Calling in Sick

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When you call in sick, do you think it's fair that they ask you why? I mean, obviously, you are 'calling in SICK'... I called in today because I was basically feeling like crap, and I was a little surprised when the nursing director asked 'well whats wrong?' ( In our hospital we have a sick line, you dont speak to the charge nurse on your unit like in most hospitals I've seen )... Just wanting a little input on this one :)

I had a CNA call in at 0735 to say she had a flat tire and couldn't come to work. The shift started at 0700. That was Mothers Day.

Another CNA has had 5 family memebers die since January.

An RN called at 1930 the night before she was supposed work the DAY shift and said she was too tired to come to work the next day.

My facility does NOTHING because they are so desperate for help.

So guess what, when it's time to low census, I remember those things.....

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If you have been in a Supervisors position, or any position where you receive call offs, you know that there are people who routinely call off and leave the staff short. There are also people that call off right before they are supposed to be there. (ex. work 7-3 and call off at 6:30) You also stated that you were still on orientation and you stated she doesn't know you, well maybe she thinks you are one of thoses people who call off all the time. Its never a good idea to call off when your on orientation, doesn't give the greatest first impression. Its always a lot easier for me to look at someone elses faults then to possibly look at myself, or what part I played, try to put the shoe on the other foot. Do you know what her responsibilities are, maybe she is supposed to ask why? What would you have done if put in the same spot?

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Specializes in cardiology-now CTICU.
Right there!! Really want to work with you: "Sorry man wont be in today, They have a special on Opra that I really want to see" Its not cool to leave your co-workers short...unless you or your kid is sick. What you just described to me is abuse of benifit setup to help people if they are sick, and I do not know of any company who has sick/personel days and Vacation days in the same sentence. Sick and Personel days are set up for when you or a family member, I dont know....mabe sick, not because you have something better to do that day or your just having a dam the man day. Vacation days are set up probably when you would like to take a three day weekend or a week off without putting YOUR PT. AND CO-WORKERS in a crappy situation. As for "favors". Its not a favor to do your job and be a dependable employee. Its a JOB you WORK at a JOB. I have worked in many other fields other than nursing, and every job I have worked at has expected the same thing. One more thing, your employer pays you to be the person I mentioned above and nothing else. If you dont think you can be that person then save everyone some time and stress and go work at McDonalds. They probably wont miss you on the grill, everyone likes meatless hamburgers.:lol2::uhoh21::devil::angryfire:trout:

wow, thanks for the suggestion on future employment... i think you misunderstood what i'm saying.

first, as another person pointed out, yes our vaca, sick and personal days all come from the same bank. we start at zero and accrue. having just come off of maternity leave for example i am near zero again and will have to accrue hours before i can schedule a vaca or happen to have an illness and expect to still get paid.

when i speak of doing the hospital favors, i am not talking about working my scheduled shifts i am talking about all the times they: ask you to come in early/stay late/cover somene else's shift/trade shifts/be plus-minused your hours over the next two weeks and not get OT pay. those things- favors.

as far as it not being cool to leave your co-workers working short... sorry. sometimes that is not avoidable. nor should it be my responsability. do you propose that a nurse not "be allowed" to call out sick unless she/he can find coverage for the shift? i'm just saying that the hospital will always have needs and i for one do not allow those needs to come before the needs of my family. maybe that would make me supernurse but what kind of mother would it make me?

as an aside on how sick nursing culture is- do you think any other "dedicated professionals" in the free world are lambasted for proposing the right to call out sick? are we supposed to be machines?

PM me if you need to take this further...

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Specializes in Utilization Management.
I had a CNA call in at 0735 to say she had a flat tire and couldn't come to work. The shift started at 0700. That was Mothers Day.

Another CNA has had 5 family memebers die since January.

An RN called at 1930 the night before she was supposed work the DAY shift and said she was too tired to come to work the next day.

My facility does NOTHING because they are so desperate for help.

So guess what, when it's time to low census, I remember those things.....

You need to know that there are actually some people in this world who would rather give you a bogus reason than explain that your kid's decided to run away from home and you don't find out till 15 minutes before you have to leave for work, or you're having a huge fight with the dh, or some other equally too-personal-to-discuss-with-someone-at-work moment.

I'm one of those people. So my excuse might sound contrived because it is!

You might think that I don't really have a fever, that I don't "sound" sick, or that I've called off for some other stupid reason. Fact is, I don't care much what you think. My family's personal angst is NOT my employer's business, and when you get right down to it, when I call in, it's because for one reason or another, I CANNOT WORK.

These things can happen to anyone, and I would really rather NOT have to work with someone who's worried sick about their kid, or their pet, or whatever.

And the person who says, "No problem, feel better!"?

I remember THAT when they need someone extra and I am able to help out, too.

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Specializes in HH/LTC/WM.
wow, thanks for the suggestion on future employment... i think you misunderstood what i'm saying.

first, as another person pointed out, yes our vaca, sick and personal days all come from the same bank. we start at zero and accrue. having just come off of maternity leave for example i am near zero again and will have to accrue hours before i can schedule a vaca or happen to have an illness and expect to still get paid.

when i speak of doing the hospital favors, i am not talking about working my scheduled shifts i am talking about all the times they: ask you to come in early/stay late/cover somene else's shift/trade shifts/be plus-minused your hours over the next two weeks and not get OT pay. those things- favors.

as far as it not being cool to leave your co-workers working short... sorry. sometimes that is not avoidable. nor should it be my responsability. do you propose that a nurse not "be allowed" to call out sick unless she/he can find coverage for the shift? i'm just saying that the hospital will always have needs and i for one do not allow those needs to come before the needs of my family. maybe that would make me supernurse but what kind of mother would it make me?

as an aside on how sick nursing culture is- do you think any other "dedicated professionals" in the free world are lambasted for proposing the right to call out sick? are we supposed to be machines?

PM me if you need to take this further...

Thats funny because in my post I put unless you or your family is sick. Did I not?? What the first line of your post suggested to me is The hell with everyone else if I dont want to go to work today just because, then I wont. Right??? You did not even mention your family until the very last sentence, so dont give me that B.S. that im getting down on you for taking care of your family. I hear it all the time, the excuses of why I cant work. I yes, in the real world, if you are not an exuctive in a company with alot of pea ons under you...you do get fired for not showing up to work excessivly!!! As far as you favors, in my post did I not say: Your employer pays you to be the person i mention above. (that person was):Its a JOB you WORK at a job. So now that I have explained that, I dont think it is your job to come in early or stay late...never said that did I, not did I imply it!!! As far as being a supernurse, I have no idea where you are going with that one, BECAUSE ONCE AGAIN, SHOWING UP FOR YOUR SCHEDULED SHIFT UNLESS YOU OR YOUR FAMILY IS SICK DOESNT CONSTITUTE GOING ABOVE AND BEYOND AS SOME PEOPLE WOULD HAVE YOU BELIEVE!!!! Thats like me running to my boss saying "hey boss I did what you pay me for" and expecting to get a pat on the back.:trout:

:o:uhoh3::idea::lol2::uhoh21::devil:

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Specializes in HH/LTC/WM.
You need to know that there are actually some people in this world who would rather give you a bogus reason than explain that your kid's decided to run away from home and you don't find out till 15 minutes before you have to leave for work, or you're having a huge fight with the dh, or some other equally too-personal-to-discuss-with-someone-at-work moment.

I'm one of those people. So my excuse might sound contrived because it is!

You might think that I don't really have a fever, that I don't "sound" sick, or that I've called off for some other stupid reason. Fact is, I don't care much what you think. My family's personal angst is NOT my employer's business, and when you get right down to it, when I call in, it's because for one reason or another, I CANNOT WORK.

These things can happen to anyone, and I would really rather NOT have to work with someone who's worried sick about their kid, or their pet, or whatever.

And the person who says, "No problem, feel better!"?

I remember THAT when they need someone extra and I am able to help out, too.

LMAO! For real. Sounds like a drama queen to me. Someone who always has a tragedy in thier lives...Yes you know the person, everyone has a drama friend. If they dont have drama, something is wrong and this person usually doesnt last long after the 5th time they have called in because they have no real control over thier lives...Take control and watch the drama disappear! Everyone has personal problems, but not everyday and every min. Teachers, your boss, and anyone else you know doesnt really care that your dog is sick, or your uncle died again. Sorry fighting with a spouse is NO reason to call in for work unless he has beat you to a bloody pulp (I would still want a Dr. note). Thats chicken #&*!. Sorry me and Billy are fighting over the last pop tart and I aint leaven till I've won. errrrr

DRAMA DRAMA:trout:

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calling in sick? i feel that a supervisor should not have to ask you what is wrong with you. if you do not abuse sick time it shouldnt matter. and if you have the time to use it shouldnt matter. i use to work at a placr that if you were out 2 consecutive days you had to bring a dr's note. who can afford that?

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I have been sick with bronchitis for two weeks, and went back to the doctor this morning and am now on my 2nd round of antibiotics.

He also gave me an injection of cortisone, and a cough syrup with codeine in it.

I called in early this morning and told them I wouldn't be in this evening to work, and about 12noon today just right after I'd taken a dose of that narcotic cough syrup the RN calls me and says she can't find coverage and wants to know if can come on in.

I told her, no, that I could not, I'd just taken that narcotic cough syrup, and I had not slept even one hour last night from this severe coughing.

I probably couldn't have even made the drive in to the job, I was by that time so "under" with that codeine, let alone go in and give medications being medicated like that.

They KNEW I've been sick for two weeks, and this is only the 2nd day I have missed.

I think that is just so bad that they would do me like that. They KNOW I"ve been sick, but expect me to come in anyway.

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LMAO! For real. Sounds like a drama queen to me. Someone who always has a tragedy in thier lives...Yes you know the person, everyone has a drama friend. If they dont have drama, something is wrong and this person usually doesnt last long after the 5th time they have called in because they have no real control over thier lives...Take control and watch the drama disappear! Everyone has personal problems, but not everyday and every min. Teachers, your boss, and anyone else you know doesnt really care that your dog is sick, or your uncle died again. Sorry fighting with a spouse is NO reason to call in for work unless he has beat you to a bloody pulp (I would still want a Dr. note). Thats chicken #&*!. Sorry me and Billy are fighting over the last pop tart and I aint leaven till I've won. errrrr

DRAMA DRAMA:trout:

I couldn't have said better!

I work in a small place, the abusers are the abusers. It's always the same people. One CNA called in two days one week and came back to work and told everyone we cancelled her! That's what I get for saying I hope you feel better..... They are also the same people that call the nursing office and B**** when they have to work short because someone else called in at 6:45.

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Being the person on the other end, I sometimes ask to get a sense of how many days they might be out. If they call in with a headache or with a case of chicken pox means two different things as far as future staffing problems go. It also gives us an idea about other problems such as an outbreak of flu.

I agree that privacy is a concern, and if someone just says I'm sick I don't press it other than to ask if they think they are going to be out any length of time.

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I called in one year on New Years Eve night shift because I had bronchitis, a fever and couldn't stop a hacking, croupy cough. I am a Sup. and I was HARRASSED by the other Sup. and my boss until after midnight.

I came into work on New Years Day night shift pale as a ghost and hacked all over everyone.

My boss came in the next morning, I was still white as a sheet and I hacked all over her too. She felt stupid then.

It isn't any easier for the Sups, we can't call in at all!

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I called in one year on New Years Eve night shift because I had bronchitis, a fever and couldn't stop a hacking, croupy cough. I am a Sup. and I was HARRASSED by the other Sup. and my boss until after midnight.

I came into work on New Years Day night shift pale as a ghost and hacked all over everyone.

My boss came in the next morning, I was still white as a sheet and I hacked all over her too. She felt stupid then.

It isn't any easier for the Sups, we can't call in at all!

Well, you're still human and nurses get sick, too.

YOu SHOULD be able to call in.

My supervisor....the DON, of the department, doesn't come to work if SHE'S sick, I guarantee you.

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