Is it OK to discipline nurses extra for calling in sick on a holiday?

llg, PhD, RN · Jan 16, 2015

Mental health days are necessary as well. As a patient I don't want some stretched to the limit ready to snap employee caring for me. Sometimes the best thing we can do is take care of ourselves.

If you are getting burned out and need "mental health days," then schedule some time off. That's what it is for. Don't lie and say you were sick and call out at the last minute.

dream'n, BSN, RN · Jan 17, 2015

I have a little test I use for myself when calling out sick. Sounds silly, but if I am too sick to care what Administration/coworkers think or do and if I could care less if I'm wrote up or 'talked to"; then I know I'm really sick enough to stay home.

kbrn2002, ADN, RN · Jan 17, 2015

I have a little test I use for myself when calling out sick. Sounds silly but if I am [u']too sick[/u] to care what Administration/coworkers think or do and if I could care less if I'm wrote up or 'talked to"; then I know I'm really sick enough to stay home.

Good plan! I will try this. From now on if I feel miserable enough to not care that the previous shift will get mandated because I called in, well then I'll call in and try to have no regrets.

RobotNurse · Dec 29, 2015

When members of nursing staff call out on holidays, this simply makes conditions intolerable for the rest of us who are now stuck working understaffed.
If you're sick on the holiday, stay home and get better. However, if you don't want to work holidays, find a job that doesn't have 24-hour operations.

the problem is the attitude that no one can possibly be legit sick over a holiday. i mean, it's not like we work around sick people over the holidays, right?! obviously any halfway-considerate pathogen would not infect a nurse on a holiday or weekend!

I worked Christmas Eve, Christmas day, and the Sat/Sun after Christmas. I also worked yesterday and today despite physically feeling like crap (100* fever and sore throat). I really want to call out tomorrow, especially because I think it's strep again (i just got done with antibiotics for the same thing). I ******* hate this hypocritical culture in healthcare where we are supposed to be superhuman.

Ruger8mm · Dec 29, 2015

I'd argue that majority of us know who the chronic callers are and who is most likely legit sick on the rare occasion that they call in. Unfortunately there are those who call in way to often. Regardless of day, but yes on holidays. I think the chronic ones should be dealt with more severely.

NOADLS · Dec 29, 2015

I am willing to bet that for every one person that is legitimately sick during the holidays, there are at least a dozen who aren't sick and choose to call in. If I was legitimately sick during those times, I would still come in because I don't want to be that person.

Laboratorian · Dec 29, 2015

In Alabama this policy is also in affect during certain events (Talladega Race, Iron Bowl, Magic City Classic).

roser13, ASN, RN · Dec 29, 2015

the problem is the attitude that no one can possibly be legit sick over a holiday. i mean, it's not like we work around sick people over the holidays, right?! obviously any halfway-considerate pathogen would not infect a nurse on a holiday or weekend!
I worked Christmas Eve, Christmas day, and the Sat/Sun after Christmas. I also worked yesterday and today despite physically feeling like crap (100* fever and sore throat). I really want to call out tomorrow, especially because I think it's strep again (i just got done with antibiotics for the same thing). I ******* hate this hypocritical culture in healthcare where we are supposed to be superhuman.

Why on earth is this old thread revived?

evolvingrn, BSN, RN · Dec 29, 2015

Yes.... Because the people who do call tend to be habitual offenders.

roser13, ASN, RN · Dec 30, 2015

Yes.... Because the people who do call tend to be habitual offenders.

??? To whom are you responding?

Dranger · Dec 30, 2015

I usually don't care about people calling in sick, but calling in sick consistently on holidays is pretty low and shows that the nurse is not a team player.

One holiday is eh but if there is a pattern the issue needs to be squashed.

MY biggest problem is other nurses giving me a hard time for not always volunteering to work holidays because I don't have a family (mid 20s, not married). Last time I checked, it is not my burden to bear so you can be at home with your family. I will work my share per the union contract.

NurseSpeedy, ADN, LPN, RN · Dec 30, 2015

Nurse's are human and get sick just like our patients do. We don't plan to get sick on Christmas or any other major holiday because we don't feel like working that day. We just got the unfortunate role of the dice that it happened during the holiday that we were scheduled to work. Sorry, crap happens. I think as long as someone goes to a doctor prior to returning to work (since I don't know of a single place within driving distance in my area besides the ER open on Christmas Day) that it should not be punished any different than any other sick call. Just like our patients don't want to have to be hospitalized on Christmas, we as nurses don't want to be sick during the holidays, but it happens.

I have worked sick during the holidays and it probably wasn't the smartest thing. I had a bad respiratory infection, double ear infection, and pink eye in both eyes but who is going to believe the nurse who calls out the first Christmas have with a facility? I went in, ducked into the bathroom to hack up a lung periodically, and planned my PRN symptom medication around my patient's meal times so that I wouldn't hack all over them while I fed them their food (primary care, no aide). I was thankful that back then the shift was only 8 hours. I went home at 3pm and passed out cold.

When my daughter was 4 months old I woke up with influenza A on Christmas Day. I wasn't working at the time and was diagnosed in a walk in clinic the next day. I know hands down that there was no way in hell that if I was scheduled to work in a facility that I would have been able to show up. I could barely sit up, let alone stand/walk steady. After doing his exam the clinic doctor reclined the exam table slightly, turned off the lights to the room, and told me to rest while he wrote out the scripts to treat the symptoms at the desk. To punish someone extra for calling out with something diagnosed and as contagious as the flu is ludicrous (especially if the nurse had received the flu vaccine). On the other hand, if someone knows that they have this diagnosis and come in anyways, I think there should be repercussions for that, as they are potentially infecting anyone they come in contact with during their shift.