Forced to stay and work under mandatory evacuation?

[squatmunkie_RN]

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?

[wooh, BSN, RN]

I hate to keep bringing up 'union' because I really don't like unions, but this is the exact sort of reason why unions are needed. The well-being of the nurse should not be a sacrifice made by the institution on behalf of the patient while doctor's & admins receive better treatment while the nursing staff is not even sufficiently reimbursed for their time, effort and commitment.

Which is great if you have a union. If you don't have a union, realistically, the choices are take it or leave it. "Should" is great, but reality is what it is.

[That Guy, BSN, RN, EMT-B]

No patient is worth me dying over. Period.

[OnlybyHisgraceRN, ASN, RN]

OP, I have a very serious question for you: What alternative solution do you suggest?

Hospitals are not schools. They cannot have snow days and close the doors and tell everyone to stay home. Patients in the hospital are sick and need care. Other people continue to get sick or injured even during a natural disaster. If every hospital in your area closed their doors, what would happen to the people who are sick or injured? If the hospital staff left after their shift, and no staff were able to come in to replace them, what would happen to the patients?

No, being on a "stay team" is not an ideal situation. But you know what? Sometimes in life there are no good solutions to problems. There is only the best choice out of the worst solutions. Before you start complaining and arguing about the policy, I would encourage you to put yourself in the shoes of the administrators who MUST come up with a solution to these potential problems in advance. So please spend a few minutes doing this. What ideas do you have to make the disaster plan better? What pros and cons are there to the ideas you have?

Last September I was scheduled to work the weekend that Hurricane Irene was meant to strike the east coast. Employees were told that we were not allowed to call out during the disaster- we were expected to be there to work if scheduled. It would be considered a no-call, no-show and we could risk losing our job. I knew that if I were to leave after my shift on Saturday night there was a very good chance I would not be able to get back to the hospital on Sunday morning due to flooding. I knew that there was a good chance I could lose my job. Was I FORCED to come in? No. Were there consequences if I chose not to? Yes.

So what did I do? I arranged to have my dogs boarded in a safe place. I packed extra clothes, toiletries, and food and planned to stay at the hospital all weekend to be there for my shifts. I slept in a spare hospital room with several co workers and got up the next morning to work another shift. Was it an ideal situation? Absolutely not. Was it necessary? Yes.

You know what happened that Sunday while I was at work? My house was flooded with three feet of water. We lost thousands of dollars worth of possessions. Furniture, clothing, appliances, personal effects... When I left work on Sunday night I was unable to return to my house due to flooding. I was able to pick up my dogs and I spent a week staying with a friend with nothing but the bag I had packed in the hospital.

But you know what else happened that Sunday night? I was helping our team of doctors stabilize a critically ill 4 year old child with leukemia in septic shock. We intubated her, got her on a conventional ventilator, placed a central line, placed an arterial line, started her on vasopressors, gave her fluid boluses, hung antibiotics, drew blood work, switched her to an oscillating ventilator, added more vasopressors, gave blood transfusions, and drew more blood work.

Now, let me ask you- what would have happened to that little girl at your hospital if there was no disaster plan in place? If there were not doctors, nurses, respiratory therapists and pharmacists who were mandated to come to work? Who would have cared for this patient, whose broken, run down immune system didn't care that there was a hurricane outside? Nobody- and she would have died.

Are disaster plans perfect? Absolutely not. Do they put the staff in a great situation, with benefits and extra perks and smiles on their faces? Not one bit. But for the sick, the injured, and those who cannot survive without us- are they necessary? You better believe it.

Right on Ashley.... This is what we signed up for as nurses....

[Elladora]

Like Ashley, I plan ahead. Where I work, we have no hurricanes but we do have tornadoes and snowstorms. I keep a bag in my car with a change of clothes, toiletries and a few snacks. I can (and have) stayed extra shifts because co-workers could not make it in. It happens. The rule where we work is if the next shift can't make it in, you stay. Period. Not perfect but it is what is is. A patient has a right to quality, consistent care, no matter what the weather situation. For a nurse to even consider leaving when there might not be replacement staff is inexcusable to me. That's part of being a nurse.

[PacoUSA, BSN, RN]

You're a NURSE and this is a surprise? If you wanted a 9-to-5 job you should have become a secretary.

[Tragically Hip]

You're a NURSE and this is a surprise? If you wanted a 9-to-5 job you should have become a secretary.

Or a hospital administrator.

[redhead_NURSE98!, ADN, BSN]

My comment has little to do with whether or not someone wanted to leave the shift so much as the conditions. Time and a half for disaster pay? No foreseeable relief? Leave at any time and expect to be fired? No union representation? Physicians and admins get preferential treatment during disasters? THAT is what I was referring to with the like/leave stuff. The workers have to be protected, too.

The terms appear to the be the terms in place when the OP signed on to work. If she didn't like the terms she should have negotiated different ones, or picked a different employer. She WAS in the Gulf area when she signed on, correct? They didn't pick up the facility and move it? She is now stuck with the current terms, or leave, or expect to be possibly disciplined or terminated! It's legal! It doesn't take 2500 characters of wank to say as such, and if that's "intellectually lazy" then so be it.

[tothepointeLVN, LVN]

I promise you, if I'd been working three days and nights in an ICU and a doctor came into the room and tried to kick me out so I his wife could get her beauty sleep, I'd invite him to get the **** out. I promise you, I would not move.

Or at the very least write him up for risking patient safety in favor of a non patient.

[redhead_NURSE98!, ADN, BSN]

Great story. Nurses like you are the reason I became a nurse. I have not been through what you have, but I live in the South and when it snows here, everything shuts down and you can't get anywhere. I remember during my 3rd or 4th year after graduating nursing school, I was working in a hospital and we had a very uhm..."stern" nurse manager. She didn't put up with any sob stories. One Friday they were calling for a significant amount of snow that night and she came to the floor and gathered everyone together. She said, "They are calling for snow tonight. It will possibly be several inches. Each and every one of you who are scheduled to work tomorrow are expected to be here and on time. We have made arrangements for you to spend the night here and it won't be like home, but you will be as comfortable as we can make you. You may go home if you like. IF.....you do not show up to work tomorrow or if you are late, there will be harsh consequences. I do not want any phone calls about not being able to get here on time." We knew she meant that we would be fired.

Before I worked at my first hospital, I was told that we had someone that would always call in and say she couldn't get down off her driveway to get to work when it snowed. Someone google-mapped her house and found that her driveway was quite flush with the street. The nurse manager called her the next time she tried to call in and said that security was going to come pick her up so she could work her shift. At that time she "borrowed her neighbor's car" and drove on in to work and never called in for weather again lol

[Pets to People]

During a disaster I would want to be with my family, no matter what, so I do not know what I would do in your situation. I understand the importance of the nurses and other medical staff showing up to care for those in need, and there will be many, and I do not believe the hospital should have to pay extra.

[prmenrs, RN]

Working in a hospital has been known to require staying @ work in the case of an emergency. I would encourage you to develop a personal disaster plan--keep an extra set of clothes and toiletries @ work and/or in your car; work w/your family to take care of children, pets, etc. Re: child care: have more than one plan--if the day care provider won't cooperate, find a friend who can rescue your child if necessary.

On 9/11, many pets near Ground Zero were saved just because their owners left the toilet seat up! And, many years ago, I told my parents that if the "big one [earthquake]" hit while I was @ work, just assume I was dead and proceed accordingly. I was fairly sure the building would pancake down very effectively.

[E.niles]

thank you