Working while sick!

P.S. I'll have to remember the handshake thing...I could just see the look on my supervisor's face...

Make sure you have an appreciative smile also. After the hand shake, mentioned something about there seemed to be a smuge or something in her eye (hoping she would touch her eye with the shaken hand afterwards).

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It's true...nurses are NOT allowed to be sick. Wasn't that somewhere in our contract?

I think that is because nurse's immune system is so strong from being in contact with so many bugs that they never get sick...

We have to use up THREE (consecutive) vacation days to get an actual sick day. So if you just need to be out for one day, it's not taken out of your "sick days" but it used from vacation time. Three sickdays are really three vacation days used. Has to be OVER htree consecutive days to count as SICK days. :stone That is so wrong. Why HAVE sick days then? Just for "long term" ilness ?

Exactly. What is the point of having sick days vs. vacation days if all you can touch really is vacation days? I've worked here three years and I've only been able to use "sick" days once -- after I'd been hospitalized and made to stay off of work for nearly two weeks.

Exactly. What is the point of having sick days vs. vacation days if all you can touch really is vacation days? I've worked here three years and I've only been able to use "sick" days once -- after I'd been hospitalized and made to stay off of work for nearly two weeks.

It stinks, I know. My guess is that this is one way of preventing all those "I have a headache/cold/ (you insert whatever) and can't come in today" calls.

I think they attempt to reduce these call-ins by making it less "amenable" to us.. if we know we will have to use up three vacation days first, we aren't so apt to call in with the "little stuff"... that's my take on it, anyway. As always, it's all about THEM and THEIR $$ rather than about the health (be it physical or emotional) of their staff... who MAKE the profits for their pockets. Were it not for the nurses, they would have to shut the doors.

So hey... if you're sick, suk it up and go to work, right? Just as 99.9% of us do all the time.

Wow! I thought most places used Paid Time Off hours instead of separate sick/vacation hours. PTO is great and there still is a small cache of sick time for extended illness.

Why do we nurses come down so hard on other nurses for illnesses? While our immune systems are probably better than most, we are still human and still get sick. Sigh.

Where I use to work--you could only be sick once every forty five days,if you called in more than that--then you were counseled. If you were counseled twice then you would be put on the three steps you're out program. It was actually better to be off (with MD's note ,of course) for several days as that only counted as one episode. My advice would be to go to your MD and have him take you off work until you recover. You need to be your own advocate!

I actually have a doctor's appt. tomorrow with my PCP - I think I"m going to see if he'll order a couple days bedrest for me..I think I need that worse than anything else right now. :stone

I'm so sorry you are sick and are having to work. Almost every nurse I know has been put in this position at one time or another and in my personal experience, it creates resentment.

Too bad you can't just call in, say you are sick, thank you very much, and hang up.

Being union, that's exactly what we do. We call the staffing office, tell them we are sick and that's it! They aren't suppose to even ask if we are ill.

definitely i wont. it will be a risk for me and my patients

I wish more sick nurses would stay home. Maybe then I wouldn't be home sick for the past 11 days!

I am sorry you are not well, but you are not helping yourself by working doubles or at all when ill. You have to know this.

I know that you are screwd if you do and screwd if you don't though. I do understand this. You have to make your own choices.

Feel better.

I hope she's feeling better by now too, because the original post was a year ago! :)

WOW! When you are sick you are sick! Nothing you can do about it. You should have ben able to stay home when you are not feeling well. I had to work through illness also. I felt terrible because I am exposed to premie infants who I could potentially get REALLY sick. BUt my supervisor also does not care most of the time. I would think people can understand, especially when supervisors are nurses themselves! Good luck!