So I've been a nurse for 4 years now. I live in the south where snow is not common. As of today every school system in the area is closed due to the snow. I have no kids, but this tells you how bad it is in the area. I live in the country and it's a 35 minute interstate drive to the hospital where I work. I am not sure if I should attempt to get to work or simply call out. I feel like I should at least try, but I've never had this problem before because I haven't been scheduled to work during a snow event before. I have very little experience driving in snow and the roads aren't plowed out here in the country.
So what would you do in this situation? Or what have you done in the past?
I am posting this because I really want opinions of nurses, not just my family/friends who advise me to stay home.
Specializes in burn ICU, SICU, ER, Trauma Rapid Response.
It's an Internet forum and people will portray themselves in any light. With that being said, I refuse to believe people are going to travel to work in a raging blizzard out of a sense of duty. Let's be real here. We're not super men or women.
Not supermen, just professionals who should be able to anticipate and plan ahead. I don't know where you live but in Minnesota blizzards are not the least unusual. We pretty much arrive at work when we are supposed to. Weather is not considered a legitimate excuse for not coming to work. We make plans to get to work when we are supposed to be at work.
I have driven through blizzards to get to work becuase I am supposed to be there. I make it because I have made arrangments and plans to be able to make it.
Not supermen, just professionals who should be able to anticipate and plan ahead. I don't know where you live but in Minnesota blizzards are not the least unusual. We pretty much arrive at work when we are supposed to. Weather is not considered a legitimate excuse for not coming to work. We make plans to get to work when we are supposed to be at work.
I have driven through blizzards to get to work becuase I am supposed to be there. I make it because I have made arrangments and plans to be able to make it.
Key words: Minnesota, not unusual weather. Those words don't mesh in the South. Most cities and drivers down here are not prepared for this weather. Maybe we should all go to Canada and have continuing education on to properly drive and prepare for work in these conditions. Of course the hospital will need to pay for the training required. Oh that's right they won't.
Specializes in Med nurse in med-surg., float, HH, and PDN.
Not supermen, just professionals who should be able to anticipate and plan ahead. I don't know where you live but in Minnesota blizzards are not the least unusual. We pretty much arrive at work when we are supposed to. Weather is not considered a legitimate excuse for not coming to work. We make plans to get to work when we are supposed to be at work.
I have driven through blizzards to get to work becuase I am supposed to be there. I make it because I have made arrangments and plans to be able to make it.
But that's the thing! Location, location, location!
I grew up in the Northeast....we were used to storms. We had lots and lots of the right equipment. It was always business as usual. Seldom did anything get called off.You just bundled up and went. It was winter and we knew how to 'do' winter. Two to three feet of snow was quite normal.
When you live in a place like that, it is very different from being in a place where 2 inches of snow throws every aspect of life off. As a Northerner, when first in the South I was unbelieving about the hullabaloo that flurries caused.
But I'm here to promise you with all my heart, when there isn't enough of the right kind of equipment and drivers don't know what is required to know about driving in the snow.... it can be complete havoc. You can TELL people over and over the ways to drive safely under those conditions, but opportunities for experience is lacking. So, many people learn the hard way, if they even learn at all.
You just can't compare Minnesota and Tennessee with regards to winter weather. It doesn't translate.
Specializes in Critical/Acute Care, Burns, Wound Care.
If at all possible, nurses should report to work. Use your resources and your common sense and you should find a way. The ER still gets patients walking into triage even during blizzards, so nurses should be able to come in. Hospital security may pick you up or you can stay the night at the hospital before or after the storm. Nursing is a serious profession that takes serious dedication to the patients we serve. They depend on us. They trust us. They expect nothing less than the best out of us.
I'm from the South and I've lived where it snows. I don't mind driving in snow and will leave a couple of hours early to get to work, no problem. But not always in the South. Because it is rarely snow. It's mostly ice.
I won't drive on ice in the South. It's stupid. Even if there is salt available, it doesn't work well or evenly when the ice is an inch or so thick. There is also no weatherman that will predict when it will hit accurately (I'm not talking about hours off, I'm talking DAYS).
The only times I have ever driven on ice is because rain or snow changed to ice while I was driving. By the grace of God, I didn't die any of those times, but I saw multitudes of bad things. Slides, t-bones, flips, all of it. I do not like white-knuckling the steering wheel and praying for all the people who were probably seriously hurt in those smashed-up cars. I seriously do not like seeing smeared parts on the road. Red and gray show up really well on white.
What's really bad is the invisible ice, what we call "black" ice. It just blends in with the road, usually on bridges. The road will be completely fine, then you have a 10 foot patch of slick.
I don't know how much driving y'all have done in the South, but in most parts of TN and NC, the roads aren't straight and the land isn't level. You can't hit a skid and ride it out, because you are going over a side rail. In the mountainous parts, you are going down the side of a mountain or down a gorge into water. In the hilly areas, where I'm from, you're going off the side of a hill, most likely through a concrete barrier. It doesn't matter how slow you start out, either, because gravity will get you going down that hill as fast as 50 MPH.
In all the places I've lived so far that have snow, you have nice, flat land. If you go into a skid, you'll most likely end up in a ditch. No biggie. (Except in MI. My God, why are those ditches 20 feet deep??) It's a totally different ballgame.
I'm not saying that you shouldn't have a plan. You should. I'm not saying that Southern nurses should be let off the hook every time it snows. They shouldn't.
I'm saying that there are serious issues that many of the Northerners on here don't understand. You also have no right to disparage those nurses who take these issues seriously. They ARE deadly.
Traffic moving slowly along parts of I-65 in Hardin County | Local News - Home This is what happens when you live in an area that doesn't know how to deal with snow. 200 vehicles are stuck on the intestate in Kentucky. The national guard is assisting motorists. They have been stuck since Wednesday. This is what it's like when it snows a lot down here.
Traffic moving slowly along parts of I-65 in Hardin County | Local News - Home This is what happens when you live in an area that doesn't know how to deal with snow. 200 vehicles are stuck on the intestate in Kentucky. The national guard is assisting motorists. They have been stuck since Wednesday. This is what it's like when it snows a lot down here.
I have a feeling some will tell you none of that matters. Real nurses would get their butt to work. Some have been nurses since Jesus lived, have never missed work, and especially not for weather or child related reasons, lol
Specializes in burn ICU, SICU, ER, Trauma Rapid Response.
But that's the thing! Location, location, location!
I grew up in the Northeast....we were used to storms. We had lots and lots of the right equipment. It was always business as usual. Seldom did anything get called off.You just bundled up and went. It was winter and we knew how to 'do' winter. Two to three feet of snow was quite normal.
When you live in a place like that, it is very different from being in a place where 2 inches of snow throws every aspect of life off. As a Northerner, when first in the South I was unbelieving about the hullabaloo that flurries caused.
But I'm here to promise you with all my heart, when there isn't enough of the right kind of equipment and drivers don't know what is required to know about driving in the snow.... it can be complete havoc. You can TELL people over and over the ways to drive safely under those conditions, but opportunities for experience is lacking. So, many people learn the hard way, if they even learn at all.
You just can't compare Minnesota and Tennessee with regards to winter weather. It doesn't translate.
From the OP:
I've never had this problem before because I haven't been scheduled to work during a snow event before
I took this to mean that snow was more than a once ever 100 years event for her area. Her comment makes it sound like snow events have happend at least several times since she has been working there. We should be prepared to make it to work in whatever kind of weather occures in the area where we live. To not do so is just irresponsible.
A snow storm where it nevere snows, like say San Diego, is not something I would expect one of my nurses to be prepared for or have plans to deal with. Snow in Tennessee, where snow isn't common, but certainly is known to occure, is something I would expect nurses to have a plan for dealing with.
If I were a nurse manager I would not accept failure to arrive for a scheduled shift due to the kind of weather known to occure in that area as a legitimate excuse. Very rare events like hurricanes are a different matter altogether.
I've worked where snow is common, and where it's infrequent. And while it is more of hassle where it's infrequent, I've never thought of dealing with that hassle and risk as an option, that's part of the deal in being a nurse in acute care. How is supposed to work if half the hospital staff just decides they aren't going to come in for a week?
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
I'm from the South and I've lived where it snows. I don't mind driving in snow and will leave a couple of hours early to get to work, no problem. But not always in the South. Because it is rarely snow. It's mostly ice.
I won't drive on ice in the South. It's stupid. Even if there is salt available, it doesn't work well or evenly when the ice is an inch or so thick. There is also no weatherman that will predict when it will hit accurately (I'm not talking about hours off, I'm talking DAYS).
The only times I have ever driven on ice is because rain or snow changed to ice while I was driving. By the grace of God, I didn't die any of those times, but I saw multitudes of bad things. Slides, t-bones, flips, all of it. I do not like white-knuckling the steering wheel and praying for all the people who were probably seriously hurt in those smashed-up cars. I seriously do not like seeing smeared parts on the road. Red and gray show up really well on white.
What's really bad is the invisible ice, what we call "black" ice. It just blends in with the road, usually on bridges. The road will be completely fine, then you have a 10 foot patch of slick.
I don't know how much driving y'all have done in the South, but in most parts of TN and NC, the roads aren't straight and the land isn't level. You can't hit a skid and ride it out, because you are going over a side rail. In the mountainous parts, you are going down the side of a mountain or down a gorge into water. In the hilly areas, where I'm from, you're going off the side of a hill, most likely through a concrete barrier. It doesn't matter how slow you start out, either, because gravity will get you going down that hill as fast as 50 MPH.
In all the places I've lived so far that have snow, you have nice, flat land. If you go into a skid, you'll most likely end up in a ditch. No biggie. (Except in MI. My God, why are those ditches 20 feet deep??) It's a totally different ballgame.
I'm not saying that you shouldn't have a plan. You should. I'm not saying that Southern nurses should be let off the hook every time it snows. They shouldn't.
I'm saying that there are serious issues that many of the Northerners on here don't understand. You also have no right to disparage those nurses who take these issues seriously. They ARE deadly.
I've never driven in snow in Tennessee or North Carolina. I have in Massachusetts, Wisconsin and the mountains of Washington State. None of those places are flat or level; and not all of those places have a decent system in place for dealing with snow. Western Washington gets ice storms as well. I learned how to drive (with snow and ice) in an area with twisty, turny, hilly roads -- also without guardrails. If you went into a skid, you could go down an embankment or into a tree or, in some places, through someone else's barn or living room.
As far as black ice -- if you know the temperature is within five degrees of freezing, you KNOW there's going to be ice or a slick patch somewhere. You drive as if it's ALL slick. I've never bought the "It was black ice -- I didn't SEE it" excuse for having a crash.
I don't know how some of the posters think a hospital will function if half of its staff decide they're not even going to TRY to come to work because of bad weather. Are you expecting the patients to magically not need care? Everyone who is already AT work should just STAY until the weather is better? And if you're the one who is AT work, are you planning to stay until the weather is better?
I'd rather take an hour to get home 5 miles away and sleep in my own bed than sleep on a hard pallet in the floor and get woken up at 0400 or 1600.
^^^ THIS!!!
I dont know of any hospital that provides adequate sleeping accommodations in these instances. I mean, seriously ... sleeping bags, air mattresses and sharing sleeping spaces in between 12 hour shifts? Sorry, that does not cut it for me for adequate rest. I would also trek home however I could just to sleep as I wish. I have always lived near my hospitals for this very reason and will continue to do so.
Is reimbursement for the hotel bill a part of the inclement weather policy? I'm seriously asking by the way, not trying to be snarky or anything.
Nope, no reimbursement. We're just expected to be okay with forking over 100+ dollars or more for a hotel. If you're not willing to sleep in the awful conditions in a hospital, you're paying your own way.
PMFB-RN, RN
5,351 Posts
Not supermen, just professionals who should be able to anticipate and plan ahead. I don't know where you live but in Minnesota blizzards are not the least unusual. We pretty much arrive at work when we are supposed to. Weather is not considered a legitimate excuse for not coming to work. We make plans to get to work when we are supposed to be at work.
I have driven through blizzards to get to work becuase I am supposed to be there. I make it because I have made arrangments and plans to be able to make it.