and lo and behold, two hours later she had a "child emergency" and had to leave work for the day, leaving one tech for over 30 patients.
Oh goodness I HATE this. Years ago when worked retail I got a bee in my bonnet and called corporate when our boss gave everyone who was a mother a gift basket and mother's day off. Talk about being discriminatory. Just because a child has not burst forth from between my legs doesn't mean I waive my rights to be treated equally.
by op : 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.
i have to say, i think that's a lousy system. do the teams rotate on a regular basis? the way we do it is, if you're scheduled, you are expected to be there for your shifts. if the best way for you to do that is to camp out for the duration, then you need to plan on that, or risk being fired if you can't make it during the crisis, whatever it is. this way the misery is more randomly assigned. if you happened to be off, hooray for you.
I provide a unique set of skills that will be critical after a disaster. If I am lost in said disaster, what good am I to provide care? The only person I would lay my life down for is my GF or my family. Call me selfish if you want, call me a self preserver if you have to. Call me a bad nurse if you are so inclined.
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?
A year or so ago when there was a really bad snowstorm in the NorthEast and parts of the South a Washington DC hospital fired a number of nurses who failed to report. The fact there was a blizzard was neither here nor there as far as the facility was concerned. Employees especially critical ones (such as nurses) were informed via memo soon as weather reports began issuing storm warnings.
D.C. nurses fired over snowstorm absences still fighting for jobs - FierceHealthcare
As for "can I be fired for leaving?", in short the answer is yes, and you may loose your license as well. Patient abandonment is a very serious matter and in most states a nurse cannot legally leave her/his patients until reporting off to her/his replacement. Of course if one is granted permission to leave and or is removed by management or administration that is another story.
Regarding accmodations and such, need I remind your that nurses have remained with their charges during wars, plagues, active battle fields, pandemics, and so forth. They did so under conditions that make sharing a semi-private room in a modern hospital seem like Buckingham Palace. They also did so under threat of the most violent and personal criminal attack a woman could endure.
Am sorry you thought such ideas of self sacrifice went out with starched whites and caps,but nope, they are still with us. On 9/11/01 as anyone who could was trying to get out of Manhattan nurses by the scores were trying to get *to* their hospitals. Failing that they offered their services to any facility that had or anticipated need.
Having worked during Hurricane Ivan when it came ashore 12 miles from my hospital, which was also struck by a tornado spawned by Ivan, I can attest to the lack of fun a disaster represents. Amazingly we had no one on my unit not show up. Everything we did took four times as long as it normally does and would probably been impossible if we were short staffed because people left. I understand family comes first, but I agree that if you can not meet the requirements asked of you by your facility, find another job that meets your needs. And yes, moving from the area you are in might be necessary.
I can't say I read every post, but I think the real problem is the requirement of staying no matter what.
Seriously, who cares about the accommodations when the world is falling apart? Also, if I am getting paid for my time, even if it isn't time and a half, who cares - happy to be able to help. Hell, I have racked up hundreds of volunteer hours for Red Cross and I will again when my kids are grown (have to be on call 24/7 for a week at a time)
The question is what should be required when a natural disaster hits? My husband and I are both in healthcare and so we can't both be at the hospital at the same time with young children. I have no relatives in town, and how can I be sure that my neighbors in the new area I live in can be trusted enough to take care of my kids in a disaster? What if you have done everything possible to make a disaster plan for your family, and when the hurricane hits the fan, your plan falls through? Should you be fired? I would do everything I was able to do to make it to work if a disaster hit, but if it meant leaving my kids home alone, then wouldn't I be abandoning them as well? If my choice is abandonment of patients or abandonment of my children, then there is no choice to be made.
This is not a black or white issue.
The reality of living on the Gulf coast is that it is not if a hurricane is going to hit its when and where. It is a reality not a scenario. When I read msn10s post that both parents are healthcare workers my belief is that one of them should take a job that will not require them to be present in dangerous situations so that their children, pets, parents, etc are safe. That may mean a less than ideal job but their number one priority their family will always be taken care of whatever the situation. As far as not showing up and then being fired, I liken that to my mortgage, the company could care less that I lost my job or that I shot the house note on hookers and blow, they have a legal contract and want what is theirs, just like the hospital. Is it fair, no, but neither is life and all decisions have consequences. Otherwise we would all blow the rent on hookers and blow. And yes that is a joke.
Wow, I really can't believe some of the comments. It's like some of you grew fangs...geesh.
In all reality there is ALWAYS going to be someone who HAS to be somewhere else for a variety of reasons. I've been in ALOT of storms, etc, and NEVER once has there not been someone who could fill the gap IF THERE EVEN WAS A GAP, and I can't ever remember anyone not staying because just being selfish.
Nursing is "TEAMWORK", so when a team member has to go, we will help out, and I've never heard of a person being a nurse because of the "GREAT PAY". LOL, SO we are kinda hardwired to care for others IMO.
I do not agree with places that make MANDATORY demands on anyone. People will step forward if you give them a reason and a chance.
But seriously folks to say someone shouldn't be a nurse because they can't stay in an emergency is a bit much.
Live and let live, and if someone has a selfish reason, so be it, it will grate on their nerves, we don't have to judge or punish them.
I don't work in a hosp. I work at a residental faulity for TBI's and every storm/ hurricane came in all the ones who stayed brought family, pets, and anything else that was deemed important to them and though was not a "FUN" experience, we tried to make it fun/funny, (yes we slept on floor, no lights/air cond. etc) We learned from each one, and talk abt the "times we were stuck" and how to make next time better. The ones that didn't stay were our "RUNNERS". They brought in supplies, (sometimes driving 100 miles) and needed food/and "COKES"... SO I don't care if stay or not, everyone helped in some way.
I provide a unique set of skills that will be critical after a disaster. If I am lost in said disaster, what good am I to provide care? The only person I would lay my life down for is my GF or my family. Call me selfish if you want, call me a self preserver if you have to. Call me a bad nurse if you are so inclined.
Having to share a room with a coworker really can be risky, not to mention having to ingest hospital food for extended periods of time.
What exactly is your unique skill? Grave digging?
Piglet08
153 Posts
Paco69, I am pretty sure ocnrn63 agrees with you and was sarcastically, for comic effect, voicing what some meddling busybodies would say to the childless or anyone else who wasn't doing what they think they should. That's how I took it, anyway.