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 Cardiac step-down, PICC/Midline insertion.
The way I see it....we chose a profession where it's never really acceptable to call-in except in emergency type situations. If half the people on your staff called in because they didn't want to try to make the drive, then the nurses who did make it in get rewarded with more or less being screwed over and making up for missing staff. Not to mention it jeopardizes pt safety. The hospital is still full of sick patients that need care regardless. Most hospitals will let staff sleep in empty rooms if needed during bad conditions.
I have always been told that you can call a cab or have the police take you to work if you have a vehicle that isn't suitable for ice/snow. Maybe try to find a co-worker that has a 4 wheel drive vehicle and carpool if possible?
It's really not that difficult to drive on bad roads, you just have to go slower and not make any sudden adjustments or punch the gas too hard. Drive slower in a lower gear and be careful.
I had a very scary experience driving in whiteout conditions and vowed to never do it again. Work or not.
Imagine being on an expressway where most people travel 70 + mph and at the time you can only go 5 or 10 mph in rt lane because the winds are so high you can only see white. Imagine praying the whole time (2 hours) that everyone sees your hazards and dont slam into you as some over confident 4x4s or semis travel faster than they should , which they often do.
Nope not for me. Fire me if you want but I value my sanity and life more than that .
I would never take a highway to work during a storm. Too many people get stuck on them for days here and sometimes die. Back roads only. Then you can at least walk somewhere.
I had a very scary experience driving in whiteout conditions and vowed to never do it again. Work or not.
Imagine being on an expressway where most people travel 70 + mph and at the time you can only go 5 or 10 mph in rt lane because the winds are so high you can only see white. Imagine praying the whole time (2 hours) that everyone sees your hazards and dont slam into you as some over confident 4x4s or semis travel faster than they should , which they often do.
Nope not for me. Fire me if you want but I value my sanity and life more than that .
I can imagine all too well, the scene you described. Those are typical winter driving conditions here in the northeast. We call it Tuesday. It's something that you never fully get used to, but I do what I have to do, because I have bills to pay. If I called out due to every storm, I would never make it to work. I would soon find myself without a job. Even if I was lucky enough to find another job, what then? I would soon lose that job too, when I started missing work for the same reasons. It would be a vicious never-ending cycle. I can't just work during the summer months. So, I do what I have to do.
For the record, I have an hour commute to work (on a good day) and most of that is interstate driving. I drive a small hatchback. I don't have any special skills for driving during a blizzard. I just use common sense and take it slow.
The way I see it....we chose a profession where it's never really acceptable to call-in except in emergency type situations. If half the people on your staff called in because they didn't want to try to make the drive, then the nurses who did make it in get rewarded with more or less being screwed over and making up for missing staff. Not to mention it jeopardizes pt safety. The hospital is still full of sick patients that need care regardless. Most hospitals will let staff sleep in empty rooms if needed during bad conditions.
I have always been told that you can call a cab or have the police take you to work if you have a vehicle that isn't suitable for ice/snow. Maybe try to find a co-worker that has a 4 wheel drive vehicle and carpool if possible?
It's really not that difficult to drive on bad roads, you just have to go slower and not make any sudden adjustments or punch the gas too hard. Drive slower in a lower gear and be careful.
While I agree with you that folks need to be responsible and go to work, I did have to chuckle about calling the police for a ride to work. If I called the police to take me to work during every storm, I would get an ear full, after they managed to stop laughing at me for making such a ridiculous call.
I would never take a highway to work during a storm. Too many people get stuck on them for days here and sometimes die. Back roads only. Then you can at least walk somewhere.
No, I do live in an area where people die every year from getting stuck on the highway in a storm. I've oersonally been stuck on it for 6 hours. That was terrifying enough.
In the past month I have driven to work twice on unplowed roads and in blizzard conditions. I have never missed a shift due to inclement weather.
If I lived on an steep icy road, I would park at the bottom or stay in town with a friend or at a hotel.
People need to check the weather forecast, make arrangements for the children and pets and their own safe transportation to and from work.
If a healthcare worker is unwilling to accept responsibility to prepare for bad weather and hazardous driving conditions, then he or she should find employment in an office, agency or school system that closes on snow days.
Aside from the pre planning that requires everyone to make an effort when you've got vulnerable people relying on you, there are a few inconsistencies I'd like someone to clear up.
If the driving is truly hazardous for people to drive to work, then it would also be dangerous for people to leave work, right?
The mass exodus of people willing to leave work at the same time and conditions as those who are calling off negate the conditions as actually being life threatening, yes?
If one new transplant calls in, that wouldn't devastate the staffing, no more than those mental health days.
But if the whole shift made up of mostly people experienced with the conditions call off, the conditions are probably truly dangerous, right?
If the conditions are truly dangerous, should there really be both halves of the hospital staff on the roads within 30 minutes of each other?
How many hospital employees in weather related conditions have suffered injury or worse trying to make it to work?
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
This is an interesting discussion.
Aside from the pre planning that requires everyone to make an effort when you've got vulnerable people relying on you, there are a few inconsistencies I'd like someone to clear up.
If the driving is truly hazardous for people to drive to work, then it would also be dangerous for people to leave work, right?
The mass exodus of people willing to leave work at the same time and conditions as those who are calling off negate the conditions as actually being life threatening, yes?
If one new transplant calls in, that wouldn't devastate the staffing, no more than those mental health days.
But if the whole shift made up of mostly people experienced with the conditions call off, the conditions are probably truly dangerous, right?
If the conditions are truly dangerous, should there really be both halves of the hospital staff on the roads within 30 minutes of each other?
How many hospital employees in weather related conditions have suffered injury or worse trying to make it to work?
Inconsistently, it seems that folks who are terrified to drive TO work are OK with driving HOME from work. I wonder why that is.
If it were just one new transplant calling in, it would still create a hardship for the folks who didn't call in. But it seems to be one new transplant and several special snowflakes who are sure that THEIR terror at driving/inconvience at having to plan ahead/bad tires/home responsibilities are so much more important than anyone else's.
A whole shift of people experienced with the conditions won't call off short of Armageddon. If Armageddon occurs, I'm sure there will be a vast exodus of employees going home to be near their loved ones.
In nearly four decades of nursing, I only know three employees who have suffered an injury trying to make it to work, and the consensus was that one "accidentally" drove into the ditch and "hurt his back" to avoid coming to work in the future. FaceBook evidence would confirm that. Another fell down the stairs on her front stoop on a perfectly clear summer day, suffering two black eyes and a broken jaw. There was alcohol involved (yes, at 5 AM). The third slipped on the ice on the sidewalk and broke her arm . . . again, no precipitation. Just a clear day with some ice on the sidewalk.
Oh, and then there was the girl who rode her bike into a pothole and suffered some pretty serious injuries on the way HOME from work . . . texting while riding in traffic. And there was the injury to my CAR when I drove into a sink hole on the way home from work, blowing two tires and damaging my front axel. I thought it was just another puddle on the road after the thunderstorm. Also quite a bit of damage to my wallet.
If you don't want to plan ahead, think you're more important or special than anyone else, are terrified of driving in less than perfect conditions, please don't take a job in the ICU, ER, Med/Surg or anywhere else that you're expected to show up at work even in bad weather. Don't argue about how special, terrified or overwhelmed you are. Just don't work at a job where you're essential personnel.
Soooooooo, ummmmm... Am I the only one wondering if the OP ended up going into work today or not??
Yes I made it to work. It was slick but I drove very slowly and didn't have a problem. A SUV flew past me and ended up about 2 feet from slamming into a rock wall. Driver was ok.
This thread has so many posts and I haven't read them all. Thankfully I didn't die as some have speculated 😱ðŸ˜ðŸ˜œ
If the conditions are truly dangerous, should there really be both halves of the hospital staff on the roads within 30 minutes of each other?
How many hospital employees in weather related conditions have suffered injury or worse trying to make it to work?
In Canada nurses are expected to arrive to work in all weather conditions and in the general population, motor vehicle crashes most commonly occur in clear weather on Friday evenings. I don't think there are studies on occupations and weather related MVCs, but based on the statistics it seems the more dangerous time to be on the road is in good weather on Friday evenings.
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?
The rule when I worked at the hospital by was that if you were scheduled to work, you have to be at work. If you were on-call, it was an automatic that you had to be there. If you see on the news that day before that they are telling you it's gonna snow, you need to pack a bag and be prepared to stay or depending on distance head into work early.
We have a "snow team" that comes in and spends the night/stays over before the snow hits and everyone else gets to go home/stay home.
lol
UnbrokenRN09, BSN
110 Posts
The way I see it....we chose a profession where it's never really acceptable to call-in except in emergency type situations. If half the people on your staff called in because they didn't want to try to make the drive, then the nurses who did make it in get rewarded with more or less being screwed over and making up for missing staff. Not to mention it jeopardizes pt safety. The hospital is still full of sick patients that need care regardless. Most hospitals will let staff sleep in empty rooms if needed during bad conditions.
I have always been told that you can call a cab or have the police take you to work if you have a vehicle that isn't suitable for ice/snow. Maybe try to find a co-worker that has a 4 wheel drive vehicle and carpool if possible?
It's really not that difficult to drive on bad roads, you just have to go slower and not make any sudden adjustments or punch the gas too hard. Drive slower in a lower gear and be careful.