Calling in sick: how do you decide?

[kids]

I have been feeling absolute s**t for the past 3 days, woke up with it on Thursday, came home after 2 hours. Called off Friday and went to the Doc and ended up with abx bronchitis (duh, 2 ppd smoker), today I feel marginally better.

I work split duties at my job- 28-30 hrs/wk admin, in an office, 10-12 hrs/wk doing shifts. I stayed home because I felt crummy, plain and simple.

What I want to know is: how do ya'll decide weither to call in or work when sick? I am not talking about taking mental health days when sick of work, but when you are infected with a "real" bug.

Minor cold that is more annoying than anything...but you feel OK. Work or not?

Sick as a dog, feel quite a bit better than you did but are not 100% yet...but are not contageous (been on abx >24 hrs). Work or not?

Feel like crud but are not contageous (hay fever kicks my a$$). Work of not?

[whipping girl in 07, RN]

I have two comments about calling in sick:

1) I called in sick twice while I was in orientation at my job. The first time, I had a migraine (been having them since I was 21) and I didn't feel too guilty, except that after I took my medicine, I felt better by 1pm and my shift wasn't over until 7pm. So I could have worked half my shift. The second time I called in sick was only a couple of weeks later. The flu was going around the unit because no one would call in sick until they were on their deathbed. So of course I caught it, and even worse, I gave it to my son. I was scheduled Mon-Wed-Thurs that week (Tues was a holiday). I made it through Monday coughing and hacking (I drank nearly an entire bottle of Robitussin during the shift). I was off Tuesday for Mardi Gras and didn't even leave my house because I felt so crappy, but I did feel a little better by that night, I guess from getting some much needed rest. I went back to work Wednesday and barely made it through the day. My preceptor nearly sent me home. Then at 11pm that night, Ian started throwing up and threw up every two hours for the rest of the night. After cleaning him up for the second time I realized he was sick too and that there was no way he was going to make it through a day of day care tomorrow. So I called in sick. Good thing I did, as sick as we were. I managed to get both of us to the doctor and when we got home we crashed for 6 or 7 hours without even moving. I could barely get up to go to the bathroom, let alone take care of my child. Good thing he slept the whole time. My husband was working out of town, and he called his boss Thursday night and told him he was going home because we were so sick. He took care of us all weekend, and ended up sick in bed with the flu the day after he went back to work. Only he didn't have anyone to take care of him in Mesquite, TX. I felt so bad for him.

The point of my story: if all those tough nurses would have called in sick when they started feeling bad (myself included) instead of muddling through work and spreading their germs, we would not have had an EPIDEMIC of flu in the ICU.

2) I had chronic migraines several years ago when I was working in the admissions office of a hospital. I didn't start to have problems until I started working full-time. I also replaced two part-time positions along with filling my full-time position, so I was constantly stressed and having difficulty completing my work. I often had to go home early on Fridays because I was going into overtime from staying late all week to finish my work. After the first couple of months, I would call in with a headache nearly every week. My boss was very understanding since she also struggled with migraines and recommended a good dr. He tried to get to the bottom of my problem, and he eventually figured it out. I was ALLERGIC to all the mold in our office. See, we were in the old part of the hospital, and we didn't have any floors above us. Our roof leaked every time it rained, and the carpets, ceiling and fabric-covered walls got wet. The suspended ceiling never got fully dry, and was probably full of mold. I wasn't exposed to it that much when I was just working 16 hrs a week. He started me on antihistamines, Norvasc and ibuprofen, with Midrin to take for the headaches. My headaches decreased to one or two a month. Then I quit my job to go back to school, and the headaches disappeared almost completely. I didn't really start having problems with them again until we moved to Louisiana, which is really damp.

The point of this story: sometimes it's your workplace making you sick. I guess if I had been smart I would have filed a worker's comp claim, but I didn't know too much when I was 21, and my boss surely wasn't forthcoming about it either.

Sorry so long, but I really wanted to get my points across.

My $0.0208 (with my 4% raise!)

[TheLionessRN, RN]

I had an interesting phone call on afternoon when my son cut open his hand and needed to go to the ER. I was supposed to work that night, and it was close enough to leaving for work time that I wasn't sure I would make it. I called the supervisor and, the first thing I asked was if the census was low enough for me to just be cut off the list. She said no, the census was actually pretty high for a Friday night, and she needed all her people.

I said shoot, I didn't want to feel guilty about calling in, but needed to. Her response was "I don't know, this doesn't look very good for you to call in". Asked me if I was calling in because I thought the census was low, to keep from being pulled. I had not told her about my son yet, because I was trying to be nice about the whole thing, and hoped the census would be low and there be no need to "call in". After she verbally pulled me in three different directions, having misunderstood my question about the census I finally got upset about the whole thing and told her that I was not trying to weasel out of anything, that my son had just cut the sh*% out of his hand, and needed to go to the ER....and I was ACTUALLY trying to be kind enough to see if I needed to ask his grandmother to take him if I was needed, but at that point, after she jerked me around, I simply called off for the entire night.

Really made me mad.

[Youda]

So they can send you home whenever they please, but you're suppose to always be at their beck and call?

My Mom is a nurse. She worked rehab for many years. When the census got low, they'd send nurses home, too. But, they always gave them the option of floating or just going home. AND they always paid you straight time if you went home (not sick or vacation time, but just paying them anyway). The reasoning was that they didn't want any of their nurses finding other jobs when their census dropped, because they knew they'd need experienced nurses when the census went back up.

But, those were the good old days when nurses were treated better. I'd bet no one does that anymore.

[HazeK]

At my hospital, we are encouraged to call in sick if the buzzards are circling our bodies OR if we are being measured for a coffin by a mortician, otherwise we are expected to show up....LOL!

in reality, I agree with several others.

I call in if:

I can't get more than four steps from toilet...or barf bag...

I'm febrile >100.2 despite tylenol/motrin/asa...

I'm gonna cry cuz it hurts so much to move...

or, mental health-wise, I might assault someone if they piss me off one more time OR I might curl up with a blankie in the corner of a closet! LOL!

often will go to work w/ Sx of URI after 48 hours of antibiotic Tx.

[teamrn]

Youda,

I agree with your staffing solutions. And, as far as the call-ins go, I remember the agony of 'stay home and get better', 'go in to work, not get better and spread my germs'. Back and forth I'd go, and on the days I finally felt it better to stay tucked in and let the cold run its course, or the antibiotics get a hold, I remember the negativity I felt from the management because I was 'leaving them in the lurch'.

[RNConnieF]

I feel like a real poo today, I called in, not because I was sick but because when I got up at 0500 I found my 11 yo laying down on the the living-room sofa. He told me he had been up since 0100 and that his "head hurt, stomach hurts, throat hurts, and my skin is sensitive", took his temp 103.8. No question I needed to be home with him today but I still spent all day worrying about my colleagues working short and worrying about my job, I only took the job in July. Oh well, can't do anything about it now. I always said I was a Mom first and a nurse second.

[Sodie, BSN, RN]

One time I called in because I had ear pai. Abiut 4:oo in the morning I began bleeding from my ear. I called te superviser and told her that i fel okay (my ear stopped hurting when it started draining. The only thing that I wanted to do was to come in late so that I could see my MD in the morning. I told her that I would come in after seeing the doctor if he said that I was okay. I just figured that I needed antibiotics. The superviser told me that I should call my MD right then and tell him what was going on. I told her that i was not calling my MD at 4 am for him to tell me what I already knew. (He would have me come to the office and examine me). She told me that the MD takes call for a reason. I thought she was being ridiculous. I stayed home and went to the doctor. I only call in 2 times a year at the most anyway. I am not a sickly person.

Now I work in the cath lab. If I have a fever or if I feel like my judgement is cloudy, I do not go in. It's too easy to make a mistake in there if you aren't well. It is safer for the patient. I still only have called in like 2 times in the last year though. I used to feel guitly when I would call in, but the longer I am in nursing the less guilt I feel, espeacially when some of my coworkers call in 1-2 times a month !

[1RNLadybug]

That is what I ask myself "can I care for my patients well?"

We all get sick. Sometimes we just need a few days to regroup. I am taking today and tomorrow off for 'mental flossing.'

I work too much and push myself too hard, trying to learn to balance work and home. When I called in I said I had "personal situation I had to resolve and won't be in until Saturday am." They know not to ask "why." because it is personal.

Years ago I called in and said i was 'sick', and the supervisor said 'what do you mean by sick," like I was out drinking all night or something. I said 'irritable bowel syndrome, would you like me to bring you a stool specimen? That was the last time they asked what do I mean by sick.

We are human, we get sick, especially with all we are exposed to, coughing, spitting, bleeding, phlem...

linda

[Geeg]

I base it on how much sick time I have. If I have plenty and am not in violation of policy, I don't hestitate to call in. Rememer, nobody is going to give you a light assignment or take it easy on you just because you are sick and come in out of the goodness of your heart. No good deed goes unpunished.

[IloveSnoopy]

Hi...

I am one of those who rarely every gets "sick, sick"....I do however have incapacitating menstural cramps due to my stupid endometriosis. I don't even hesitate a minute to call in sick if I am hurting too bad. Some days..I can't even hardly get out of bed and shower.....how can I be expected to run "the beat" all night, lift on people, care for people adequately, etc. If I feel like crap...I deem myself unacceptable to care for others.....not because I don't care....because I'm hurting too bad to care. It is hard to care for others....when you are feeling worse than the peep's you are caring for....(happens a lot of the time lol). Anyways..I hope u are feeling better soon.....and don't go back to soon. You don't want to expose your co-workers and patients to the "cruddies". Take care and get lots of rest....

Luv,

Snoop'

[jude11142]

Calling out sick for me is a tough call. I work weekday baylor, 3pm to 7am twice a week. Work 32 hrs get paid for 40, plus I chose to take the per diem pay instead of benefits(big mistake, I am in the midst of going back to benes). Anyways, if I am sick and call out, that is 16 hrs that I lose. Plus, if we don't work the full 32 hrs we don't get the extra 8 hr pay. Therefore, in my case, I lose 24hrs pay. Not good!!!

Right now, I have something brewing in me. Feel like you know what, have the chills, body aches low-grade temp etc............I went to work on Mon came home tues morning, slept to about 3pm and started to feel sick about that time. That night, I didn't sleep that well, and woke up Wed at 11am.....and had to be in work by 3pm for my other double. I did stay the whole two shifts but boy was I miserable. The DON was there for evening shift, and I not only looked like crap but I ended up vomiting etc.....you would think that she wouldn't want to have any of us working sick but noooooooooooo,,,,she says, "you can make it".............with a smile. Give me a break.....I tend to get intiminated easily(though I am getting more assertive)and most of the supervisors where I work really tries to make you feel bad when you call out. Plus, they give you the third degree, what is wrong?, can't you come in for a half shift?, what are we gonna do now? and so on....

We have been told that we need to call out sick atleast 4 hrs before assigned shift, which is fair. Only once, I had a problem complying with that rule. I was going on my second double, so I slept late, didn't wake up until 1pm and again work was at 3pm....I woke up with such a headache, nausea, couldn't lift my head off pillow. So, I called out and caught hell for it. I tried to explain that was when I woke up(after working a double and coming home at 8am)and bottom line, I am sick and not coming in!!

That's how is goes where I work,

JUDE

[plumrn, BSN, RN]

I call in if I'm too sick to do the job. Fortunately, that's very rarely. I don't want co-workers to come in sick spreading their germs, either.

My biggest irritation is when someone comes in and immediately start complaining they are sick, and feel bad. PLEASE call in when you're sick. Don't come in sick, then immediately want to go home. That's much harder on your co-workers than just calling in from the beginning.