when do you call in sick??

[massrn116]

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.

[Butterfliesnroses]

I'm an aide in LTC. There just hits a point where I KNOW my daughter is sick enough that I need to call in. For me, I have to be very sick for me to call in. If I have a little cold then no I'm not going to call in. Where I work it's very hard for me them to replace us for a day. So chances are my coworkers will work short for at least half the day.

[Midwest4me]

I miss MAYBE 5 days a year; only 2 of those are because I'm too ill to go in; the other days are due to my husband's health problems. I will call in if I have a fever, n/v/d, migraine. I hate doing it because that usually means other nurses are mandated to stay an extra shift to cover for me and THEN I hear about it when I return.

We earn 8 hrs of sick time at the first of every month. You'd be amazed at the number of people who do call in during that first week of the month EVERY MONTH. No discipline is given (our union won't allow it)unless the person goes into LWOP(leave without pay)--in other words, exhausts his/her sick time. It gets tiring because staff are always getting mandated to work an extra shift because of the call-ins but you can't say anything.

[ghillbert, MSN, NP]

Funnily enough, I have not had a sick day in the last year (knock on wood). Back home in Australia, I would call off more frequently than that. Here in the US, it seems frowned upon. People come to work sick and just wear a mask. Having said that, I can take regular vacation days whenever I want, and my boss is awesome about giving us time off when our department is quiet.

[lamazeteacher]

As an IC nurse, I should say, "If you're likely to spread what you have", but I'd rather share this description of how to tell the difference between a "cold" and the "flu".

The first orientation I had for IC, my mentor told me, "If you get out of bed thinking you might not be able to work, that's a "cold".

"If you get out of bed knowing you're not going to work, it's the "flu".

[tinderbox]

Call off as much as you need to. The only person that it should matter to is you, if you can call pay your bills and get out of bed feeling at least 80 percent. Don't sacrifice your own health for this outdated martyrdom that I see some nurses still carry. This job is way too stressful and physically punishing as it is, without the added burden of feeling ill.

It amazes me how little nurses think of their own health. It really scares me.

[idbeme]

As an IC nurse, I should say, "If you're likely to spread what you have", but I'd rather share this description of how to tell the difference between a "cold" and the "flu".

The first orientation I had for IC, my mentor told me, "If you get out of bed thinking you might not be able to work, that's a "cold".

"If you get out of bed knowing you're not going to work, it's the "flu".

That is great advice that I am going to carry with me through NS and beyond. I was just SOOO ill I had to call in for 2 days of clinical - VERY, VERY frowned upon. I called my clinical instructor the night before - already knowing I was going to be too ill to "work". She said, "If it is obvious that you are that ill, and if you would not want someone attending to you as the patient in the condition you as the nurse is in, STAY HOME." I now have to make up those days on spring break - yuck! If it was my old office job, I would have gone in, suffered a few hours and gone home early. As a student nurse I knew I wouldn't want me within 100 feet of myself or a loved one.

[suanna]

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.

I have- perhaps the patient would have died anyway but we had inadequate staff and less nurses who were less familiar with the patient population than would have been optimal. A patient developed post op complications and the nurse assigned to him had an assignment and 1/2. The rest of us were just as busy. The patient went down the tubes faster than we could control. When you take a job in nursing you have made a committment to show up the scheduled days you are hired to work. If you are unable to do that much time- don't take the position. I take my nursing care very seriously, and if you don't show up to do yours then my patients and yours are more likely to suffer. Anyone who casualy calls off because they just don't feel like working today has no business in the profession of nursing and should have been weeded out in school. Go back to flipping burgers.

[jjensen]

I hate this dilemma too. I have come to work coughing and just really sick and patients have said to me that I am too sick to be at work for sure... But, I feel so bad calling in sick... Now, if I am vomiting then I stay home... I should probably stay home more, but the guilt takes over me...

[snuffyRN]

The last time I called in I was too sick to get off of the bathroom floor, if fact each time I stood up i'd pass out and fall on the floor again. Unfortunatly it happen to be Christmas Morning '07 Haven't called in since then. A few times I should have, 1 week-end we were already down 1 nurse (we only have 3 working days) and had already tried to replace her. And after my lapchole, I went back 10 days post-up, to soon, I had 15 staple in my belly, but again no one to call! I work a small LTC in a small town!

[LilyBlue]

Regarding the mental health day -eh. It depends. I try not to be judgmental. I have been very understanding when a coworker who was divorcing took a day off, or just found out something bad, etc. I think mental health is as important as physical health. I wouldn't want someone sitting around crying at work that day. I think our fellow nurses are just as important as our patients - not less and not more. If someone needs a little TLC, so be it - gasp - even if they are the nurse. They are still human.

[Purple_Scrubs, BSN, RN]

I'm a school nurse and I apply to myself the same criteria I apply to my kiddos: fever, vomiting, diarrhea = call in and stay home. Other s/s (cold, cough, migraine) I only call in if I think I am unable to perform my duties.

I did take a "mental health day" last month, which I normally do not agree with for the same reasons other posters have mentioned. In this case, I feel like I was on a slippery slope and needed to avoid a mental health emergency, so I took the day and saw my PCP. I have since been diagnosed with depression and am under treatment. I don't think that a sunny day is a good reason for a "mental health day", but if you have a MH condition that is going to interfere with work take the day and get some treatment!