Calling in sick (question)

Am amazed at the amount of people who advised the original poster to go into work with the symptoms she had.

If you are sick, you are sick. Do we not deserve the same care and attention we give to our patients. Are we not human too?

(My husband has just reminded me I went into work with fractures L3 and L5 - but I thought I had soft tissue damage only. If I had known my back was so bad I would not have gone into work).

I've decided I'm going to call off sick. I'm feeling like absolute crap, and to me, it's not worth it. A 12.5 hour shift feels like a 7 day shift when you're feeling sick.

I've just seen your previous post - posted just before mine - and if I had seen that before I had posted, going off sick would have been my advice.

You did the right thing, even though there are going to be people who moan, the fact is that you don't want to be spreading whatever it is, and taking a day or two off now may mean you won't have to have a week off later as you would be so much worse.

Am amazed at the amount of people who advised the original poster to go into work with the symptoms she had.

If you are sick, you are sick. Do we not deserve the same care and attention we give to our patients. Are we not human too?

(My husband has just reminded me I went into work with fractures L3 and L5 - but I thought I had soft tissue damage only. If I had known my back was so bad I would not have gone into work).

Totally Agree

I'm glad you're staying home - but this is definitely something I worry about. It was explained to us that call offs do count as black spots in our records, and that they don't care what the reasoning is. After 6 call-ins for any reason in any 12 month period we get written up. I don't typically get sick that many times in a year, but it's still a pretty crappy policy, IMHO. They told us that they "prefer" that we don't call in at all during orientation, and that more than 3-4 will raise an eyebrow. I can understand an employer asking for documentation if absences get excessive, it just seems crazy that a HOSPITAL discourages its employees from calling in sick, even if they do go to a physician and get told to stay home.

AAAUGHHHH !!!!! If you are sick you are sick- CALL OFF. I don't want what you have and neither do our patients. If you spread whatever bug you have around, lots more of us are going to be calling in sick making a difficult situation impossible! Maybe not- if your bug kills off enough of the patients, we may not be short staffed after all! I don't know when it became "bad" to call off ill. It seems to be a foregone conclusion that an employee, even though we are health care professionals in a position of life saving responsibility, is playing hookie when they call off. No matter when you hired, how long you have worked, what your attendance problems have been in the past, it boarders on CRIMINAL NEGLIGENCE for a nurse to go to work when they are fairly certain they have a contagious illness. If every one went by the rule: when you are sick- call off, when you are scheduled and are well- come in, there would be no threads about this issue. I have no sympathy for those who call off because the just want an extra day off-it's too warm and sunny to go into work today, or I was out partying too late and feel a little hung over-they should quit or be fired. Certainly they have no business in nursing. Unfortunately, it is impossible to get rid of them without treating everyone who calls off as suspect. Still, WE ARE HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONALS not teenage burger flipping grill jockys. Do what is best for your patients and peers. Sorry for the rant but this issue makes me CRAZY.

I would call in if I really felt I couldn't perform at my job. I will go in with a cold or something mild but if you have a fever and/or diarrhea then I would stay home. And influenza has respiratory symptoms. I assume you ment a gastro virus?

Where are you people all working at? I remember one DON would give people shots of Compazine and Lomotil to cover shifts. When I was about 8 weeks pg and puking my guts up, I was told that is why there was a toilet right next to the nurses' station. Every single place I've worked, required you to come in....one place wouldn't even honor a doctor's excuse.

Man, I want to work where you all are!

Blessings, Michelle

Where are you people all working at? I remember one DON would give people shots of Compazine and Lomotil to cover shifts. When I was about 8 weeks pg and puking my guts up, I was told that is why there was a toilet right next to the nurses' station. Every single place I've worked, required you to come in....one place wouldn't even honor a doctor's excuse.

Man, I want to work where you all are!

Blessings, Michelle

Sounds like a really employee friendly hospital. If hospitals were like that around here, they know they wouldn't be able to retain employees. If RN's didn't put up with this treatment, the hospitals would treat them better. Are you union?

I have muscle aches, some diarrhea, that weird feeling of wanting to pass out whenever I stand up, no appetite, bland taste, chills (I'm cold but hot, then hot but cold). I don't know what my temperature is. Should I try toughing it out?

Why would you spread that to your coworkers? Feel like working short when they all call out because they have it? What about the patients? Call in, go to the doctor tommorow and get that note. I can't stand when sick coworkers come in -- if the germ was strong enough to get them down, then it's going to be a doozy when I catch it too!

I hope you feel better,

Blee

Thanks for the support. I'm scheduled to work 5 nights straight in a few days, so I want to make sure I'm over this. Maybe it's not the flu? I'm not coughing or anything like that. I started feeling weak on saturday, then got worse each day after that! I hope this is the worse of it! I just hope it goes away soon because time goes by so slow and I feel lazy for being in bed all day. I tossed and turned all night and can't get any sleep/adequate rest because I'm sick, so I don't think I should try working all night with no sleep, anyway. I would totally go in if I didn't have that weird headache/disoriented thing and feeling light headed when I sit up. I finally took a benadryl and went into a deep sleep for about an hour - ah, heaven.

Thanks for the support. I'm scheduled to work 5 nights straight in a few days, so I want to make sure I'm over this. Maybe it's not the flu? I'm not coughing or anything like that. I started feeling weak on saturday, then got worse each day after that! I hope this is the worse of it! I just hope it goes away soon because time goes by so slow and I feel lazy for being in bed all day. I tossed and turned all night and can't get any sleep/adequate rest because I'm sick, so I don't think I should try working all night with no sleep, anyway. I would totally go in if I didn't have that weird headache/disoriented thing and feeling light headed when I sit up. I finally took a benadryl and went into a deep sleep for about an hour - ah, heaven.

Not a doctor and this isn't the forum for medical advise but there are lots of nasty bugs besides the flu that can cause the symptoms you describe- and most of them are contagious- I wouldn't want you taking care of my sick grandmother. If it makes you feel "lightheaded" I will most likely kill her. SEE YOUR DOCTOR!!! As nurses we are exposed to a lot of really ugly bugs. You don't want to take a chance that you have picked up VRE, RSV, MRSA, HEP-C, C. Diff, ..... Get it checked out. Odds are it's a virus and you will be over it in a week but that is for you and your doctor to discover.

Hi everyone, quick question. I've only been off orientation for a few weeks and today I feel like crap. I think it's a moderate case of influenza. I'm scheduled to work tonight, but I'm really thinking about calling off sick. Does this look bad? During orientation I was expected to not call in sick, and I didn't. But since I've only been working where I am for about 4 months, is it still too soon to call in sick?

As a staffing coordinator I'd be peeved if you called in.

I'd be REALLY peeved if you came to work and made everyone else sick and they ALL called in.