when do you call in sick??

Nurses General Nursing

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I have had upper respiratory symptoms since last Sunday. I had exposure to at least 3 patients with the flu, 1 patient with whooping cough and by Wednesday, I had full blown upper resp. symptoms and could not sleep, I was awake coughing the majority of the night. On Thursday I was due to work a double...I just did not have the strength to face my alcoholic, detoxing patient and all the lovely stressors that the day would bring. I feel guilty calling in and in fact I call in an average of 2-3 times a year. When do you call in and how often..... I might add I work an average of 48 hours per week.

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Trauma, Ortho, Neuro, Cardiac.

I would call in sick if I was feeling like you.

Fortunately I've been on a roll lately and have been healthy. The only day I've been the past year has been when my car acted up. Knock on wood.

Take care of yourself and don't go on any type of guilt trip.

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Specializes in ER.

I would have called in for that too, plus you could have passed it on to the rest of the unit.

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2-3 times a year is not bad. That's probably average, I'd think.

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Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.

1) When I'm too sick to get my head off the pillow, or

2) When I'm too sick to get my head OUT of the toilet.

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Specializes in ER,ICU,L+D,OR.

My defintion of when I am too sick is really very simple. I call in sick when I feel I am unable to give my patients the best care that I can. If I am not up to my Star Service, Consumer oriented level of care then I call in. This actually happens quite infrequently. The other I way I call in is when I need some "me" time. The weather is good and I want to enjoy it. There is something that for "me" makes it worthwhile to call in.

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Specializes in Post Anesthesia.

I call in sick when I am febrile, contagious, or physicaly or mentaly unable to provide safe nursing care (diarrhea, back strain requiring too much analygesic to have good judgement, severly interupted sleep for unavoidable reasons....). If you are coughing, sniffing, and febrile- CALL OFF. If you are stoned on your Flexeril- CALL OFF. If you are going to spend more time in the potty than at the bedside- CALL OFF. If it sunny and you want to take a "Mental Health Day" please resign- it's the "Mental Health Day" crowd that gets it assumed that whenever someone calls off they are just playing hookie. Nurses are not buger flipping grill jockies. If you wash dishes at the local Dennys call off whenever you feel the need- no one is going to die. As a nurses- if we stayed home when we were sick and came in when we were scheduled then this wouldn't be a discussion. This shouldn't be such a tough issue.

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If I feel sick, I call in without a doubt. I could work an office job maybe a little under the weather, but not a 12 hour shift with a 30 min lunch break where I have to be on my game mentally and physically. Also, my personal pet peeve is the nurse who is " just too dedicated" to call in sick, so comes in anyway. Even if he/she is not contagious, more often than not, this nurse mopes around, asks others to do things (accuchecks, hang piggybacks, etc) and asks to go home early if staffing allows. If you can't do your job well, others will be picking up the slack for you. I would rather you call in sick and staffing will send an able-bodied float nurse who can do the job 100%. Too many nurses act like martyrs when it comes to sick days. Unless you live in some rural area w/o registry or float nurses to fill in, you are going to make things harder on your pts and coworkers by toughing it out and coming in. Also, 2-3x a year is pretty avg. My floor has a "policy" where they basically don't want you calling in more than 6x/yr, so that is what my work considers excessive. Personally if I'm sick, I call out and if I'm bad enough to go to the Dr, I always bring a note in just for documentation.

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Specializes in PICU/NICU.

Usually 2-4 times a year- usually one time for myself and a couple of times here and there if one of my kids are sick.

Last winter we had a staff meeting where management yelled at us for coming in sick and spreading it around to coworkers and possibly patients. 3 months later this new sick day policy comes out that says if you call in 3 times in a year- and it is a "rolling year"(from the last time you called in) you will be diciplined and your evaluation/raise will be affected!

So don't come to work sick- unless you have already been sick 2 times this year I guess!:rolleyes:

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Yeah, exactly! This is why mgmt drives me nuts. Too many mixed messages. Don't come to work sick, but we'll punish you for calling in sick. In other words, develop a super immune system or else!

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Interesting topic since I left early the other night and called out the following night. I left because I had a fever of 102 and I called out because I still had a fever. That makes 2.5 days that I've been sick-AND I'M STILL ON ORIENTATION. Sick is sick and you don't want to give your crud to the patients, even though thats probably where you got it.

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Specializes in ER,ICU,L+D,OR.
I call in sick when I am febrile, contagious, or physicaly or mentaly unable to provide safe nursing care (diarrhea, back strain requiring too much analygesic to have good judgement, severly interupted sleep for unavoidable reasons....). If you are coughing, sniffing, and febrile- CALL OFF. If you are stoned on your Flexeril- CALL OFF. If you are going to spend more time in the potty than at the bedside- CALL OFF. If it sunny and you want to take a "Mental Health Day" please resign- it's the "Mental Health Day" crowd that gets it assumed that whenever someone calls off they are just playing hookie. Nurses are not buger flipping grill jockies. If you wash dishes at the local Dennys call off whenever you feel the need- no one is going to die. As a nurses- if we stayed home when we were sick and came in when we were scheduled then this wouldn't be a discussion. This shouldn't be such a tough issue.

One of the things I have learned is if I call in whether its a sick sick day or wheter its a mental health sunny day, the hospital goes on, work continues, no one dies. Yes the hospital can function without me just fine. I have yet to see anyone die because a nurse called in for any reason.

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