Have you ever had an accident driving to work in a snow storm?

[Alnitak7]

My heart really goes out to the children and families of all those caregivers who are bullied into driving during this time of dangerous driving weather.

Their patients who sometimes do not really need help during the storm are strangely enough on a list of the ones they're coerced into driving to. These patients are afraid for their caregivers.

If you have to work during this time, may I suggest leaving before the bad weather starts and arranging a double shift so your relief nurses do not have to go out.

May I also suggest that nurse managers think about what they would want if these nurses were their own children or parents and find alternatives that do not involve threatening them into driving on a dangerous road.

Knowing how to drive on ice does not make anyone more safe.

[JustBeachyNurse, LPN]

Planning is not impossible but you are oversimplifying. Sometimes showers and extra beds are not as simple to provide as you think. It is not realistic (and in some cases not permitted either by contract or law) to request or insist staff work double shifts so that another staff member may stay home. Planning may be as others stated, making alternate transportation arrangements, perhaps having an area where family can stay safely with supervision while the nurse works (more for situations necessitating evacuation like fire, flood, tornado, hurricane than winter storm), an area suitable for sleeping bags such as a carpeted conference room. Showers are not necessarily an amenity that can be provided but at least a quiet place to relax between shifts if leaving is not an option. Extended stays more than 36 hours are not common in winter storms but more likely in hurricane, tornados or similar destructive weather event where a nurse going to work may not have a home to return to at the end of the day. Areas prone to these type of weather events are more likely to have contingency plans for staffing than an area with an occasional winter storm.

If a nurse consistently cannot find a way to get into work during inclement weather ( and most of us have encountered the staff member who magically has an illness or excuse why they cannot work with one flake falling of an occasional downpour) then that nurse needs to reconsider working in an acute or LTC setting where their role is that of an essential personnel. (***note: I am NOT referring to the nurse that cannot make it in because a storm was worse than predicted and the route in is not safe to travel on a rare occasion.***) the nurse incapable of planning for weather emergencies may want to consider switching to a nonessential personnel role such as a medical office or elective outpatient surgery center.

[liketheairport]

No one has threatened your life or safety, OP. It's doubtful they've insulted you or made any significant change to your emotional well-being. You are contracted to show up, most likely. Not abusive, but a fact of life. You can go to work or you can call in, in either case, accept that actions have consequences.

[friendlyjane]

Im glad I live in the south.

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

Answer...prepare you vehicle. Like I said before. Have a change of clothes, food, water, heavy coat, gloves hat, sleeping bag, shovel, rock salt or sand bag, a cell phone snow brush, ice scraper, windshield deicer, road flares....and tire chains. In 2006 in respnse to a BAD storm here MEMA changed the laws....

Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency issued a release in 2006 saying:

Suggested items for a Winter Emergency Car Kit include a flashlight with extra batteries, a basic first-aid kit, necessary medications, a pocket knife, booster cables, a blanket or a sleeping bag, extra clothes (including rain gear, mittens and socks), non-perishable foods, a non-electric can opener, sand for generating vehicle traction, tire chains or traction mats, a basic tool kit (pliers, wrench, screwdriver), a tow rope, a container of water and a brightly colored cloth to serve as a flag, if necessary.

Here are the laws for tire chains...Tire Chains | AAA/CAA Digest of Motor Laws

Snow Tire Chains Review | etrailer.com

about $30.00

The storms coming now we are expected about a foot of snow...deep but drivable. We live where there is a ton of snow...we learn to drive in it...well at least most people do...LOL we have all seen that driver that just doesn't have the sense that his mother gave him...

[KelRN215, BSN, RN]

How is the staff "abusing you"? Not allowing you to sleep in a bed designated for a patient is NOT abuse. I've never worked anywhere that allowed this. Patient beds are for patients. Where do you expect managers to find these showers from? My hospital ONLY had showers in patient rooms and staff could not use them. As far as I can tell, you're not being held hostage. If you volunteer to stay, you can't blame anyone else for you being there late. I've been stuck for an hour or two after my shift before because people were late due to hazardous conditions but I've never been in a position where my employer said "you cannot leave tonight and you will stay here with no food and no access to a bathroom." People who opted to stay made the choice- they felt it would be better for them to spend the night than try to get home and come back tomorrow. I always lived within reasonable walking distance of my employers (3-5 miles) and if public transportation wasn't running and push came to shove, I walked home rather than staying.

As far as breastfeeding moms go, why would working in a snow storm be any different than working on any day? If a woman is breastfeeding and has returned to work, presumably she has someone caring for her child and feeding them with either formula or expressed breast milk while she is working. I've worked shifts before where half of the staff were breastfeeding moms. I'm sure EVERY staff member could come up with some perfectly good reason why they shouldn't have to work during a storm but most of them realize that they accepted a job where they are considered essential personnel. If you want to work as an essential employee in an area with snow, you figure it out. If you can't figure it out, might I suggest moving to Florida?

As far as planning goes, this goes both ways. Snow storms rarely just appear and drop a foot of snow without warning. I've been working for a few that were poorly predicted but, for the most part, we know when a storm is coming. There's a storm expected to arrive in my area later today and the weathermen have been talking about it all week. Were I still working in the hospital, I would have known MONTHS ago if this was my scheduled weekend to work so I would have no excuse for not preparing to get to work.

[OCNRN63, RN]

I do remember one storm many years ago. The hosp. brought us in w/ volunteers driving ATV or trucks. We were told we'd be staying overnight and possibly working the following 3-11 shift, but they would provide us a place to sleep and food.

Well...the place to sleep wound up being the floor of a conference room; we were given a sheet and a pillow. As far as the food, there was nothing. We scrounged for crackers and cereal from some of the floors.

Now that made me mad. If you're going to make staff stay, don't lie about what you're going to do to accommodate them. The next morning, the roads were much better, so we didn't have to work 3-11, but we were left to our own devices to find a way home.

[psu_213, BSN, RN]

What would you think of a building manager who is denying someone the right to a dignified place to sleep after they have worked a double shift, have to work again the next morning, and are stuck in the building?

In this case, that someone was me. There was an extra bed in a private, unoccupied room and they said I could not sleep there and why?? If they were expecting an admit I would have understood. Why do they abuse people this way and then complain about the ones who won't work during the storms?

Here is another thing. All through this thread I see people saying, "That's your problem." I have made it clear that I was on my shift during the storms and that I called to say that the next girl did not have to come in and that I would work her shift.

I have also seen some posts from people who were in accidents. Do you really think it's

"their problem?" If they were on the same staff as I was I would be thinking of what I could do to keep them out of crisis.

Not once have I ever told my coworkers that it's "their problem," if they were afraid of coming to work. I have kept them from being out on a dangerous road more times than I can count.

First, being a bad manager and/or treating employees poorly may be rotten, but that does not make said manager a sociopath (so can we give up that part of the discussion?).

I do agree with you that hospitals should try to make accommodations, within reason, for employees who are truly stuck at the hospital due to unforeseen, dangerous weather events. They should also understand when employees are a little late (for example, a half hour or so) when there is a difficult drive in.

However, I don't ever remember anyone using the phrase "your problem" when discussing driving to work in the snow/ice (I admit, I did not read every single word of each post; if that phrase was used, it was very rare). What people did say is that each nurse is responsible to get to work barring catastrophic circumstances. Whether you like it or not, nurses need to be there. Yes, nurses can work overtime for people who can't be on time due to the weather, however it is unsafe and unrealistic to expect those nurses who are already there to work doubles and cover those who didn't plan ahead for winter weather (especially when everyone knows its coming/knows it possible).

[Elle23]

As far as breastfeeding moms go, why would working in a snow storm be any different than working on any day? If a woman is breastfeeding and has returned to work, presumably she has someone caring for her child and feeding them with either formula or expressed breast milk while she is working. I've worked shifts before where half of the staff were breastfeeding moms. I'm sure EVERY staff member could come up with some perfectly good reason why they shouldn't have to work during a storm.

I was the one who brought up breastfeeding moms. I did not say they should not work in a storm. I said those at home should do their best to get to work to relieve those who HAVE worked, including breastfeeding moms, etc.

[psu_213, BSN, RN]

I'm getting the impression we just spinning our tires (no pun intended) with this discussion. Basically the OP is entrenched in the belief that people should not have to drive to work on bad roads and those that are at work should have food/board accommodations made for them (while not recognizing the impracticality of each idea).

At the same time, the vast majority of other posters realize that nurses have to be at work, even when the roads are bad.

I seems like this discussion is going nowhere fast...much like driving in the snow.

[michigansapphire]

The last time my hospital was expecting bad weather that could have mandated staff staying over, they told us to pack not only a change of clothes and personal care items, but to bring our own food. After all, there's only so much food in the hospital, and the patients get first claim on it -- and if the weather is so bad that staff can't get there, neither can the food delivery trucks!

[KelRN215, BSN, RN]

I was the one who brought up breastfeeding moms. I did not say they should not work in a storm. I said those at home should do their best to get to work to relieve those who HAVE worked, including breastfeeding moms, etc.

I was referring to the OP's statement that "If I knew a "breastfeeding mom" was on the staff with me I would help them to stay home by working their shift. I hope I'm not the only one." That was the statement I take issue with- just because I don't have a baby that needs to be breastfed doesn't mean that I should have to work extra.

I agree with you, Elle. I think it's ridiculous to suggest that people arrange to work a double shift (as the OP did) so that their colleagues don't have to work at all. Everyone has their own life and the people who did get to work for their shift deserve to go home and have things to go home to whether it be a breast fed baby, a 6 yr old who needs help with homework or just their own bed.

[psu_213, BSN, RN]

Our hospital occasionally gets full...i.e. no more beds not occupied by pts. in the whole house. In which case, we board pts. in the ED and make other accommodations for pts. Suppose a storm strikes when the house is full. "Sorry, I know you are very ill, but you have to stay lying on this ED stretcher while the staff gets beds and a shower." Uhh, no, that's not going to fly.

Or...."Sorry, visiting hours are over. Careful going home because the roads are icy. We'll take great care of your loved one through the night. Oh, and try to keep it down as you are leaving...there are some staff members sleeping over because they couldn't make it home with the bad roads. But I'm sure you'll be fine." Equally poor situation