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.
I imagine the hardest thing a southerner would have to learn about driving in cold wet weather would be not to use your brakes when u Want To The Most. If you never did it you are in trouble. I from the north east and I don't even n know what chains or cables ( like jump starter cables?) Are and I never had 4wd or snow tires.
Specializes in ED, Cardiac Rehab, nursing education.
I think as nursing professionals, we have the integrity and ability to make appropriate choices, including whether it is safe for us to drive to work. I do believe it is important to do everything you can to get there. I also believe if there has been a state of emergency declared in your state (such as there has been here in Tennessee), it is appropriate to ask your employer to send someone to pick you up and bring you to work. If they need you, they will come get you. They should have developed a plan to do so prior to the inclement weather as a part of disaster preparedness. Pack some extra scrubs and be ready to stay in case there is no one available to take you home or the weather worsens.
My husband and I are both nurses, and we could not even get our car out of our driveway due to 10+ inches of snow and higher drifts. Refusing to call in is a so-called "badge of honor" in nursing. I agree that reliable attendance is essential because we are employed in a job that deals with the lives of people. But what good am I if I am in a ditch somewhere between my home and work? Who I am helping if I go to work sick, and expose my co-workers and patients to illness? Where do we draw the line and say "I am going to have to put myself first in this case?" We are the only ones who can determine that line in the sand, and I am certainly never going to judge someone who can't make it in during dangerous driving conditions.
Specializes in burn ICU, SICU, ER, Trauma Rapid Response.
I live in an area that this year got 8 feet of snow in 72 hours. The first 24 hours of the storm we got 5 feet at my house. A bad storm was predicted, but no one knew it would be that bad. I worked three 13 night shifts in a row. The night of the third shift was when the storm was predicted to begin. Going into that night I woke up early, packed a bad with toiletries, clean clothes, and three days of my medications. I drove to a store and packed three days worth of food. I got a full tank of gas. I loaded my car with blankets, flash lights, snow clothes, and two pairs of boots. I even brought my snow shoes. Then I poured two huge bowels of food and an entire pitcher of water for my cat, and brought my dog to my friends house with her bag of food. Then I headed into work. The next morning things were way worse than predicted. A state of emergency was declared. The whole area was under a driving ban.
Our entire dayshift called in except three people- our secretary, an orientee, and one nurse. Our day shift is normally staffed with 7 nurses, two aids, and a secretary. The secretary lives extremely close. The nurse who made is stayed in a hotel. The orientee lived in an area not as badly effected and gave herself plenty of time and drove slowly.
I, along with everyone else, got mandated to stay for an additional 4 hours while they desperately scrambled staff. Our unit manager took an assignment nearly double the load of what our nurses normally take. We had 4 scheduled admits. Three of them still came. Because they stayed in a hotel the night before.
All in in all I ended up stuck at work for 6 days during that storm. I was doing laundry at work and the pharmacy was supplying my meds by the end. We were all living off food from the next door pizzeria. My poor cat was nearly passed out when I got home. I had to put a can of tuna right in front of him. My friend had to keep my dog another week because I was literally having to snow shoe to my house and there's no way my little dog could have walked it.
Specializes in burn ICU, SICU, ER, Trauma Rapid Response.
I think as nursing professionals, we have the integrity and ability to make appropriate choices, including whether it is safe for us to drive to work. I do believe it is important to do everything you can to get there. I also believe if there has been a state of emergency declared in your state (such as there has been here in Tennessee), it is appropriate to ask your employer to send someone to pick you up and bring you to work. If they need you, they will come get you. They should have developed a plan to do so prior to the inclement weather as a part of disaster preparedness. Pack some extra scrubs and be ready to stay in case there is no one available to take you home or the weather worsens.
My husband and I are both nurses, and we could not even get our car out of our driveway due to 10+ inches of snow and higher drifts. Refusing to call in is a so-called "badge of honor" in nursing. I agree that reliable attendance is essential because we are employed in a job that deals with the lives of people. But what good am I if I am in a ditch somewhere between my home and work? Who I am helping if I go to work sick, and expose my co-workers and patients to illness? Where do we draw the line and say "I am going to have to put myself first in this case?" We are the only ones who can determine that line in the sand, and I am certainly never going to judge someone who can't make it in during dangerous driving conditions.
If you called into my hospital in that event the nursing supervisor would ask you why you decided not to come into town and stay in or near the hospital so that you could get to work? Assuming the snow was predicted on the weather forcast. I have hear them say things like "This snow storm has been predicted for the last 5 or 6 days. Why didn't you take measures to ensure you will be here for work?"
I should add that my hospital has an arragment with a Motel 6 that is less than a mile from the hospital. If the nursing supervisor authorizes it we can stay there at no cost to us. We can also stay in empty patient rooms if the supervisor authosizes it. We also have plenty of lockers and are advised to keep an overnight bag and a change of scrubs in our lockers in case we have to stay.
I should also add that I feel like I am treated well and fairly by my hospital's adminstration and managment. I feel like they are invested in me. They pay me well, I have good benifits, am treated with respect. If I didn't feel like my employer valued me then my feelings of responsibiliety to them would be considerably diminished. Much of my motivation to always arrive at work if at all possible is due to being treated like valued professional.
If I was treated like crap then my motivation and dedication would simply not be the same. Hospitals that treat their nurses like expensive burdens or like children are getting what they have comeing when nobody shows up on snow days.
I would bet that there are more mental health days taken than snow days. At least in California LOL.
I know full well that there are some here who pull the mental health day crap leaving their coworkers and managers in the lurch, as many have justified in other threads. Something about their employers not granting enough time off.. I say deal with it or get another job where your coworkers don't depend on you to relieve them.
If I had to stay over, or just work OT, I would much rather have it be over a freak unusual storm than some passive agressive mental health day.
Those that never do either, I want to work with you.
I noted the sarcasm and reused it. We special snowflakes don't want anyone left out, lol. I have done my share of staying over too when others "couldn't" get there. It is what it is. If I'm there and it snows that's one thing. If I have to leave my house in order to be Joan of Arc for a conglomerate who cares nothing for employees....not so much. Sorry not sorry.
What has your employer have to do with this decision? You would make a different one if you had a generous employer?
How nice to get extra special treatment, and what poor taste to brag about it.
I said that just to ruffle feathers as some folks have gotten too worked up over this. I do actually know enough people to get another job and not worry about it. It's called networking and in the real world connections make a difference. Whether it's right or not it is another story.
While people may say it's not that easy finding jobs that's not entirely true either. It's all in who you know sometimes.....so next
How nice to get extra special treatment, and what poor taste to brag about it.
Do you really think this is in poor taste? I'm not being at all snarky just curious because I often mention that most everything I have is the result of my excellent contacts, previous co-workers, former bosses, friends of co-workers etc.
This is how I got two RN jobs, my first teaching position, preceptors for all my grad school clinicals and got all but one of my NP jobs. Who'd a thunk I was being gauche? I thought I was just smart and fortunate to have cultivated such excellent contacts. Good to know.
So you guys don't go off in ravines and such? What a bunch of wusses!
Just kidding. People die up here if they have worn tires in only the rain. Winding mountain roads are different than what you all are mostly talking about. And chains are often required on our Hwys. You won't get paste check points if you don't have them. Think Hwys up to Tahoe (that's where I live and work).
No Stars In My Eyes
5,649 Posts
Nope.
Hold my breath and pray a lot if there's ice!