Sick Day Stress

[BNE103]

We work with sick people. In my case (NICU as well as peds critical care transport), I work with many small, immunocompromised sick people. They tell us - heck, they even tell families and visitors - to stay far away if they are even sort of sick, because you really don't want to get an ICU patient even sicker.

So why are nurses penalized if we are unlucky enough to be sick ourselves??

In my hospital system, full time employees are allowed 5 "call-ins" in a 12 month period. Most years, this is really no big deal. Maybe a couple here and there. But this 12 month period is shaping up a little different for me - after getting suddenly very sick at work last night, I had to leave early, thereby racking up another call-in and leaving me with 4 sick days in 8 months.

If I have to call in one more time, I get a warning. One more time after that, and I won't be able to transfer into my dream job (something I have been waiting to come down the pipeline for months).

This is practically enough to make me sick just worrying about it! I know they have this policy in place to prevent people from calling in excessively just because they "don't feel like coming to work" or something, but I am a hardworking person who would never leave my unit down a nurse unless it was absolutely necessary!

Clearly I just needed to vent, but I also wanted to hear other nurses' take on this. I feel like it is so unfair and the weirdest double standard to make us choose between coming to work sick (and risk getting our patients sick, too) or getting penalized and having to worry about our jobs.

[bell1962]

It's crazy. I used to work for a family practice office that didn't want to pay for any "sick days" for its employees but had no problem telling sick patients to take sick time off from their jobs.

[exp626]

How frustrating for you. The institution in which I work has a similar policy, but we work with a point system. With a physician's note stating that the illness is contagious, the absence is excused and no "points" are awarded.

[HeartRN13]

In your case I would hope that you have a manger that knows how to weed out the real issues and the BS. If someone is in a management position, they kind of need to have that ability. Most of the time it's not too hard to tell anyways. If you have a good working relationship, a solid working reputation, then I can't see why they wouldn't somewhat have some leeway with you. You always have the option of FMLA if you need to. If it gets to that point, use it to your advantage to salvage your job. Today we have to do it if it comes to that.

[TriciaJ, RN]

The last hospital I worked in had the same policy, but it was not in the union contract, so really unenforceable. I couldn't believe how many nurses showed up sick "because I have too many occurrences". I always made a point of saying "I don't abuse sick time, and I don't come to work sick. If that adds up to 5 times or not, I don't care." Needless to say, it found its way to management and no one ever got in my face when I was sick.

And yes, FMLA is a useful thing if you're dealing with something ongoing.

[Delicate Flower]

This is one of my top pet peeves about hospital nursing. In fact, as I type this I am sitting at work with a gross cold. I hate coming to work sick but I really don't have an option not to. As the only worker in my family and no day care option, I have to call in when ANYONE in my family is very sick, including my husband (because when he's very ill he cannot care for our children) or our kids (they need their mommy). When I am sick, I tend to tough it out and come to work. I also had to use a few of my limited call ins for weather this year, because I was literally iced in and could not get out of my driveway to come to work.

I hate being around sick coworkers, so I feel bad when I am doing that to my coworkers. So I don't try to hide it. I wear a mask if I am coughing or sneezing a lot, make sure to wash my hands after blowing my nose, and put a warning sign on my computer when I get up from the desk, so if someone wants to use it they clean it first, or do at their own risk.

Where I work, having a doctor's note does not make the call-in not count. It still counts, regardless. That being said, I have never gotten a warning for calling off too much. I just come to work sick.

[Delicate Flower]

Forgot to mention: of course, diarrhea and fevers are exceptions. I would never come to work with those symptoms until they are cleared for at least 24 hours.