My Daughter Has H1N1

Nurses General Nursing

Published

So my poor little girl has the swine flu, I was hoping she would be better today she went almost the 24 hours with out the fever and then this morning it was 102 again :o. Of course since she has been out with this I have stayed home with her. Unfortunately everyone in the area where I live especially the kids are getting their turn with it, thankfully I havent gotten it yet. Where I work is not understanding about using our sick time so I am so scared that I am going to get it and need to take additional time off for myself. How are the places where you work when you use sick time (for legitimate reasons)? Are they understanding or do they still give you flack even if you are on your death bed?

Specializes in PICU, NICU, L&D, Public Health, Hospice.

Many health care employers have relaxed their time and attendance requirements during this pandemic. Please question your manager or human resources dept about this as failure to do so may be an oversight more than anything. What is absolutely true is that no HCW who is symptomatic for influenza type illness should be reporting for work...for any reason...but particularly not because they are afraid of termination or suspension for attendance policy violation.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in ICU, Education, Peri-op.

My hospital is requiring us to stay home for flu like symptoms. If you call in for flu or are caring for a child with flu, it does NOT count as an toward the attendance policy. I'm sure there are some who will abuse this, but I think it's really smart.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

CDC doesn't always reccommend Tamiflu either-the protocol at the clinic for treatment follows the CDC recs. for that day-website protocols on CDC can change daily-so 3 weeks ago treatment may not be the case now.

otessa

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Med Surg, Peds, OB, L/D, Ortho.

:yeah:

Wow....glad I don't work where you work.

This begs the question: Does a person's brain fall out automatically upon becoming part of administration? You really have to wonder about the people who come up with these rules.

I questioned this as far as the president of the hosp. Same answer....the policy is...blah blah blah. I have from time to time thought I saw brain matter on the floor in the Admin. building myself! :coollook:

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Cardiac Telemetry, ED.

Our hospital is offering workers' comp for those exposed to swine flu while at work, who must stay home with flu like symptoms.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Telemetry/Med-Surg.

Thanks for your replys I know normally when we get our evals if you miss more than 2 or 3 days in a year it is considered excessive. Yet I didnt get brownie point when I was projectile vomiting and had a fever I was told there was no one else to work for me ( I was at work when it started) they just gave me a shot of zofran in my butt and said continue on..haha. I think I should have gotten brownie points for that on my eval!

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Absences due to flu-like symptoms do not count as an occurrence." You do not need a doctor's note. You may dip into your short term leave after three days, without filling out paperwork and without any physician documentation. If you're sick, they want you to stay home. All you have to do is call in.

I appreciate it.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Gerontology, nursing education.
Thanks for your replys I know normally when we get our evals if you miss more than 2 or 3 days in a year it is considered excessive. Yet I didnt get brownie point when I was projectile vomiting and had a fever I was told there was no one else to work for me ( I was at work when it started) they just gave me a shot of zofran in my butt and said continue on..haha. I think I should have gotten brownie points for that on my eval!

Forget the brownie points. The person who would not "let" you call in sick deserves a slap upside the head. You should not have been expected to work. Period. I am really fed up with this attitude, "well, lots of nurses work when they're sick." It's nonsense. Health care workers take care of SICK people. It does no one any good for HCWs to come in to work when they are sick, especially when they are contagious!

And who on earth gave you Zofran? With or without a doctor or other health care provider's order? WRONG on so many levels!

Right now, your little girl is sick. Do NOT let anyone make you feel guilty if you need to be home with her. You have also been exposed; keep in mind that someone with H1N1 can be contagious a day before symptoms develop. It also takes the vaccine a while to offer protection; a doc told me that it can take 30 days before it's effective. Health care facilities are trying to keep people who might be infected AWAY from patients. The facility in which you work is utterly WRONG in not giving employees enough time to recover from this stuff. :angryfire

My college-age sons both had probably H1N1. The 18-year-old ended up in the ER but was not tested, which rather irritates me. However, H1N1 has been going through his campus and there are confirmed cases so it probably was "the swine". He was told to stay out of classes for a week, had a high temperature, cough, body aches, little appetite, and slept most of the time he was home. He was pretty sick for about five days, then felt better, but still very tired for about another week. My older son had it as well, but as he had been in Asia this spring, he either had some sort of immunity because of previous exposure to H1N1 or a related virus. He was sick for only about three days. Neither my husband or I became sick in spite of being exposed via the younger son. We probably had swine flu back in the Seventies; we both have been vaccinated against seasonal flu so we figured that what the younger boy had was seasonal flu but according to local health departments, it was H1N1.

Hope your daughter is feeling better soon.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
I hope your daughter is well soonest!

At my facility it is mandated that if temp 100.4 or greater cannot come to work. It counts as an unscheduled abscense....if being out puts you over the limit for the year you will be written up even if you get SENT home sick by the supervisor. So.......people are comming to work sick and just not telling anyone. Bleh.......................

ant THIS is why the virus will be such a problem:angryfire

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Forget the brownie points. The person who would not "let" you call in sick deserves a slap upside the head. You should not have been expected to work. Period. I am really fed up with this attitude, "well, lots of nurses work when they're sick." It's nonsense. Health care workers take care of SICK people. It does no one any good for HCWs to come in to work when they are sick, especially when they are contagious!

And who on earth gave you Zofran? With or without a doctor or other health care provider's order? WRONG on so many levels!

Right now, your little girl is sick. Do NOT let anyone make you feel guilty if you need to be home with her. You have also been exposed; keep in mind that someone with H1N1 can be contagious a day before symptoms develop. It also takes the vaccine a while to offer protection; a doc told me that it can take 30 days before it's effective. Health care facilities are trying to keep people who might be infected AWAY from patients. The facility in which you work is utterly WRONG in not giving employees enough time to recover from this stuff. :angryfire

My college-age sons both had probably H1N1. The 18-year-old ended up in the ER but was not tested, which rather irritates me. However, H1N1 has been going through his campus and there are confirmed cases so it probably was "the swine". He was told to stay out of classes for a week, had a high temperature, cough, body aches, little appetite, and slept most of the time he was home. He was pretty sick for about five days, then felt better, but still very tired for about another week. My older son had it as well, but as he had been in Asia this spring, he either had some sort of immunity because of previous exposure to H1N1 or a related virus. He was sick for only about three days. Neither my husband or I became sick in spite of being exposed via the younger son. We probably had swine flu back in the Seventies; we both have been vaccinated against seasonal flu so we figured that what the younger boy had was seasonal flu but according to local health departments, it was H1

Hope your daughter is feeling better soon.

My almost 18 yo son had exactly what your younger son had. He did see MD, but was not tested:angryfireIt's the sickest he's ever been in his life, including pneumonia when he was a toddler-which he was hospitalized for...

Up Vote Up Vote ×

My college-age sons both had probably H1N1. The 18-year-old ended up in the ER but was not tested, which rather irritates me. However, H1N1 has been going through his campus and there are confirmed cases so it probably was "the swine".

Hey Moogie, I work in the ER (but not as a nurse, as a tech...mental health at that ;) ) but from what I hear, some places don't test to find out what type of influenza people have because a positive for influenza A doesn't neccessarily indicate H1N1, and even if it is "the swine", unless the pt is really sick or has compromised immunity, etc the treatment is essentially the same. One of the nurses I work with said that she believes that we are only really checking further if it's H1N1 for people that get admitted, while on registration to the ER we are keeping track of all who come in for "flu-like symptoms".

Glad to hear your boys are better! :)

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Gerontology, nursing education.
Hey Moogie, I work in the ER (but not as a nurse, as a tech...mental health at that ;) ) but from what I hear, some places don't test to find out what type of influenza people have because a positive for influenza A doesn't neccessarily indicate H1N1, and even if it is "the swine", unless the pt is really sick or has compromised immunity, etc the treatment is essentially the same. One of the nurses I work with said that she believes that we are only really checking further if it's H1N1 for people that get admitted, while on registration to the ER we are keeping track of all who come in for "flu-like symptoms".

Glad to hear your boys are better! :)

Thank you. That was exactly the rationale that was given when my son was not tested. I am sure that not testing does decrease health care costs and I agree that expensive testing should probably be left for those who really need it. On the other hand, how do we differentiate between H1N1 and seasonal flu if we don't test? Not so much for treatment but for tracking, KWIM? I mean, if we are in a pandemic, it would be nice to have actual numbers of cases, not just "guesstimates" based on number of suspected cases. My son is a bit hyper over whether or not he should get the H1N1 vaccine because he has heard so much hype about adverse reactions. I've talked to him---and told him that I will get the vaccination if it becomes available---but he's still worried. (Of course he won't listen to me. I'm his mom. What do I know? LOL!)

Also---with the vaccination being in short supply, it would be helpful to know exactly who has had H1N1 so that those who have already gotten sick won't be vaccinated and those who are still at risk can be vaccinated.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Add a Comment