Mental health days...

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Specializes in Ortho, Case Management, blabla.

I just called in and I was supposed to work tomorrow. I checked the schedule and there was plenty of staff. I just feel like I need an extra day off. I can't imagine going in there tomorrow at the crack of dawn and giving my all to care for a bunch of strangers. I'm too tired out. I'm supposed to work Tuesday too, and I'll definitely go then, but I'm just wiped out.

I just got back from a dinner with my Grandma who just got diagnosed with breast cancer 2 weeks ago. I love my Grandma with all my heart. She more or less raised me, since my mother was a single mother and more often than not I was my Grandma's care while I was growing up. We lived in the same house, and as you can imagine we were very close.

Thankfully the cancer is stage I (non-mets). Apparently it is (in the physican's words) "aggressive." She actually caught it because she felt a lump in her breast that turned out to be a calcium deposit, but it turned out that she had another spot that was cancerous (they didn't even catch it during her mammogram a few weeks before - it was completely caught fresh). Her treatment team will be hopefully able to excise the tumor without too much trouble, and she'll be able to skip the radiation/chemo stuff. I'm very happy because I've seen some of the suffering that cancer patients go through (although I'm an orthopedic med-surg nurse and admittedly don't really know much about cancer). Between my Grandma, my wife, and I, we finished an entire bottle of wine over dinner, enjoying ourselves, chatting about our favorite subjects, and talking about life in general. I stayed up way too late and just didn't feel like I'd be able to make it in the morning.

I'm just curious if any of you feel bad about calling in even when you aren't really sick?

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Specializes in hospital/physicians office/long term car.

We all need mental health days once in awhile. Don't feel bad, call in and get some rest and regroup and then you will be ready to tackle things better. Good luck and my prayers are with your grandma.:redpinkhe

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I agree...take the day off...you need it! Emotional distress IS a valid reason to call in! You need the time off to take care of yourself and deal with this emotional blow you just received. You won't be able to take care of your patients, if you don't take care of yourself first!

I will say a prayer for you and your Grandmother.

God Bless!

Mytoon 38:loveya:

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Specializes in SICU, NTICU.

All of us feel that way ever so often. Do I feel bad? Sometimes. But we should take care of ourselves and ours before we can take care of others. Everyone in our profession can relate to "mental health days". Even management.

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Specializes in LTC/SNF, Psychiatric, Pharmaceutical.

We've all taken mental health days once in awhile, we need them. Trust me when I say that your supervisors, who probably get much more PTO than you do, don't feel a bit guilty about using their PTO.

You do a better service for your patients by coming into work fresh and prepared rather than feeling wrecked because of stress or overworked. If you give the on-call sufficient notice, they will get it covered.

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Well, if I ever called in with a "mental health day needed" excuse, I can be quite sure it won't be accepted, and if I didn't show, I'd be written up.

That said, if I *DID* need the mental health day, I'd be pretty sure I also had a stomach flu to call in with ;)

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Specializes in Infusion Nursing, Home Health Infusion.

"I am not feeling well today and I will not be in for my shift"....thats it!!!!!! thats all they need to know. To you that may be physical or mental. If they get pushy just repeat " I am not feeling well today and I will not be in for my shift"

Prayers for your grandma.:redbeathe

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Line staff like nurses, aides, and other more or less menial workers get only a very few days off per year at most private hospitals. Administrators, house staff, those who are employed by federal government, people who work at schools - these get a whole lot more time off. Staff and doctors who are from other countries seem to somehow get several weeks off in order to fly to their home countries and stay for a month or more. Phillippines, India, places that are far away and expensive to get to - I do understand but I think even those who don't have to travel far away need plenty of time off. Some workers work maybe 3 or 4 days per week or work where 32 hours is considered full time and I bet t hey never work forced OT. Others of us have to work 40 and never know if we're going to get to go home at the end of our shift. It is all very wearing and we all need a break from that.

If you need a day off, you need a day off. Take it and try to benefit from it.

By "menial" I am not implying anything negative. I meant workers like those in housekeeping, dietary, laundry, central supply, Resp Tx, and the like. I have the highest regard for all who do an honest day's work. I just couldn't think of a better, less emotionally charged word to describe those whose work is physically demanding and sometimes not the cleanest. I am vocabularily challenged at the moment. Help!

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I remember doing it once.

Yes, I felt a little guilty.

The shift before I called off had me so completely spent and upset that I couldn't make it in the next day.

Nursing is not a job you can "coast" through if you are having a bad day. There is no slow road if you are to care for your patients for a 12 hour day.

That is probably why making the decision to come to work or stay home is a difficult one for nurses- not to mention the guilt of having your co-workers working one nurse short if a substitute cannot be found.

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Specializes in psych. rehab nursing, float pool.

Taking a mental health day is necessary at times. I can see it as needed in your case, you can use the entire 24 hours off feeling guilty if that will make you feel better or spend it just taking care of your needs what ever they may be.

sometimes we just do what ever we need to do to survive which in turns helps us to help our patients when we are at work

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Specializes in just about everything.

Do not feel guilty. I haven't met a nurse yet who hasn't needed one. It is also safer for your pts too. You have to take care of you before you're any good to anyone else. Nurses have very stressful jobs and then to have outside stressors. Get rest, take care of yourself, and no guilt. God Bless you and prayers for your grandmother.

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Nope, I sure don't feel bad and neither should you.

Hugs to you and your grandmother.:redbeathe

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