sick all the time

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I was just wondering if anyone works with any nurses who seem to have one medical problem after another. I work in a small department so we don't have alot of extra staff to help us. My charge nurse comes to work and always seems to have some ailment. She does not have set hours so she can come and go as she pleases. She will come in to work and not feel good and then goes home sometimes leaving us short. I am starting to feel that she just doesn't want to work. What can be done about this problem? I really have never worked with anyone like this before.

Specializes in ob/gyn med /surg.
Hey, someone genuinely ill, I'm all for them calling out or going home. It's not like I've never been sick! But when you see the same one or two people ALWAYS sick, NEVER having a "feel good" shift, you've gotta wonder. It's like they're always setting it up for calling out the next day! (you know, she was so sick yesterday, blah blah blah, of course she called in today). Ridiculous most of the time. One of the girls has it pegged just right: when she's earned enough sick time to call in for a whole shift, she does. Tell me what kind of illness that is?[/quote

yes i think some people just don't want to work .. like the nurse who saves her time to call off sick.. i think we all handle life and stressors differently , but there are some people who just call off to not go to work....

i do think alot of chonic complainers is stress related illness and maybe their home life and work is just to much sometimes... i haven't called off in a long time , but i sure have felt like it.. somedays i go to work and think " 12 hours of this " how am i going to do this??? but i do, because i loike a roof over my head and food in the old belly ...

we actually have some new nurses one is 23 years old and she is allready turning into a stress related complainer , she comes in to work she c/o stomach pain and headaches, she's only been a nurse for a year.. i tell her she will be okay and it's okay to tell me when she dosen't feel well. i encourge her to get some lunch and just do the best she can. we'll make it through.. she is having these symptoms and i validate them and tell her it will be okay . because i have them when i get stressed ,i just don't say anything to anyone....

any ideas for stress reduction during working hours?

thank you all for your great comments ..

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Specializes in ICU.

RNsRWe.........that's exactly why the rest of us lost the access to our sick time and now must use vacation time when we are ill less than 3 days and management has yet to figure out that it didn't stop the ones calling in sick for nonsense from doing it.

we have one on our unit that has such 'neuralgia' she can't do anything by herself, can't transfer her patients anywhere etc.......but boy those feet work well and fast when it's quitting time!....:bugeyes: she's not fooling a soul! :lol2:

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Specializes in Adult Critical Care/Neonatal ICU.

You never really know though. We had a charge nurse who had multiple vague illnesses and just didn't feel good. Turns out she was diagnosed with Stage 3 Colon cancer at age 49. She battled it for 2 years before passing away last September. :cry:

I know there are some that plan their week long illness for a vacation, but some vague illness complaints can be legit.

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Anal glaucoma??

Can't see their bottom coming in to work today?

LMAO!! that was a good one..:chuckle

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Specializes in LTC, Subacute Rehab.

When I was a CNA, and then a ward clerk, I had semi-frequent episodes of vague illness due to depression - felt okay enough to get up and go to school, but couldn't face working that double shift, or coming to work after clinicals...

I just tough it out now.

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Specializes in Operating Room Nursing.

I also get annoyed with nurses who are constantly coming to work and not doing the job properly. Theres a nurse at my work who is always calling off sick and going home early. She also never scrubs if she can help it. One day we had a list where there was a big morning case, then a small case then a big case later on that day. I told her she needed to scrub for the smaller case so that way me and the other RN could do the other ones. She tried to refuse, saying she wasn't up to it. I told her it wasn't fair on me or the other RN because that would mean one of us would have scrub for a big case and a small one which is unfair workload. She still refused and I said to her that I don't know how you can live with yourself making us do all the hard work.

Although this nurse cried she did scrub for the small case. Sometimes you just need to let people know the truth.

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Specializes in Rehab, Infection, LTC.

I work with this young nurse, 26. she's only been a nurse 4 yrs. she is ALWAYS sick! she knows the attendance policy better than any of us in management do. she makes sure she is at the edge but never over it to be in trouble. her call ins are constant. i swear, if i were as sick as this girl, i'd admit myself somewhere. what kills me about these people is that they are the very ones that say "i never call in unless i'm very very sick!". and they believe that crap they are spewing!!!

this girl will call in and say her "crohns" is acting up. yet she eats out for 3 meals a day, whatever she wants. we actually have a staff member that has now gone on disability because of crohns and i dont see how she can live with herself to use this as an excuse knowing how bad that lady is.

she will call and sound like she is dying when she calls in.

not long ago we were allready short when she called in only 30 minutes before her shift. i told her absolutely not, she could NOT call in that day. she kept saying she couldnt come until i finally told her i would have the DON call her. ha! noone wants to talk to the DON that early in the morning cuz she is NOT a morning person. not 2 minutes later the DON called me back and said "she will be there by 7am". oooohhh she was pist. and this nurse didnt speak to me the entire day. and guess what? she no longer sounded sick!

how do people like this live with themselves??

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i know this was posted 3 months ago, but i just joined this site about 2 months and i just had 2 reply. i thought this only applied at my job. i work for a dialysis unit and i swear it is about 3 girls that always have something wrong with them. my favorite thing to say is they must have a "book of ailments" at home, because they come up with some good one's:clphnds:

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What if you are someone who really does feel like poo a lot? I get stressed out really really easily, I get migraines and stomach aches, anxiety related. Any tips? I am slowly learning how to deal with my problems and to just grow up and deal with my health problems. On the other hand, I can't imagine having to leave work everyday with a migraine. I understand both sides of topic. It is so easy to feel bad for yourself and make the "I don't feel good" excuse, but you all are right, it just is not fair.

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have you been to the dr's? where i work two of the girls are in their twenties, and it just seems to me to be so young and have so many ailments. one of the girls is a very good friend of mine and she ended up getting fired because of her attendance and the other girl is on the verge of getting fired. me personally have only called in about 5 times in 5 years, where i work. even the older techs. make it to work, but the other two, you just never know. we even had a tech go out on med. right out of orientation, just seemed so planned to me. so if something is truly wrong with them i'm usually slow to believe it. oh yea one of the girls even said she was robbed in the parking lot, and the guy didn't take her purse or car but 20 bucks (guess he was kind enough to let her go in her pocket or whatever to get the 20) and guess what, she went home for the day because she was "all shook up", she never could id this person. i could go on and on for their excuses for not coming to work.

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have you been to the dr's? where i work two of the girls are in their twenties, and it just seems to me to be so young and have so many ailments. one of the girls is a very good friend of mine and she ended up getting fired because of her attendance and the other girl is on the verge of getting fired. me personally have only called in about 5 times in 5 years, where i work. even the older techs. make it to work, but the other two, you just never know. we even had a tech go out on med. right out of orientation, just seemed so planned to me. so if something is truly wrong with them i'm usually slow to believe it. oh yea one of the girls even said she was robbed in the parking lot, and the guy didn't take her purse or car but 20 bucks (guess he was kind enough to let her go in her pocket or whatever to get the 20) and guess what, she went home for the day because she was "all shook up", she never could id this person. i could go on and on for their excuses for not coming to work.

I have been to a billion doctors. None of them can actually diagnose anything. I had a endoscopy done and everything came back normal. I do have Generalized Anxiety Disorder which causes me to stress and that is where the migraines come from and of course I get butterflies in my tummy when I get nervous. My stomach problems are generally constipation (sorry TMI), which started after I took an iron supplement. I am back to normal but I do notice I still get blocked up easily. I have a nonfunctioning gallbladder but the GI dr and the surgeon both agree they don't see any sense in taking it out right.

I worked through the summer at a kids camp as a counselor with all these issues. I know I can work while feeling like this. It is just that the headaches make it so unbearable.

p.s.

There are many people (mostly young women) who have the same problems as me and doctors cannot figure out what is the cause. I need Dr. House ;)

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geez, i really don't have an answer. i hope the doc's can come up with something, at least a diagnosis so that when u aren't feeling well, it won't look like constant call in's or constanly wanting to go home early. with u being so young hopefully they find out what's going on. these things r not normal, maybe try changing your diet can work wonders and also look into some alternative tx's. keep us posted.

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