Can you believe this???

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Specializes in ER, ICU, Nurse Manager.

I am a home health nurse. On Tuesday after I finished seeing my pts I started to feel sick to my stomach and could not figure out why. Well Wednesday I went to work saw three of my five pts and was overcome by nausea and a pounding headache (stomach virus!!) I called my boss and told her that I had gotten sick in the field and needed to go home, no problem. I talked to here later that afternoon and told her I would not be able to work on Thursday, the toliet had become my new best friend. Today I tried to get up and get dressed to go to work well that did not work for my new bff (mr toliet) just would not let me go. Now I am on call this week end and told my boss I would still try to do my call. I get a call from the director this afternoon, not to see how I am doing but to make sure I'm still going to do my call, I said yes and she says yeah because to get out of call we would need a doctor's excuse!! What!!! At first it didn't bother me, but as I starting thinking I was like thanks for calling to check on me I only been in the bathroom for the last two days!! Anyway just needed to vent.

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It's never happened to me personally but I have coworkers who have been told, when they tried to call in sick, that "You need to come in, we can't replace you today."

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welcome to the club

you are not a person , you are a warm body with a license. if you go in and you cannot stay you subject your self to a charge of abandonment

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Yes, I can believe it.

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It's never happened to me personally but I have coworkers who have been told, when they tried to call in sick, that "You need to come in, we can't replace you today."

this happened to me the day my grandmother died.... they made me schedule my pts around the funeral b/c they had no one to cover me and i was still in my 90 day probation period after being a new hire.... basically i was told if you can't do it, you can be terminated b/c you are not technically a permanent employee yet.... when I questioned the supervisor on call about the definition of compassion and mercy, she asked me if that meant i was advising her that i was refusing to come in even after she had "read the policy" to me ....

i went in.... fool i am ~ i know..... welcome printed on the back of my scrubs.... but you live and learn...i don't take anything from anyone any more....:uhoh3: :uhoh3: :uhoh3:

hope you start feeling better soon, rachel

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Specializes in Orhto, med/surg.

This is why some floors have a high turn over. All but one of my managers has been great.. I've had around 4 or 5. The twitty one asked me once why nurses keep quitting or transferring off her floor. I told her it is because she treats people poorly and doesn't give people time off for surgery (my personal example) unless they get there own coverage. She replied "But blah blah blah" So I said "A lot of managers cover their floors just fine and they are understanding about time off, this is what keeps people loyal.. check it out for yourself". She was still dismissing my answer. By the way.. i was an LVN and when I got my RN she called me at home whining about why I didn't "apply" to her floor. To which I said... "UH.. I shouldn't have had to apply", after a few more words, she basically begged me to leave my new floor and come back. Of coorifice I said no... and I loved that she had to beg.

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Specializes in Med-Surg.

Never heard of such a thing. Perhaps though it was because you were sick the two previous days? We need a doctor's note beginning with day #3.

I hope you feel better.

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I can believe it. I was sick with pneumonia and pleurisy, was under doctor's care, told my manager that pulmonary function test showed my lungs were working at 60%. On top of that everytime I talked to her I couldn't finish a whole sentence without stopping to catch my breath. Yet she said I either had to resign or be terminated!! Since I had been sick for 2 weeks. Such a compassionate field we work in when we don't take care of our own.

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Specializes in Emergency, Trauma, Flight.

sorry to hear that.. hope you are feeling better....

ya gotta hate those stupid stomach viruses!!

:barf01:

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Specializes in ICU;CCU;Telemetry;L&D;Hospice;ER/Trauma;.

Oh....don't get me started!!

When my father passed away about 10 years ago, the manager I worked with at the time was a realllll compassionate one....

I called her as soon as I found out the news...which happened to be on a Sunday....I called her at home....

Her first words were: "you have three days to grieve".

Not, "oh I am sorry....is there anything I can do to help???"

My father was my rock....my best friend....and now here I am crying over the phone to a manager who could only focus on hospital policy.....

My father had the courtesy to die when I had the next three days off....so my grief time allowed me to get home and back before my next schedule work day after my 3 grief days....

I wonder what makes these managers tick sometimes....it's like they fall out of a stupid tree and hit every branch on the way down!

I am sorry you were so sick.

It's pretty hard to see your patients and then spend the day launching in between....

Here we are....walking to the ends of the earth for our patients, but unwilling to see how much we need to bear one another up when one of us is sick, or grieving....

I hope you are on the mend....

Blessings. CRNI

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Specializes in Internal Medicine.
I can believe it. I was sick with pneumonia and pleurisy, was under doctor's care, told my manager that pulmonary function test showed my lungs were working at 60%. On top of that everytime I talked to her I couldn't finish a whole sentence without stopping to catch my breath. Yet she said I either had to resign or be terminated!! Since I had been sick for 2 weeks. Such a compassionate field we work in when we don't take care of our own.

Sometimes when I read this kind of stuff here...the cold of Canada doesn't feel so bad. We seem to have far more rights when it comes to stuff like this. It would be considered wrongful termination...and our Union would hear none of that I can tell you. Not only that, but if you didn't have extra health insurance coverage, you would get disability benefits from the government to partially cover the lost wages for time you were off. Ahhh, socialism.

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Specializes in Med/Surge, Private Duty Peds.

so sorry to hear you are ill, and yes some of the nurse managers have fallen out of a tree and banged up their thuoghts.

I just came off a 90 actiob plan for attendance, get this, last Feb my dad passed away unexpectly while in the Bahamas on vacation, I only took 2 days of compassion leave and then the other 6 days paid time off,

then in March and April spent 3 days in chest pain center and 1 week in cardaic unit due to a history of a cabg and had another heart cath. Then in Aug got salmonella food poisoning and missed 8 days of work. Was actually in the hospital room across from my NM's office and get this. admin wanted to know if these were valid excuses!!!!:smackingf and the same week I was written up, my NM takes off for another week of vacation!!!! The 5 one in 9 months. Need I say how furious I was?????

It is a shame that we as nurses get treated like crap when we are sick and need a few days off, so that we can get better and return to work and take care of our pts'

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