What do you say when calling out sick as a nurse?

Ever since my previous career and my strong work ethic, it would usually take a lot for me to call out sick. I worked at times I should have been home many times, I think to justify when I did call out, it was really serious/legit.

I also have worked in places that feel they have a right to probe and maybe bc I had/have weak boundaries when it comes to that sort of thing I would answer in detail when they'd ask "how sick?...what are the symptoms?" etc...Maybe they have no right to ask that and they "test" in that way.

I've never felt comfortable calling out and saying "I won't be in I'm not feeling well" or even "sick" esp if you don't sound that sick! That's why when I do, I do usually sound horrible.

Even personal days, I feel like I needed to say why I needed a personal day but that defies the definition doesn't it?! But when the supposed caring I.e. nosy coworkers ask if everything is okay when I come back, then I feel (and have actually been told by one) that I'm snubbing them if I say "everything's fine" even if I add "thanks for asking"

You can probably tell I'm that way from my length of posts and need to be clear.

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

Baubo516 said:

Just curious -

If you are working as an RN in either a hospital or a LTC facility, what happens if you are sick (I mean short term - like you have a fever for a few days) and need to miss work. Who do you call, and do you have to arrange for your replacement? Does management give you a hard time about it?

I am currently a teacher, and if I am sick I have to make a detailed sub plan so that someone else can cover for me that day. That takes 1-2 hours to do. If I know ahead of time that I have to be gone, this is easy to do, but if I wake up with a fever (as I did yesterday) it is a major pain. The administrative assistant I have to call into always makes me feel like a criminal for being sick. I am just wondering if this is the reality in nursing, as well.

I am not talking about long term disability, or missing work too often....

Thanks for any replies as I am curious about how this works in other professions.

Different than teaching a classroom with only one teacher for X amount of students and no extra floating teachers present from the next shift of teachers to call in early. In nursing, There are usually a few nurses scheduled for that floor that day for X amount of patients. Sometimes we can pull from another floor who's census is down or the floor is short a nurse and we fill in with extra aides to help with care. Plus nursing is a 24/7, 365 job so there is a bigger pool of employees to pull from and call from to utilize for the sick call. One sick call is usually not leaving the patients without any nurses like in the classroom you are gone and there is no one. I have a larger pool of prequalified pre-approved licensed personel to pull from unlike you are the only teacher for that class and there are no extra floating teachers easily available.

If I as the supervisor cannot cover the sick call and the situation is deemed unsafe the manager of the floor ( who has 24/7 accountability for their floor) works the floor. I can easily spend 2-3 hours calling to cover sick calls and that is just for the next shift. Many facilities have staffing secretaries that their sole job is to make phone calls to cover the sick calls 24/7 because they are not just calling for one floor they call for all floors, all shifts, seven days a week. There are managers and staffing personel who are really quite peeved when sick calls come in because they are quite frankly a pain in the butt! and..... Yes! they use guilt as a driving force to get their way or to make you feel bad you called out. As a manager if there is something Ineed to get to the hospital the very next day and I am really sick I have to call other managers to help me out and come and get it.....usually I end up "dropping" off what I need and I get handed a mask and get stuck for 3 hours and then come home and die.

Covering sick calls is just a pain and the more specialized the nurse the bigger the pain.........

[psu_213, BSN, RN]

"I'm not feeling well, and I won't be in tomorrow." Or, simply "I won't be able to come in tomorrow." It is not their business nor do they have the right to know what your symptoms are, how sick you are, what treatments you have tried at home, etc.

As for your coworkers, if they feel snubbed that you did not disclose to them: well, that is their problem and you should not feel bad about it. I think "I'm feeling fine" is an appropriate, polite response.

On a side note, I get sick now and then, whatever, it happens; I treat sick pts (and some that are not so sick) all day. I don't really want to hear about my coworkers' illnesses. I'm not sure why they would be interested in mine...beyond saying "I'm feeling better, thanks."

[sharpeimom]

This is sharpeimom. I will need coverage for the 7pm-7am shift today. I plan to work tomorrow. (or I'll call in tomorrow.)

I usually accumulated enough pto that I saved 2 or 3 shifts worth and donated the balance to fellow employees with either ill family members or who had ? Illness/condition themselves and had or would use all their pto.

[blondy2061h, MSN, RN]

"Hi, this is Blondy, I'm an RN on Oncology Crazy Central Unit. I will be unable to make it to work today because I am ill."

I have never been questioned. I don't try and sound ill on the phone, though sometimes I'm sure I do. I don't have any qualms about using the word ill. If you use weaker words like, "Not feeling well" you may run into people saying that you may feel better later, why not call back then?

[Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN]

"I'm not feeling well so I'm calling out. I'll be in tomorrow/I'll see how I feel for tomorrow."

Depending on who the supervisor is I may or may not elaborate.

[RNsRWe, ASN, RN]

Been there,done that said:

The employer has NO right to question you.

" I am not coming in today, I don't feel well." No other details are required.

Well.....not exactly.

I worked for a hospital that held the policy of asking for the symptoms you were experiencing that made it so you were out sick that day. NOT because they felt you had to "prove" you were sick, but because they tracked how many people called out how many times that day for the same set of symptoms; if it reached a certain number it triggered a report to the health department notifying them of excessive absences r/t this symptom. It had to be monitored because of concern for epidemic, what might be spread through the facility, etc.

If it was normal to have four people call in every shift for D/N/V, and suddenly there were 15 people calling out, it would be followed-up on (no one gets in trouble, just 'what happened')

[KaroSnowQueen, RN]

I always say, This is Karo, I won't be in today, please tell my supervisor. It is NONE of their business what is or is not wrong with you. Sometimes I call in because I'm sick all right, sick of work.

The only time I gave details was when my son was hospitalized with possible meningitis. Had been told ' you cannot miss today, don't care what goes on (was new job).' So I showed up, my ADON asked why i wanted off, told them kid had LP pending, possible meningitis. OH BOY, she backed off from me 20 feet and said go on home and don't come back without a note saying he's not got it OR when the doc's sure you're not carrying it!!!! LOL Had two off days til they decided he didn't have it. They never told me again that I couldn't take an off day!!!!

[psu_213, BSN, RN]

studentnurse9806 said:

How often is too often? I have been at my current job for four months and called out two times. It's looking like I may have to call out again as I am not feeling well. Do you think I will get fired? A warning? Nothing? Other than this I am a great worker and always on time.

It depends on the policy of the facility/unit. Obviously I don't know the circumstances of your call offs, and they all might have been quite legitimate, but three times in four months does not look good. As I said, though, it depends on what the attendance policy is, if you are still on your probation period, what the ladder is for calls off (verbal warning?, written warning?, termination?) at your facility.

[ThePrincessBride, MSN, RN, NP]

Three times in the first four months is too much.

Last weekend I was feeling horrible. Sick as dog. Barely got any sleep, and my throat was sore. Getting out of a cozy warm bed to drive in negative degree weather was like a hard kick to the stomach. I went in and worked the two twelves and SLEPT a lot the next day.

I'm not a proponent of working while sick, but some employers are not as understanding. I am in my fifth month of this job with one call-off that I didn't even know was considered a call-off (it's a long story, and even the charge nurse didn't think it should've been counted against me.) Had I been a longtime worker, I would have called off. As a newbie and bottom of the totem pole, however, I need to make a great impression and having three call-offs/two occurences in five months doesn't look good to anyone. Better to come in sick and be sent home than have a laundry list of call-offs on your record.

I don't agree with this work-like-a-dog mentality, and it is sad that in the healthcare field, we are expected to be robots with perfect health all the while taking care of very sick patients. We promote health for others, but not for ourselves. :/

[nynursey_]

I suppose it depends on the health conditions that resulted in your calling off. I personally feel that any contagious illness (GI, running a temperature > 101, rash, etc) warrants asking your charge nurse/NM. We have a "sick line" at my hospital which allows us to report such illnesses and we are discouraged from coming in if it could put our patient's health at risk (which for any contagious illness is a real possibility). Or, if your physician specifically takes you out of work, and you have a legitimate notice … that's another thing too. And, of course, this is going to be at the discretion of your employer.

[Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN]

Look in your facility's policy and procedure (P&P) manual, or ask HR for a copy of the facility's sick leave policy. If you wish to keep your job, that is the guidance you must abide by, not anything that we may post here.

Since you're fairly new at the job and are probably still in the probationary period, I would suggest that you start bringing in doctor's notes when you call out. Yes, it's a hassle. But it looks a lot better for you than being out 3 times in as many months. And if the ailment isn't acute enough to require a visit to the PCP, then I'd reconsider whether it's really worth calling out for.

Good luck.

[psu_213, BSN, RN]

caliotter3 said:

I agree with BacktoBasics. You don't want to use up all of your call-off cards while you are still on probation. You don't know what you will need six months from now.

Where I worked as a CNA--there was another CNA who called off all the time. Sometimes the reason was illness, sometime the reason what childcare. Sometimes it was the weather, sometimes it was her car. She admitted that some of the excuses she gave to work were a lie. She was put on probation (that included a zero tolerance rule for calls without a doctor's note) at least twice for this. She would never call off when on probation, but then go back to her old tricks when the probation ended. After I left the facility and was in school, one of my classmates was still employed there. One day she said "oh, Sarah (name changed to protect the guilty) was fired. It really is unfair though, she was actually sick this time with [i forget what]." I kept my mouth shut, but I wanted to tell this person "and you know what else was unfair--when she left us to work short with all those bogus calloffs."

Now, I'm not accusing the OP of bogus calloffs. I am saying--make sure you actually cannot work before you use a calloff. I'm not sure what "not feeling well" means to the OP, but, usually, I don't consider "not felling well" a reason to call off.