Sick Day

EmmaG, RN · Sep 28, 2007

I think that we have all presented our differing points of view.
Let us agree to disagree. Those reading these posts can make up
their own minds, and perhaps think of what we have said as illness
makes its way into our ranks in the next few months.
I expect to see more public education about staying home when sick,
and I hope that more people will do so. I also hope that more of us
will work for change instead of accepting things as they have always
been. I believe that we will gain more by being direct about this,
and talking to management and staff before this begins to happen.
Thanks to everyone for participating, and reading this thread.
I hope that all of you remain well.
indigo

Indeed.

Ruby Vee, BSN · Sep 29, 2007

staying home when sick is a wonderful idea -- i wish i could convince the powers that be at my institution that it's a good idea. instead, they've set up policies that almost mandate coming in to work when ill. three occurances in a rolling year -- even with a note from you physician -- and your raise is cancelled and you're subject to verbal warnings. four and you're subject to written reprimands. five and you're terminated.

i can understand that some employees make a practice of calling in sick when they aren't -- they want a mental health day, or don't want to work a weekend, or need an extra day for their trip or whatever -- and our policy is probably aimed at them. but it also hurts a good many good, contientious nurses who for one reason or another are having a bad year.

i'm at work now with probable pneumonia. after a back injury, a bout of shingles and a flare-up of my ibs, i've used all of my occurances until february. i feel like crap and i'm having coughing jags where i cough until i vomit, but i can't afford another occurance! even with a doctor's note.

what if i had tb -- can you imagine the frenzy that management would fly into if i were working with tb? come to think of it, that might change the policy . . . .

vamedic4, EMT-P · Sep 29, 2007

Ruby Vee..sounds to me like you need some form of FMLA protection for all that you have going on!

This is an interesting discussion. On the one hand we have people who need to call in sick, only to have others whether they be coworkers or management scoff at them and do the "let's see how bad we can make them feel about calling in" dance.

All the posters obviously are passionate about their work and the responsibility it entails, and that is so refreshing to see. Others realize that taking care of oneself is TOP PRIORITY and in order to care for others, you must put yourself first.

Bottom line is that we have a responsibility to ourselves first, do we not? A job is a job, but not taking care of ourselves - especially given the dangerous environment we work in, can be deadly. Some people work while sick - not the best idea, but they do it for their own reasons, whether it's financial, or out of a sense of duty, or whatever.

Me? Yes, I take my job seriously. But I will not hesitate to call in if necessary, not for one second. I guarantee you all that the organizations you work for will find a way to make things work. Your workplace will still be there when you return.

As for the threatening management, learn your rights under your state's laws and be informed about your company's policies. If you have chronic conditions, seek whatever federal protection you can get. FMLA is a four letter word to most employers but it keeps many excellent employees employed despite terribly debilitating medical conditions.

If you need a sick day, take it. If you don't, then go to work. If you're sick and contagious, stay the hell away from my child, my mother, my friends.

Now let's all wash our hands and get busy with whatever needs to be done, shall we?

Have a good night all.

vamedic4

leslie :-D · Sep 29, 2007

among other unattractive qualities, i am sick to death of the martrydom that many nurses exhibit.

every single one of us is expendable.

how the heck will we ever command respect if we can't even respect ourselves?

perhaps instead of having sick days, we all need to universally incorporate pto.

i'm sure something can be done to those who abuse the system.

but i'll be damned if i'm going to drag myself in to placate tptb.

i value myself and my pts more than that.

and if they threaten to fire me for verifiable illness?

let them.

they're not worth it anyway.

leslie

RainDreamer, BSN, RN · Sep 29, 2007

That's what we have, PTO. They don't really differentiate sick days and vacation days. We just accumulate PTO hours, and we use those for vacation, personal, sick, whatever days. It's OUR time. Of course we have sick time set aside separately, but you can only use those hours if you are sick for more than 3 days, then your sick time kicks in.

In order to use that sick time, you need a doctor's note (because by that time you've already called off 3 days in a row). Therefore you can't use your sick time just because you need a personal day or whatever. It disables people from abusing their sick time.

But as far as the PTO, when you do call off, whether you're sick or not, it doesn't matter ...... it's your time to use however you please.

PediRN · Sep 29, 2007

Hokey, dokey. Nursing supervisor here (don't hate me on that basis alone). A few things to mention, and I may jump around, so bear with me.

1. If someone calls in sick, I give them the benefit of the doubt, and tons of sympathy. If they're truly sick, they'll appreciate it, if they're faking, hopefully they will feel a little guilty.

2. Habitual sick callers, we know who you are. There are such things as patterns, and when you call in on mostly Sundays or mostly Fridays, we're gonna say something.

3. Call in relatively early. Every hospital differs in policy, but most run in the "90 minutes to 2 hours before the start of your scheduled shift" region. Don't expect me to be happy and sympathetic when you calll in at 0600 for an 0700 shift.

4. If you think you won't be in the next day (legitimately, not "I'm going on vacation and my flight leaves tomorrow", if that's the case, don't tell even your best friend, 'cause it WILL get back to us), let your coworkers know so they have a back up plan. Working as a team goes a long way in endearing yourselves to the Supervisor. Saying, "I'm not feeling too hot, but Susie said she'd come in for me tomorrow if I need her to" will make all of us happy. Unless you work in one of those hospitals who don't replace sick calls, which indeed sucks.

5. See if your hospital would institute a call system. Everyone takes call one day or night a week to replace sick calls. You get paid a nominal amount if you're on call, time and a half if you wind up coming in.

6. Some of us don't mind helping out. We can't usually take a full assignment, as we have other duties, but we can help with specific tasks, i.e. wipe a butt, run the labs down for me, transport a pt to CT scan, etc. We were all staff nurses once (contrary to what you may believe), and we know that its the little things that can make all the difference.

7. PLEASE don't go into the gory details about your illness. THere's nothing worse than someone COCAFing their stools to you at 4 am. Okay, maybe getting puked on, but its a close second. Be brief and to the point. Stomach virus, bad cold, threw out back, all good excuses.

8. Any suggestions? Give them to us. Nurses getting married, buying houses, having their 4th kid, always good fodder for OT. Let us know.

9. And no, I personally do not want you there if you're dripping snot out of your nose or running to the bathroom every 2 seconds. But if your throat's a little sore, or you had one loose BM yesterday afternoon, you're probably okay to come to work.

10> NEVER EVER give people issue about child care. Its tough enough when you have a sick kid at home, the last thing you need is flack from the supervisor or your coworkers.

I hope it helps.

EmmaG, RN · Sep 29, 2007

3. Call in relatively early. Every hospital differs in policy, but most run in the "90 minutes to 2 hours before the start of your scheduled shift" region. Don't expect me to be happy and sympathetic when you calll in at 0600 for an 0700 shift.
4. If you think you won't be in the next day (legitimately, not "I'm going on vacation and my flight leaves tomorrow", if that's the case, don't tell even your best friend, 'cause it WILL get back to us), let your coworkers know so they have a back up plan. Working as a team goes a long way in endearing yourselves to the Supervisor.

If I'm sick, I try to call in as early as possible (working nights, I know it's sometimes hard to get a replacement). I've called in sick in the late afternoon knowing that I will not be able to work, only to be told by a certain supervisor to call back in at 9pm "so we can start looking for someone to come in". I can not seem to get her to understand that if she'd try calling in staff in the afternoon, they'd have time to nap before work and would be more likely to say 'yes' when called early. But no. She refuses to do it because "we don't figure night shift staffing until after 9pm". :uhoh3:

fronkey bean · Oct 1, 2007

among other unattractive qualities, i am sick to death of the martrydom that many nurses exhibit.
every single one of us is expendable.
how the heck will we ever command respect if we can't even respect ourselves?
perhaps instead of having sick days, we all need to universally incorporate pto.
i'm sure something can be done to those who abuse the system.
but i'll be damned if i'm going to drag myself in to placate tptb.
i value myself and my pts more than that.
and if they threaten to fire me for verifiable illness?
let them.
they're not worth it anyway.
leslie

You know it is funny that management always says they don't want you to come to work sick but then admin. makes policies that just about garuntee that you will. For ex. the punitive actions taken at Ruby's institution. Another ex., at my institution they found write ups weren't effective, so they took what use to be our sick time and now they call it "short term disibility" (STD). They renamed our ETO ( earned time off or vacation time) "VHS" ( vacation, holiday or sick) time. So now you have to be out for at least 3 work days (not just sick 3 consecutive days) before you can even request STD. (This means if you are schedualed to work one day and then off two or three days before you come back and you are sick the whole time, you still can't request STD time.) Then you have to go through this outside co. to request leave. BTW, the co. is being sued in a couple of dozen different suits for failing to give nurses leave they had a right to. My inst. calls STD part of my "hiden paycheck" but did they have to hide it so well I'll never find it?:angryfire Anyway, since staff don't want to use up all their vacation time sitting at home w/ the sniffles, we dose up on OTC's and come on in. Oh, and BTW, guess which part of your "hiden paycheck" you can't take w/ you if you leave the hosp., even on good terms! :trout:

elcue · Oct 1, 2007

this is one of my biggest issues. nurses who are ill should not be at work. period.

1. it's not fair to your patients - you may be contagious, and most likely are not providing your usual level of care, are more prone to errors, etc

2. it's not fair to your colleagues, who are exposed to your bugs, and have to deal with your poorer performance because you are working when not well.

3. it's not fair to yourself. believe it or not, suffering does not add value to our work. nurses are not better nurses simply for being martyrs. i believe that the opposite is true.

leslie (earle), i agree with your 1st paragraph wholeheartedly, but not with your second. now that we have pto, people come to work ill in order to save their pto for vacation. aaarrgh!

one more thing, then i'll stop, i promise. we have the same right to privacy as our patients (hipaa), meaning that we need only say we are ill; the nature of our malady is no business of the charge nurse. if you don't mind disclosing, fine, but mgrs who browbeat someone with questions when they call out are out of line. if you're in a situation where you need a doc's note upon return (another outrageous policy - no way to treat adults), you are within your rights to ask your doc to write simply that you were home on sick days on his/her advice and are cleared for return to work.

allnurses Guide · Oct 1, 2007

One more thing, then I'll stop, I promise. We have the same right to privacy as our patients (HIPAA), meaning that we need only say we are ill; the nature of our malady is no business of the charge nurse. If you don't mind disclosing, fine, but mgrs who browbeat someone with questions when they call out are out of line. If you're in a situation where you need a doc's note upon return (another outrageous policy - NO way to treat adults), you are within your rights to ask your doc to write simply that you were home on sick days on his/her advice and are cleared for return to work.

This is very important. Thanks for stating it.

There is a thread on allnurses somewhere asking about whether people take "mental health" days . . . .I remember a lot of folks did just that.

RE: the topic . .. .. I liked the video . . . . it needs to be shown more.

steph

EmmaG, RN · Oct 1, 2007

Nurses are not better nurses simply for being martyrs.

Probably the single most intelligent and spot on response I've ever read, anywhere.

Pity some don't get it.

Jo Dirt · Oct 2, 2007

Probably the single most intelligent and spot on response I've ever read, anywhere.
Pity some don't get it.

I haven't seen anywhere on here where martyr was mentioned except for people accusing other people of trying to be one. Seems to me there are generally two kinds of people: those who are responsible and those who are whiners.