Or rain delays. Or bad weather days. Or holidays, really. Hospitals can't just up and close for the day because there's three feet of snow or a ton of flooding or because it's Christmas. Patients need care 24/7.
I say this because today I must set out and face the remnants of a tropical storm as I slog my way to work. The brunt of the storm hit on my day off...though that didn't stop them calling me at 5am to ask if I could work anything at all. I told them that my preschooler's school was closed due to the weather and unless they wanted to babysit him on site, I can't come in. I think they were desperate enough to consider saying "yes."
My street is flooded. Not horrifically: the house is dry, nothing has floated off, and my car is high enough that the water never reached it. But I know the roads are a mess everywhere and so driving in is going to be quite the trek. I have a SUV, so now I'll get to see if purchasing one was worth it.
I had to put in my holiday choices for the schedule. Everyone has to put in for two of three winter holidays and two of three summer holidays. We're not necessarily going to end up working them, we just have to be available for them. I put in shifts for all three--two of them ended up on my regularly scheduled day (Friday) anyway, and I figured I'd put down for Turkey Day as well, in case I change my mind about working Christmas (I will gladly work New Year's Day, I think it's the most useless of the three days. After all, the big event for the day is pretty much over by 12:05am--the rest of the day is football and parades).
I don't want to work all three, though getting all that double-time would be nice. But we'll see what happens. They do try to divvy them up evenly so no one person gets slammed (or makes a killing, depending on how you look at it).
It's been busy at work. For all of these new nurses they've hired, I've only seen a couple of them. Nearly every day they're calling me to see if I can work or work extra, and all week I've stayed late per their request, so much so that half of Saturday will be overtime pay. Unless they decide to send me home early...and given the weather conditions here lately, I doubt they'll have enough coverage to be able to do that.
Detox has been jumping too: I don't know if it's linked to the holidays or what, but it's been full all week. Of course, that means a ton of paperwork for me...but it's the unit I know best, so I don't mind it. I've got it down to a science, in fact. I wonder if I'll be there tonight...lately, they like sending me to stepdown on the weekend evenings. I'd rather be in detox, but I go where I'm told and make the best of things.
Oh, what happened with my group....the other group person was out due to illness: her doctor had her on bed rest. At least she wasn't slacking, so I don't feel as bad over having to do the whole thing. The instructor also posted that she had liked the group (my) assignment, though I haven't gotten the official feedback yet. I turned this week's assignments in early, since with the bad weather I'm not sure if I'll lose my internet connection. No more group stuff for a while though.
