On my off days, I make sure that I am getting plenty of rest, because I am a nurse and my duties at the floor requires my full attention.
So when I have to come in during my "off days" so that one of you who mysteriously calls out sick for the entire weekend, placing a call on Friday afternoon saying that you will be sick on Saturday and Sunday..
have no doubt that you have caused ill feelings and I hope that your words will come true for you. ?
I'm just not mean enough to place a "sick call" on the day that you're scheduled to be "on call." Maybe I would, but no..I'm not that mean. Although, it would be sweet. To see a cluster of your "off days," and placing a sick call just to get even with you.
But I live with a honor system. So what do I do? I join Allnurses to rant my feelings here.
You are on call, right? So it’s not actually your day off. Am I reading correctly that you signed up for this on call? Expect to be called in any time you are on call. It’s that simple.
If you don’t want to work extra, then don’t. Again, it’s simple.
It’s not your job to guess about why someone is calling out. I have called out two days in advance before. I knew I would not be better in two days and it was easier on staffing for them to know in advance. Think GI situations. Or when I hurt my back.
It’s their sick time do with as they please. You have no say so in the matter.
Nah, I have not "signed up" for this "on call." It was shoved on us.
Also. I have a hard time understanding people that will know exactly when they will be sick and how they will get better, when the calls are made in few days in advance especially when it's over the weekend when the weather is excellent and the sun is shining brightly.
Shame on everyone that uses "fake reasons" to call in sick.
I do say 'no'-trust me that's not a skill that I need to work on. I'm just really resenting the fact that nurses who chose not to work over are impugned and somehow made to feel that they're crappy employees for not being the Bandaid solution to this chronic problem. I also really find it ironic that at 5:00 P.M., all of the nurse managers make for the door like the great Wildebeast migration. Where are they at at 02:00 A.M. to cover the graveyard call in?
A management team that tries to emotionally manipulate good employees while allowing bad employees to get away with excessive absenteeism is not worth wasting your energy or resentment on. They are not there at 2 a.m. because they don't have to be---their guilt trips are successful because enough of their nurses have no backbone.
Keep saying "no" and don't let their nonsense affect you, and/or find greener pastures.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
On 4/27/2019 at 11:03 AM, DextersDisciple said:
My old hospital allowed 6 call outs (this included “sick time”) a year. If you were sick on Monday and was scheduled for Monday weds Friday, you could call out for all 3 days on Monday in advance and that would equal 1 call out. This was as opposed to say still being sick Wednesday and Friday and having to call out 3 different times.
This is all assuming the person was legitimately sick though. I can understand your frustration with the fakers ?
WOW! Mine only allowed three call-outs . . . although one of mine lasted six months. (Bad back injury with surgery.)
Many years ago, I had a friend and coworker who called in sick at the drop of a hat (I was in the securities industry at the time.) When admonished by management for it, she complained to the rest of us that "it isn't my fault that I'm the kind of person who gets sick easily" (actually, given her lifestyle, it probably was her fault, but that's beside the point.) I explained to her that when she was hired, it was because there was a set of tasks that needed to be done. These tasks still need to be done whether or not it is her fault she's sick. If she isn't there, it falls to her coworkers to get these things done. This is not fair to the rest of the team. If you're truly that chronically ill, you should be on disability.
She didn't get it. Continued to call in sick, we continued to pick up the slack.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
On 4/27/2019 at 1:42 PM, TheMoonisMyLantern said:
I totally see where you're coming from and it is indeed frustrating. I would just say though that sometimes people are very private with their chronic ailments and some chronic diseases at first glance from an outsider may be invisible. Whenever someone calls out for several days in advance I always suspect that there's a chronic illness exacerbation. When you live with a disease long enough you begin to learn how long it will take you to get back on your feet again.
I present really well at work, I'm good at faking being okay. When I call out though, it's usually because my feelings of depression, anxiety, and even auditory hallucinations are to a point that I can't function as a nurse. The people I work with don't know that I have a serious mental illness, I'm sure they think I'm faking it because when I'm good I don't look like someone with a serious illness.
My point is just be cautious with coming to the conclusion that someone is faking their call outs, ultimately we see our co-worker's lives from a myopic point of view and truly we have no idea what others go through. That being said I don't know this person or situation so I could be totally wrong and the person could just be faking it. Either way I hope you get some rest.
Unless, of course, the "sick nurse" posts her mountain climbing adventures on Facebook for all to see. Or "checks in" on Facebook from the bar having that wonderful party on the Saturday night he is supposed to be working.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
On 4/28/2019 at 8:45 AM, K+MgSO4 said:
It is, but you may not be privy to all the information. 1 nurse is going through a marriage breakup, another is attempting to fall pregnant and stay pregnant, 2 have family members going through cancer treatment (one will be palliative shortly), another is trying to get out of an abusive relationship, another's parent is falling over frequently and refusing proper investigations.
Yes there are some slackers who will call in sick but unless you are the manager you don't know the whole story.
Even if you are the manager, you don't know the whole story.
That said, having lived through and gotten out of two abusive relationships, I didn't call out sick except the time my then-husband strangled me into unconsciousness and left me on the highway 300 miles from home. I didn't tell my manager anything about the abusive relationship. I just called in for the shifts I couldn't make it to work. I didn't call in sick (or inform my manager) for marriage break-ups, and only informed my manager one of the three times I went through cancer. The other two times, I just scheduled appointments for days off and surgery when I had a few days off in a row. OK, so those were small, early cancers and easily treated with surgery and radiation immediately after my shift.
My point is, no one, including the manager may know the whole story. But then, I never thought that my problems were everyone's problems, either.
Specializes in Nurse Leader specializing in Labor & Delivery.
2 hours ago, KonichiwaRN said:
Also. I have a hard time understanding people that will know exactly when they will be sick and how they will get better, when the calls are made in few days in advance especially when it's over the weekend when the weather is excellent and the sun is shining brightly.
Nevertheless, it can and does happen. When I had influenza, I called out for the entire week in advance. From a scheduling perspective, it's much better to know a day or two in advance, than 2 hours before the shift.
I'm just feeling a bit sad. As I have stated, I take my rest-and work balance seriously, and my schedule is set for threes in a row that I need my rest.
I hope such jerks that contribute to staff stress will literally fall ill as they have so proudly proclaimed. If what they say is true, then they have nothing to worry about. If their words speak falsely about their illness, may their false words become reality for themselves.
Re the bold: I am a new nurse and my schedule gets all jacked up. My requests are almost never honored. I attempt to create a balance with my schedule and wish I could balance my schedule so my work-life balance is tolerable, but at this point in time it's just not happening for me despite conversations with management. I have called out once for two days in a row with a couple of scheduled "off" days following those because I was so desperate for a few days of normal sleeping/waking/etc. Not everyone who calls off does it to be a scumbag - I literally had to do it for my own mental health because I was at the end of my rope with the two nights on, one day off, two more nights on, one day off, come in for some day shifts, have another one day off, etc. that had been going on for MONTHS.
Anywhere that I've ever worked, if you call off on the weekend, you automatically work your next weekend off, and all places have had a points system, so you will only do it so many times and you're gone. Jobs not plentiful here
KonichiwaRN
159 Posts
Nah, I have not "signed up" for this "on call." It was shoved on us.
Also. I have a hard time understanding people that will know exactly when they will be sick and how they will get better, when the calls are made in few days in advance especially when it's over the weekend when the weather is excellent and the sun is shining brightly.
Shame on everyone that uses "fake reasons" to call in sick.