When to call in sick to the SICU

[DuluthMike]

I work in a SICU that see's a wide range of very critically ill patients. They range from heart transplants, lung transplants, and VADS down to simple CABG's. Given the nature of my patient population, when would it be appropriate to call in sick?

[ShaunES]

When you're sick!

[FOCKER0014]

only on days ending in "y"......

if your sick your sick....don't pass it on...

[TemperStripe]

I have twice made the mistake of NOT calling in sick...thinking I'd be fine and it would pass. I was having sore throat/cold-like symptoms.

MISTAKE.

Both of those days ended up being some of the worst.days.ever.

If in doubt, call in sick. Your physical health and your mental health can ALWAYS use it. It's usually painfully obvious who abuses sick time. If you know in your heart you're not one of those people, then who cares what people think. Take care of yourself first. If you're no good to yourself, you'll be no good to your patients. :)

[MomRN0913]

I called in sick once. i as having reoccuring bouts of tonislitis with fevers, pain, inability to eat or drink. My manager begged me to come in. I said yes. Guess where I ended up at 4am during my shift? In the ER. Tachy @130, with a temp, severely dehydrated. I stayed down there for 5 hours, they put me on a monitor and wouldn't let me go until my HR came down. Got 2 L of NS, and a shot of Decadron. I am now tonsil free.

I shouldn't have went to work. Take care of yourself always first.

[RN1980]

when ever you get to the point of sickness where you cant concentrate on your task at hand you best take a day off. i have witnessed many a nurse try to tough it out and have made mistakes or overlooked issues of pt care cause their mind and heart was not in it that day. and i promise the state board of nazis wont care how high your temp was and neither will your employer.

[meandragonbrett]

If I'm sick, I call in. If you're sick....please call in and don't bring your germs and cough all over everything. I'd rather work short.

[TulsaTime]

I agree completely. If you're sick stay home! And if you have staffing issues (I work Rapid Response so there is only one of us) call early if you are even thinking you might not be there! We try to even call the day before sometimes so we can find coverage. Nobody wants to do our job!!

[TigerGalLE, BSN, RN]

Yea if you are sick.. just stay home...

I made the mistake of not calling in on Christmas Eve... I had a cold.. Nothing too serious but real snotty, sneezing, coughing, sinus head ache.... I had plans to wear a mask when in patients room...

OF COURSE I got an admit from the ER that was severely neutropenic dying of septic shock. I was in his room for 7 straight hours with a mask on my face..... TALK ABOUT MISERABLE....

He didn't make it... so i guess in hindsight i didn't need the mask. But I didn't want to compromise my already compromised patient. Whew.. I won't do that again.....

Tiger

[littleneoRN]

I feel like this is a valid question, and there are finer points that aren't really getting addressed. For example, if I worked as, for example, and engineer, sitting at my desk working most of the day, I would go to work with a normal cold. However, I will not go to work in a the neonatal intensive care with a cold since my patient's are vulnerable at best and more often vastly immunocompromised. This is supported by our management/infection control. We are not to come to work with a fever. If we have strep, etc., we need to be 24 hours on antibiotics before returning to work. Some people with minor symptoms will come to work with a mask, but generally if you are sneezing/coughing/etc., you stay home. This means more sick days then if I worked in a different profession, but it's only fair to our patients.