Ethical dillema: Saving people you are paid to care for or saving your own butt?

I work in a nursing home and was wondering what others opinions are: we recently had a tornado drill in our facility. I work on the second floor, where we have many residents in wheelchairs. We got to talking about what we would do in case the tornado hit. Some of my co-workers stated that if they thought the tornado was going to hit, they would leave the residents and save themselves, since getting them down in the elevator would be impossible due to it being disabled during weather watches. What would you do? Stay with the residents, who are elderly and vulnerable, and who all suffer from different dimentias, or would you leave, because you're young and have a family at home?

Ethical dillema: Saving people you are paid to care for or saving your own butt?
You are supposed to be trained in what to do in the event of emergencies such as fire and adverse weather conditions. Your nursing home has a disaster plan. You should know it and follow it. Tornadoes don't follow a straight path. You can't predict where they will go. Where would you go that would be safer than the nursing home? Besides, by the time you know a tornado is going to hit, it would be unsafe to go out of the building anyway.
Reply:I would like to say thay I would stay and help but I am only human I would probably take off. Its an honest answer.
Reply:I don't know the situation or circumstances, so I can't say for sure. I think it would depend on how much warning you have, how many residents would be able to get into an elevator, any other means of egress, etc, etc. Regardless, if it is impossible to get all of the residents to a basement or other form of shelter, they should all be moved into a hallway, away from windows, etc. It might be impossible to get everyone to safety, but then the question would be how you could best help them, not yourself.


I don't think its just an occupational obligation, but a moral obligation to help the residents. But that doesn't mean you should risk yourself. If all the residents couldn't be evacuated, would you be better help if you ended up getting injured with them, or if you made them as safe as possible, retreated to safety for the duration of the tornado, and then returned to them to provide any necessary aid?
Reply:Tough one! I think this is a situation that would call for some good judgement, and situational awarness. You do have an obligation to make a reasonable attempt to protect the paitients. In this case it would probably be a good idea to get your more mobile people to shelter before things get bad. Like if there is a watch up but you think it could get worse. As the situation deteriorates you would have to decide if going back for more people would be suicidal or if you would have a real chance of getting people out. I don't think you have to throw your life away, but think about what you would want someone to do for your family if they were in a situation where they could not care for themselves. You should be willing to take a reasonable risk. Hopefully it will never come to that.

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