Have you ever had to nurse through a water shutdown?

[JeanettePNP, MSN, RN, NP]

For the past few weeks I've been getting messages in my school inbox about a hospital water shutdown due to some construction/renovation. Some of the floors affected ARE occupied patient units.

While the risers are shut down, no potable water will be available; all sinks, toilets and showers will be affected. Staff will need to make alternate arrangements during the shut-down.

Just curious, what kind of "alternate arrangements" do staff make during a water shutdown?

[April, RN, BSN, RN]

This happened at my hospital not all that long ago. Actually, the whole city had no clean water. They provided inpatient units with tons of bottled water. There was an emergency back-up that provided running water, but it was not clean. Toilets could be flushed and you could shower, but it had to be boiled before being used for cooking.

[catshowlady]

Yeah, lots of bottled water to pass meds with, and baby wipes for incontinence care. No routine baths. This was for shortages 8 hours or less.

:paw:

[CNM 26.2]

I have only been through very short water outages (a couple of hours or less) for construction. We also used bottled water for drinking and we filled the bathtubs with water before the shut down so we could use a bucket to pour that water into the toilets to flush them if needed. We told the patients of the water outage and had them all take their showers before and maybe use the bathroom right before as well so chances were they wouldn't need to go again until we had water again. We also made sure that all patients had their water mugs filled just prior to the water being shut off as well-although we did have bottled water if they needed it. The patients were very understanding and it has always gone off without a hitch.

[Hoozdo, ADN]

I worked about 3 weeks on a water shortage in the past, (organisms in water.)

We even used bottled water to bathe patients with. We were allowed to flush

toilets, but no tap water for ANYTHING. It can be done, but it's not easy.

[JSBoston]

In the Boston area we had water issues for at least a few days, and we could use water for bathing, but only bottled for consuming/cooking etc. Most are tube feed (trach/vent) patients, so it wasn't too bad. The biggest issues came with the few patients who had ice chips privileges. No ice anywhere, so they weren't happy (understandable of course).

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

Those of us who work in "hurricane country" know a lot about this. Every hospital HAS to have a disaster plan that specifies how utilities are to be managed in the event of outages... make sure you know what is in this plan. During the height of the storm, and possibly for days afterward, we have to be prepared for loss of power and water.

Hurricane prep is usually an 'all hands on deck' situation, with everyone (execs included) pitching in to transport supplies and haul water where it needs to be... all overseen by the plant/safety folks. Essentially, everyone is focused on providing what it takes to support nursing services - so that they can continue to provide quality patient care. Normally, it goes something like this...

First - making sure there are very large 'containers' of water to flush with.. this includes filling all bathtubs and using very large 'recycling-type' trash cans, etc. These are located in or near bathroom facilities... along with clean buckets to manually flush the toilets.

Then, each patient care area is outfitted with:

Lots of cases of bottled water... for drinking, making coffee or any other form of ingestion - LOL

Containers of 'clean water' next to sinks for rinsing hands -- washing is done with anti-microbial gel

Huge insulated sanitary containers filled with ice.

LOTS of 'pre-moistened' bath thingies... kits, baby wipes, etc... for patient hygeine

Lots of disposable linen substitutes... blue pads, paper towels, etc.

I would think that some sort of similar arrangement should be ready and waiting for these brief waterless periods that the OP and others are referring to. And nurses should certainly NOT be pulled away from patient care to implement the plan.

[GuatericanNurse]

Like April, RN said, in Boston a few months back we had a water shortage for a couple days. It was rough. At first, we didn't know what we were going to do, but thankfully the kitchen just sent up extra bottles of water to every room multiple times a day. But no ICE! Can you believe that I worked these crazy hectic days, and I couldn't even treat myself to an iced coffee from Dunkins!!? I am not sure how we all functioned.... Thankfully I found a Starbucks within a hospital that had their own clean water source. They were definately my savior for those few days!

[SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN]

Bottled water.

[Redhead28]

Good Grief, I complained last year when we had no hot water at the hospital for a week. Cannot even imagine no water. It goes back to third world nursing. It can happen but why?

[April, RN, BSN, RN]

Good Grief, I complained last year when we had no hot water at the hospital for a week. Cannot even imagine no water. It goes back to third world nursing. It can happen but why?

In the Boston area incident, a major water main ruptured and left millions of people in 30+ communities in the Boston area without water, including hospitals. It took days to repair.

[diane227, LPN, RN]

Yes I have and most of the time we had enough advance warning to get plenty of water and ice ready and the facility gave us coolers to put water and ice into. I have also worked through disasters with no electricity and I have had to evacuate people for a fire. I have worked without phones. It is a real pain but you can do it. Advanced notice of a shut down is nice however.