Is excessive absenteeism a problem at your current nursing position? This article discusses what excessive absenteeism is, characteristics of habitual callouts, causes of callouts, and the potential negative effects on the nursing work environment. The article also includes potential solutions to the problem and opens up a discussion on the issue.
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Is excessive absenteeism a problem in your healthcare setting? First of all, let's
discuss my definition of excessive absenteeism. Of course, absenteeism is the absence of a staff member from a scheduled workday. Excessive absenteeism refers to habitual absences or call-outs by an individual staff member. For example, is there a nursing staff member who calls off from work three to four times a month? When you come to work and learn that someone called out, do you automatically know who it is? Some characteristics of excessive absenteeism include multiple callouts a month, patterned callouts, and always leaving early or coming in late.
Causes of Excessive Absenteeism in Nursing
Illnesses are one of the most commonly used excuses for call outs by nursing staff. The illness may pertain to the staff member, a family member or child, and may be related to either a chronic or acute condition. A few examples of chronic conditions are migraines, back pain, or abdominal issues. Some examples of acute conditions are the flu, bronchitis, or strep throat. Other call-out excuses may include problems with transportation, child care issues, or a death in the family. Most of these issues are excusable and there may even be an excuse provided by a physician. Excessive patterns of absenteeism may be present when the excuses get odd, made up, or overused. I have heard nurses use the excuse that their goat is sick and their dog was giving birth. Sometimes callouts occur based on staffing. If your facility displays the staffing pattern for the next day, nursing staff may call out because they know that staffing will remain adequate in their absence or they know that staffing is already short-handed. The lack of disciplinary action for excessive absenteeism may also be a cause. When staff know that they will not be held accountable or that the disciplinary action will be minor, they continue their behavior. Although we all have to call out at times, excessive absenteeism in nursing can have negative effects on the profession.
How Excessive Absenteeism Can Negatively Affect the Work Environment
Excessive absenteeism can have various negative effects on the nursing work environment and the nursing profession in general. We are all aware of the global nursing shortage, problems of excessive absenteeism only exacerbate this problem by decreasing
what may be an already shortened staffing pattern. Other examples of the negative effects of excessive absenteeism include low staff morale, increased workloads, decreased productivity, disruption of routine workflow, job dissatisfaction, and a lower quality of patient care. Let's take a more indepth look at some of these negative effects.
Disruption of routine workflow:
Nursing staff generally have the same patient assignments, hall, or unit. When another staff member calls out, assignments have to be rearranged to supplement for the absent staff member. This can cause a disruption in your usual routine and the continuity of care.
Increased workloads:
When nursing staff is absent this generally means that other staff members will have more patients assigned to their workload.
Decreased productivity:
Nursing staff may have less motivation resulting in a decreased output of work, which can be costly to employers.
Low morale:
Nursing staff become unhappy and dissatisfied with their job and have a negative overall outlook of their work environment.
Job dissatisfaction:
Job dissatisfaction related to staffing issues and call outs is can be directly linked to high turnover rates.
Decreased quality of patient care:
Patient satisfaction, which is one of the most important measurements for the quality of patient care, suffers greatly when nurses have low morale, increased workloads, and decreased productivity.
Solutions to Excessive Call Outs in Nursing
What are some interventions that could help decrease excessive absenteeism in the nursing profession?
A firmly set attendance policy
Strict and consistent adherence to the attendance policy
Verbal counseling
Written write-ups
Termination
As nurses, we took an oath to provide good, high-quality patient care to the people whom we deliver care to. A nurse should also be professional, punctual, and a team player because it takes every member of the interprofessional healthcare team to deliver good quality patient care. Attendance plays a huge part in this. We must take into account who might be affected in our absence including your team members, patients, your organization as a whole, and the healthcare system in general. Nursing is not just an 8 or 12-hour job, but a career that requires 24-hour accountability, and excessive absenteeism has no place in the nursing profession.
This article is just some of my thoughts on the issue. Is this a problem in your healthcare setting? What interventions would you recommend to resolve the problem?
