Sick Days?

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I'm worried that I have been calling in sick too often to work. For background I am a new nurse, and have only been working on the floor I am at for around 3 months. In those 3 months I have called in three times, technically four as I was sick for an orientation day but not yet working on the floor so there wasn't an impact on staffing. All three times were fairly legitimate times for calling in. Could I have maybe sucked it up and made it through the day one time? Maybe..but I felt at the time I had to call in. Im just worried that other staff on the floor and/or my manager are noticing this and it is making a negative impact on how they see me. I try and be helpful to other staff while i'm working, although as I am still quite new my level of help isn't the most. Am I over thinking this or should I really try to not have to call in for a long while? I know I can't help it if i'm sick but I can try and pull through so that I am more of a team player.

Specializes in school nurse.
9 minutes ago, CommunityRNBSN said:

I’m also a new nurse, and because I’m paranoid about my reputation, I have never called out, and probably won’t unless I’m bleeding from the eyeballs, for the first year. That being said, a lot of people do call out frequently and I’m not sure it has the negative impact I expect. A girl I know recently “called out” of her job interview (car trouble) but it was rescheduled and she still got the job.

Not sure that that last scenario counts...

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18 minutes ago, Jedrnurse said:

Not sure that that last scenario counts...

Agreed. Willingness to reschedule an interview does not equate with willingness to tolerate repeated sick calls.

I think by now the OP understands that she needs to do whatever she can to not call out sick again for a good long stretch. Of course when you're too sick to work you should call out but unless you have a protection already in place for a chronic condition with supporting documentation (FMLA) you shouldn't be surprised when you are terminated for attendance issues.

Sending you Good Health vibes ?

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On 8/16/2019 at 11:16 AM, JadedCPN said:

Realistically, yes everyone including coworkers and management have likely noticed this and it could make a negative impact if you continue with this pattern, if it hasn't already. Whether that is right or wrong since you believe your call offs were "legitimate" is irrelevant unfortunately. Try your best to be helpful and show that you want to be there. And make sure you're doing everything you can to keep yourself healthy in the meantime.

As a manager of people for many years, I've yet to meet anyone that didn't think they had legitimate reasons for being"sick". Most companies will give you enough occurrences to cover "legitimate" reasons, but it doesn't mean that they'll be excused. Also, just because nobody is saying anything (they should be) doesn't mean they aren't being documented. Attendance is one of the easiest ways to terminate someone. It is what it is.

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14 hours ago, Leader25 said:

Be aware that if they send you home sick,they do not replace you ,if you call in they do replace,so not to be understaffed,but you really need a MD note when you are out,especially if before or after a holiday,they usually look for a pattern in your sick calls.

You can get a note from urgent care center,online MD, or your PCP office.

I always back up a sick call with MD note and if something contagious, a picture of the tamiflu script that I got after having the vaccine and still catching the flu from being assigned to the flu patient.

Oh, and in almost 20 years I have never had en employer send me home sick-asthmatic, o2 sat dropping, Medrol dose pack called in my my angel MD so I could make it till the next morning to swab positive for the flu type A. And get Tamiflu. Employer wasn’t going to send me home unless I was literally on the floor coding

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It can also depend on how desperate your unit is. Where I work there are a number of people who call out frequently. They get spoken to and everyone grumbles about it, but we are chronically short staffed so they will probably never get fired.

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Yes you have been calling in sick too much.

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