Calling in sick

[perfectbluebuildings]

Hey everyone,

I am just wondering what you would call in sick for and what your facility's policy is. Here we have to call in at least 2 hours before shift starts (makes sense to me!) and also they ask why you are calling in. I called in today but felt guilty cause I felt I didn't have a good enough excuse. I have had a sore throat and coughing up some junk for a couple days, but I didn't realize what the charge nurse meant when she said "what should I put you down for?" and she was like "well you know... GI, respiratory..." and so I just said, "oh... respiratory..." so now it seems as though I was just grabbing at any excuse. Should I have gone in anyway? This is the first time I've called in sick. And now I am feeling a little bit better so I feel kind of guilty. Like someone else got inconvenienced for me. What do you think? Is this a "wussy" reason to call in? :)

[Meerkat]

Someone said they aren't supposed to ask you what you are sick with. Is that a law/legal issue?

I'd love to be able to say, 'Asking me that is violating the law'!

[ZASHAGALKA, RN]

What is the deal with everybody wanting to know exactly HOW you're sick??

Here's what they're going to get next time I'm asked for specifics:

"I've got light green, watery diarrhea with small chunks of what looks like corn, can't be sure. Smells like C-Diff. I'm getting these waves of pain, sort of like labor pains, every 15 minutes or so. I'm also vomiting, last time it looked like green antifreeze with mucus floating in it. I tried to eat an egg last night, but it didn't stay down, it wasn't pretty, let me tell you. I have a temp of 101 right now, but this morning it was 103. My skin's real dry, too. Oh, and this headache! It feels like someone has stabbed me through the temple with some sort of hot sword. And a head cold. I feel really stuffy, and my nose is running. It's just clear stuff right now, but I'm also coughing up some brown sputum - wanna see it? No? Well, I thought you might want to put it in my file since you're so interested in documenting my illness."

Like I'd ever be brave enough to do that! I just say "I'm not feeling well, I won't be able to work tonight, sorry."

And this is how the conversation will go:

"I've got light green, watery ---"

"Well you get some rest and feel better."

They don't really want to know what's wrong w/ you. They want to condition you not to call in sick unless you feel bad enough to actually be sick, or lie about it.

It's a guilt trip. But hey, I understand it. You WANT your employees to use sick leave sparingly, so a little guilt trip isn't a bad thing.

~faith,

Timothy.

[catlady, BSN, RN]

I guess they're going to triage you! I used to have supervisors grill me about my s/s; were they going to fix me up so I could come in??? And then they try to make you feel guilty about how short-staffed they are--you'd better be sick enough. Any wonder infectious disease is rampant?

When I was in charge, I refused to take details as to the nature of the illness, even while I was dying inside wondering how to cover the callout. The nurses would start to give their explanation, and I'd cut 'em off with, "Just take care and hope you feel better soon." What would be the point, unless they needed to tell me about chickenpox or major surgery?

It was very unfair that days could call in 1 hour early but nights had to give 4 hrs notice. I know that it's harder to cover nights, but night people have to sleep, too, even if they're sick. Nobody expects day shift to get up by 3 am to call out, but 4 hrs notice is its equivalent on night shift.

Golly, sometimes it's good to be reminded why I don't work in the hospital any more...