Does anybody else feel guilty about calling off?

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I was wondering if anybody else on here has call off guilt, my husband says I am crazy because of it. I am on light duty and had called off 2 days after sustaining a back injury moving a patient. My manager is great is accommodating with my restrictions so I am one day back to work and now I have 2 sick kids at home with what looks like strep throat, so obviously I will be taking them to the doc tomorrow. Is it ingrained in us in nursing school to feel guilty when missing work or is it just me?

Went through the last month of nursing school / preceptorship with shingles.

:lurking:

Not allowed to call out in nursing school.

Anyways, If you're alotted X sick days that DON'T ROLL OVER, what do they expect?

Management shoots themselves in the feet sometimes...

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Specializes in Critical Care.

You are on workers comp, of course they are going to honor light duty not because they care about you, but because they don't want to let you stay home and collect a paycheck without working! Now if you were on lifting restrictions for a non work related reason and then they offered you light duty at your request I would be impressed! Some places will do this, but most won't! They just want to make sure you are not milking workers comp. Usually when you get injured, the first thing they do is a drug screen on you to see if you were doing drugs, rather than acknowledge the injury is because of the obese patients and their refusal to create a no lift environment complete with ceiling lifts! If a no lift environment was standard there would be far fewer injuries and nurses living in chronic neck, back and shoulder pain!

I've been a nurse for many years and can see the incredible increase in obese patients over the years. Now we have many 40-50 year old patients 300-500 pounds. It never used to be like that, maybe 200 pounds max before. I don't think it is just a sedentary lifestyle, but believe it has something to do with all the chemicals and food additives in our food supply. Only a third of Americans are not overweight and I believe they simply have better genes for the most part, unlike the 2/3 that are overweight. The obese make up 1/3 and climbing.

We really need a no lift environment and it can be done! The VA has done it throughout their hospital system already! If only the rest of American hospitals would jump on the bandwagon and make the commitment to their front line staff instead of making excuses that it cost too much. Reminds me of a hospital that said to provide hazmat suits and respirators would bankrupt them during a conference on Ebola. Apparently it costs them less to pay workers comp and even hire a new employee rather than prevent work injuries in the first place!

So stop feeling guilty already! I've seen employees with only one good hand, the other arm in a sling, brought back to work and typing and doing office work with one hand! Hard to believe, but true!

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Specializes in ICU.
You are on workers comp, of course they are going to honor light duty not because they care about you, but because they don't want to let you stay home and collect a paycheck without working! Now if you were on lifting restrictions for a non work related reason and then they offered you light duty at your request I would be impressed! Some places will do this, but most won't! They just want to make sure you are not milking workers comp. Usually when you get injured, the first thing they do is a drug screen on you to see if you were doing drugs, rather than acknowledge the injury is because of the obese patients and their refusal to create a no lift environment complete with ceiling lifts! If a no lift environment was standard there would be far fewer injuries and nurses living in chronic neck, back and shoulder pain!

I've been a nurse for many years and can see the incredible increase in obese patients over the years. Now we have many 40-50 year old patients 300-500 pounds. It never used to be like that, maybe 200 pounds max before. I don't think it is just a sedentary lifestyle, but believe it has something to do with all the chemicals and food additives in our food supply. Only a third of Americans are not overweight and I believe they simply have better genes for the most part, unlike the 2/3 that are overweight. The obese make up 1/3 and climbing.

We really need a no lift environment and it can be done! The VA has done it throughout their hospital system already! If only the rest of American hospitals would jump on the bandwagon and make the commitment to their front line staff instead of making excuses that it cost too much. Reminds me of a hospital that said to provide hazmat suits and respirators would bankrupt them during a conference on Ebola. Apparently it costs them less to pay workers comp and even hire a new employee rather than prevent work injuries in the first place!

So stop feeling guilty already! I've seen employees with only one good hand, the other arm in a sling, brought back to work and typing and doing office work with one hand! Hard to believe, but true!

My injury was from helping to lift the pannus of an 800+lb pt. Thankfully it is just muscular and because of the injury they are looking into how to prevent this in the future......

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Specializes in ICU.
Not a flame, I promise--just a different perspective. One can't just assume that her husband is able to care for the kids. Maybe he's in an equally difficult position for call-offs...an RN himself, or a police officer, or a firefighter on a 24 hour call shift at the station?

Once I had to call in with very little notice; I was getting ready for work and my toddler woke up crying. She had been feeling fine when she went to bed, and when I picked her up she was burning up. I think her fever was over 103 if I remember correctly... My husband is the CFO of his company and that day was going to fly to another state to have meetings w/ clients. Not that what he does is more important than what I do, but my unit has dozens of RNs, plus the hospital has a float pool. He's the only one at his company who does what he does...and what he does THAT day happened to be a thousand miles away.

A sick child can't go to daycare. Daycare will think nothing of calling an RN-parent in the middle of their shift and saying "Your child has a fever. You need to come get her." And clearly, a sick two-year-old cannot stay home by herself and take care of herself the way a teenager with the same illness could.

You hit the nail on the head. my husband is a state police office and with many troopers rotating to look for the man who shot 2 state troopers calling off at this time for him is not the easiest.

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Specializes in Geriatric.

No one where I work feels guilty about calling in. I'm the only one of the nursing staff (including the cnas and the boss) that hasn't called in at least once in the last 3 months. I've learned in those 3 months that having a headache is a serious illness and severely contagious. Who knew?

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Specializes in Emergency/Cath Lab.

If it is for a legit reason why should you feel bad?

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My children are none of your business. But obviously if yours can't read how to take Tylenol then there is some severe deficits in their learning. At 13 & 12 they should be able to manage a few hours while you're at work. They can make soup, take their meds and drink fluids. The fact that they obviously can't is a defection on your parenting skills. And nice hyperbole about jobs and apartments. Cause that's a rational option. But at their ages I should hope they do have jobs like babysitting and mowing lawns to teach them how to work and be self reliant.

oh no the hell you didnt.

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Specializes in Trauma, Teaching.

Early years in my career, yeah, I felt guilty. Would never have dreamed of using sick leave for anything but being really sick. "Mental health days" were unheard of.

I've dragged myself in with sxs that I shouldn't have, and forced myself to work. Know what? didn't really change anything. When I've called off... there was not a sudden rash of deaths... my coworkers are competent, they catch changes in status just like I do....

So, no guilt. I earned it as part of my wages, I use to take care of myself, and to protect my coworkers from my illness. Staffing is NOT my responsibility. Being a good nurse is.

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Specializes in ICU.
oh no the hell you didnt.

Haha....oh hell yes she did however the opinion of someone who seems to have the compassion level of a serial killer means nil to me , I know what kind of parent I am which is a loving, supportive parent who has raised smart competent kids that will go on to be successful and most important of all know I was there for them when they needed me.

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I just got a job. Hired early October. I had a bad kidney infection and fevers were 102.8 and rising...but I still felt bad calling in, even though I was still in the hospital.

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Specializes in Mental Health, Gerontology, Palliative.
And as I've said calling off when YOU are sick is appropriate. Calling off to take care of people who are 100% able to care for themselves, well you'll have to make that decision and live with the consequences. I don't know where everyone works, but the hospitals I've worked at you only get 3 sick days a year. After that it's write ups, suspensions then termination.

Oh and in your OP you said you had to take them to the doctors (which if they'd been sick for four days prob could have been done on a non work day). Then you railed on me about leaving your kids "ill and unattended"!!! So it wasn't just taking them to the doc, especially with urgent cares open till 10 pm or later in some places. This was about you not wanting to go to work. Bottom line.

Wow. I find it gob smacking that an illness lasting longer than three days could get someone disciplined.

Recently I had to have a week off due to a raging case of cellulitis that required IV antibiotics.Would have been a wee bit inappropriate to be visiting clients with an IV line in. Bit scary to think under your organizations rules I could be disciplined for being sick.

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When I worked at our local hospital we were allowed 3 sick "events". If we were sick for multiple days at once that was considered one event.

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