Do you go to work when you have fever/cold?

Nurses General Nursing

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well, heck... I'm sitting here with a light fever and a runny nose, and a slightly sore throat....I'm off work today anyway,,,but,,,I got thinking,,, do you go to work when you feel like this? what's your workplace policy when you have fever? Scared you'll get fired if you call in sick?

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As a CNA, unfortunately I do. :(

My DON insist we show up to work, and she will then asses the severity of the cold/fever and decide whether or not we are fit to stay. Unless the fever is over 101, she keeps us.

I work at a LTC facility, and 5/7 days a week we are understaffed.

Eva :uhoh3:

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EvaSanDiegoCA said:

As a CNA, unfortunately I do. :(

My DON insist we show up to work, and she will then asses the severity of the cold/fever and decide whether or not we are fit to stay. Unless the fever is over 101, she keeps us.

I work at a LTC facility, and 5/7 days a week we are understaffed.

Eva :uhoh3:

Unbelievable. :eek: I rarely call out, but if I'm sick, I'm not coming in. No one else makes the decision of whether or not I'm too sick to work. Your DON is not your doctor and should not be making those decisions.

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EvaSanDiegoCA said:

As a CNA, unfortunately I do. :(

My DON insist we show up to work, and she will then asses the severity of the cold/fever and decide whether or not we are fit to stay. Unless the fever is over 101, she keeps us.

I work at a LTC facility, and 5/7 days a week we are understaffed.

Eva :uhoh3:

Let me guess. Nobody is ever sick enough to get to go back home, right? Is you DON even allowed to do that??

I just called off last Friday and Saturday night because I was sick. There was no way that I was well enough to sufficiently take care of 6-7 post-op patients.

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Rarely is anyone "to sick" to not work.

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If I have a fever-I don't go in. A cold I take decongestant-if I have a runny nose or a cough that can't be calmed with medicine then I stay home. I wash my hands frequently or hand sanitizer.

otessa

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Specializes in Med-Surg/urology.

Yea I go to work if I'm sick..I know its not the best thing to do, but I'd rather go than get chewed out about calling in :(

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Specializes in Pediatrics.

we are to call the staffing office and they are not supposed to "judge" us, with the

H1N1 we were encouraged to not come to work sick, that if we stayed home sick we had to be cleared by the employee health nurse.

So I got sick, but had, had both flu vaccines, I called into work and told them I had flu like symptoms...."flu like symptoms...but you have had both vaccines"...."Yes, I know I have had both vaccines, but I have a temp, cough, body aches" "HMMMMM, interesting.....really! FLu like symptoms Uh Huh"........

So next time I get sick I dont call in, I drag my self in.....I have a horriable cough, I can hear inspiratory crackles.....my charge nurse hears me coughing, and calls the staffing office, they want totalk to me, I get a lecture from them about coming to work with a cough, (I had no other symptoms) and I get sent home sick not allowed to come back untill my cough clears up.

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Specializes in School Nursing and Sports Medicine.

Yep. I'm starting to have a cold and as much as I would like to stay at home, I couldn't because I need to report to work. I just put extra effort to avoid passing what ever I have to the kids (I'm a school nurse) by putting the air sterilizer on high mode, wearing a mask, and practicing good hygiene especially hand washing.

It's ironic that we tell people to stay at home when they're sick. When in fact we don't actually practice it unless we are TOO Sick to report to work. :confused:

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Specializes in Community, OB, Nursery.

For a cold but no fever, I take cold meds and go in, unless I have a cough that I can't control. We're not supposed to be at work if we have T > 100.5. I'm fortunate to work with charge nurses and management that don't give us grief for calling in when we're sick.

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Specializes in NICU.
EvaSanDiegoCA said:
Rarely is anyone "to sick" to not work.

IMHO, that's not the main issue; the issue is going in and subjecting a large number of people, in all likelihood at least some of whom who are immunocompromised, to your illness.

I work with neonates, and called out for a whole weekend when I had the flu a few weeks ago -- even at the tail end, when I was starting to feel better but still had a pretty gross cough. My unit fortunately doesn't have real issues with understaffing, but still, I just wouldn't have felt right going in.

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ivanaBEEaRN said:
we are to call the staffing office and they are not supposed to "judge" us, with the

H1N1 we were encouraged to not come to work sick, that if we stayed home sick we had to be cleared by the employee health nurse.

So I got sick, but had, had both flu vaccines, I called into work and told them I had flu like symptoms...."flu like symptoms...but you have had both vaccines"...."Yes, I know I have had both vaccines, but I have a temp, cough, body aches" "HMMMMM, interesting.....really! FLu like symptoms Uh Huh"........

So next time I get sick I dont call in, I drag my self in.....I have a horriable cough, I can hear inspiratory crackles.....my charge nurse hears me coughing, and calls the staffing office, they want totalk to me, I get a lecture from them about coming to work with a cough, (I had no other symptoms) and I get sent home sick not allowed to come back untill my cough clears up.

Just because you got both vaccines, doesn't mean that your body produced antibodies...

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