Weather Policy

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Does your hospital have a weather policy? If so, is it lenient? Do you ever feel like you have really sacrificed your safety to make it into work out of guilt?

Specializes in Med/Surg/ICU/Stepdown.
I don't know any doctor who calls in because of weather. They rarely have someone to cover their shifts. I've had ER docs work with the flu and in the middle of a blizzard cause there isn't anyone else to do their job. Part if being in this field is knowing that others depend on you! Sent from my iPhone using allnurses.com

No health care professional should be working with the flu. That's irresponsible.

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Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.
I don't know any doctor who calls in because of weather. They rarely have someone to cover their shifts. I've had ER docs work with the flu and in the middle of a blizzard cause there isn't anyone else to do their job. Part if being in this field is knowing that others depend on you!

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Heck, we've had a surgeon abandon his car along the road in the snow when he was stuck behind an accident (no injuries, fortunately) and walk the rest of the way to the hospital to make rounds and do an elective surgery (yes, all of our patients coming in from home made it that day). What I find disheartening is that patients scheduled for elective surgeries, no matter the road conditions, will be there at 5am for their preop care. Patients have stayed in hotels, with friends/relatives, and even in the waiting room. If patients can make that kind of effort, why not the staff?

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Specializes in Emergency Room, Trauma ICU.
People die if nurses call in during weather emergencies? Cut the drama. ya know what? If hospitals cared enough about their nurses to hire enough of them then every single nurse wouldn't be necessary. If staffing ratios were more reasonable, then covering patients when 1 or 2 nurses call in during a snow storm wouldn't be such a big deal. It's not the nurses' fault that hospitals care more about profit then their employees lives, and the fact that the culture of nursing is to blame each other rather than those in charge is pathetic and subservient. Rather than be mad at the nurse who didn't feel like risking her life to come to work, you should be angry with management for not having contingency plans, which resulted in YOU being kept at work.[/quote']

How is that drama? If your ratios are 5:1 and two nurses call out and you're now 6-7:1 that is dangerous. Something can easily get missed causing a pt to die. Of if you're in the ICU and you're now 3:1 that's a HUGE change in quality of care given to a critical pt. especially if one gets super sick and you're now 1:1.

If you feel you are too far away to drive to work safely in a storm either go in early or find a new job closer to home. We all count on our coworkers to show up, and screwing us over isn't cool.

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Specializes in Med/Surg/ICU/Stepdown.
Heck we've had a surgeon abandon his car along the road in the snow when he was stuck behind an accident (no injuries, fortunately) and walk the rest of the way to the hospital to make rounds and do an elective surgery (yes, all of our patients coming in from home made it that day). What I find disheartening is that patients scheduled for elective surgeries, no matter the road conditions, will be there at 5am for their preop care. Patients have stayed in hotels, with friends/relatives, and even in the waiting room. If patients can make that kind of effort, why not the staff?[/quote']

Well, what a superhero he is.

A patient would not hesitate to call out of a surgery if it meant saving their asses from going off the road and/or getting into a deadly accident.

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Specializes in Emergency Room, Trauma ICU.
No health care professional should be working with the flu. That's irresponsible.

It happens. What was the alternative, closing the ER?

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Specializes in Med/Surg/ICU/Stepdown.
It happens. What was the alternative closing the ER? Sent from my iPhone using allnurses.com[/quote']

Find a covering physician. Don't subject everyone in the ER to your contagious illness. That's irresponsible health care.

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Specializes in Emergency Room, Trauma ICU.
Well what a superhero he is. A patient would not hesitate to call out of a surgery if it meant saving their asses from going off the road and/or getting into a deadly accident.[/quote']

Didn't you read the whole thing? The pts were there, they didn't call in. They stayed with family, friends or got a hotel room to make sure they were there for their surgery.

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Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
You can support your coworkers by attempting to hold management accountable for staffing their facilities, which includes having backup plans for extreme weather situations (accommodations, emergency transport, compensation for those who come in early or sleep at work overnight, using per diem workers - any or all of the above are reasonable and fair solutions.)

My present employer -- and every one I've ever worked for -- has those accomodations. All except for compensation for those who aren't actually working.

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Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.
Well, what a superhero he is.

A patient would not hesitate to call out of a surgery if it meant saving their asses from going off the road and/or getting into a deadly accident.

I think you completely missed the point of my post- each and every patient made it in for their surgery that day. No one made the choice to "call out of a surgery if it meant saving their asses from going off the road and/or getting into a deadly accident." The same has happened for every snow storm in my 8 years working there. The difference is that they made the proper preparations- getting there early and finding a place to stay. Those responsible for their care need to be prepared as well.

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Specializes in Emergency Room, Trauma ICU.
Find a covering physician. Don't subject everyone in the ER to your contagious illness. That's irresponsible health care.

Like I said there was no one else who could work. You can't shut down an ER, doesn't happen. And there's not some magical pool of ER docs just lying around. Doc wore a mask and everything was fine. Sorry if people going above and beyond (like the surgeon) upsets you so much. Maybe you need to look internally to see why it upsets you so much.

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It shouldn't be. That's part if what goes into picking a job. In an interview for a job that was 40 miles away from home in the Sierra Nevadas was them specifically asking about my transportation. They made it perfectly clear that weather wasn't an excuse for calling out no matter how far away you live. You line of reasoning is why people call in cause they have a long commute, they choose this job that far away and now have to suck it up like a big kid. Sent from my iPhone using allnurses.com[/quote']

Well every job I've had I've come in regardless. I've worked plenty of hurricanes where the winds were 35 mph in m little dodge neon,but I'm just being honest storms are the last thing I thought about.

There's people in this thread saying you should have thought about that when you got hired. Not everyone thinks about Mother Nature when applying for a job. They're thinking of feeding their family after being out of work for 2+ years and paying off student loans.

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Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
I think the last thing on someone's mind when finding a job is to whether they'll me able to make it in a snow storm, tornado, etc.

It shouldn't be. That's all part of the job.

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