No call/ No show

[Redder]

Very upset, I have never called in before and thought I understood the process just from hearing about it at work. Well, I woke up at 2am vomiting and thought I could take a zofran for it and tough it out. By 4am the vomiting had just gotten worse, so I called in. The charge nurse and bed manager both told me that it is considered a No show/ No call because it wasn't 4 hours before my shift. I am mad at myself because I never bothered to learn the policy. I feel worse because in between vomiting I am googling if anybody has ever been fired for a first No Show/ No Call. I even had to find out exactly what it is.

What do I do? Has anybody ever been fired?

[jadelpn, LPN, EMT-B]

You should tell your manager that in fact you were not aware of the time frame. Interestingly, through your employee health nurse, there are a number of policies on when one should NOT come to work. So essentially, if you woke up at 4 am vomiting, it would be against the policy in most facilities to go to work.

And I do find it extremely hard to believe anyone is waiting by the phone to get a potential call in at 3am. I am not sure why nursing seems to be a profession where when one is ill, it is so difficult to call out. But then again, a manager putting on a pair of scrubs and helping out is entirely out of the question perhaps...

I would most definetely have conversation with your NM regarding this. And as a pp pointed out, best to call out than to go to work and have to leave shortly after your shift has begun...hard to take care of patients when you are vomiting.

[Havin' A Party!, ASN, RN]

Some employers enforce... some don't.

Sometimes your previous HR hx and facility politics can have an impact.

[baptistbsn]

Learn the rules. Abide by them. I agree it would be worth a meeting with your UM or AUM. Plead your case.

[brithoover]

Nurses are made to feel horrible for calling in by management and their peers. I floated to a floor where a girl came to work trying to "tough it out" because it is taboo to call in. Well she ended up in the ER. What was everyone's reaction? "What business did she have coming to work anyway, now we are short!"

The following day got floated to the same floor. The same girl had called in sick for this shift. Reaction? "She's probably not even sick anymore, she doesn't care about leaving us short!"