Is this the norm in the health care field?

[chlobo]

There is mom in one of my playgroups who is a part-time nurse in a cardiac unit of a local hospital. She has had a bad cold & flu season and been sick on and off (trading colds with her DD) for the past couple of months (I'm sure that part is normal).

On several occassions she has sent emails mentioning how she is sick, yet again, with some virus or other but has been going to work but not doing much else.

So my question is, are health care workers really encouraged to come to work even when sick with what is probably a contagious virus? Especially if you work on a surgical floor with vulnerable patients?

[mommyoftwo]

Well, I can't speak for anyone but residents, but my husband is a surgical resident and is not allowed to miss work no matter how sick he is. He was literally told that the only way he can miss work is if he is hospitalized. Once he was so dehydrated that he had to be hooked up to an IV to rehydrate him and he went right back to work after receiving a couple bags of saline. That time was particularly bad because he was on call so he worked all night too. I think it is utterly rediculous. I know the reason the residents aren't allowed to miss is because they are cheep labor and they don't want to pay someone else to do the work, but that's rediculous. I wouldn't think it would be quite that bad for nurses and techs and such but I don't know.

[HeatherW]

We are not allowed to work in the NICU with a fever, diarrhea, or vomiting. However, if we have a cold, we must wear a mask.
Washing hands is always a must and does wonders to decrease the spread of common illness.

H

[linsei]

Well, here is how it is where I work (nurses are union).

We no longer have sick days. If we call off, it comes out of our Paid Time Off account. PTO is used for vacations. So if I call off, that is one less vacation day I have.

Also, we cannot be absent for more than 3% of our days worked. I am part time, so this means I can call off a whopping 2 days per year. Excess of 2 days would result in a write up. (Full time workers get about 3 days/year before a write up).

If I call off, I also have the guilt of leaving the unit short staffed.

Most of the nurses that I work with use their sick days for when their kids are sick and not for themselves.

Many places just say, if you are sick, you should wear a mask.

When I call off, I get penalized, treated rudely by our staffing office, guilt tripped, and written up if it is an extended illness. If it is a holiday, circumstances are even worse - in addition to getting paid out of my PTO bank, they get to take PTO time away from me (8 hours). At least when DH calls off, he gets an "I hope you feel better." Pretty sad, huh? Especially since we are exposed to every cootie in existance.

The mom you know may be in a similar situation. If so, I can totally understand.

(please excuse typos and spelling - squirmy toddler on lap!)

Linda

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[buddyleebaby]

My dh and his pees are highly discouraged from ever using sick days (as in docked pay, even if your illness is documented).
They don't seem to worry much about "regular" illnesses.
On the other hand, TWICE he has been forced to strip down and shower in the middle of the street because they thought he was exposed to something (even though he is ALWAYS gloved up, mask and goggles, etc.) and once he had to stay in quarantine for a number of hours because they thought he treated someone with SARS.
So I guess they are careful to avoid some things more than others.

[Sillygirl]

I had a friend hook me up with an IV once so I could keep working on call one night. As residents/fellows, we don't have the pay docking issues that the nursing staff does, but if you can't work, one of your friends or colleagues has to get called in instead. So there's a fair amount of peer pressure not to miss work. I started having contractions when I was five months pregnant after working a 36 hour shift with a UTI and getting dehydrated. I still don't speak to the resident who threw a temper tantrum about coming in to cover me for half a day the next day.

[mommyoftwo]

Boy, I feel for you. In my husbands case, no one was willing to come in so there wasn't anything he could do. I'm glad you were able to get someone to cover you. I wouldn't talk to them either if I were you. There is no way to make some one come in for you here. You would think that the hospital's lawyers would realize that doctors are going to make mistakes a lot more often when they are so sick they can't function. You would think it would be a liability issue. I love medicine and actually went to medical school before I got chronic fatigue syndrome, but I really don't understand the point of constantly pushing residents to the breaking point. I would do it if I was healthy enough to, because I love medicine, but I still think it's stupid and dangerous.

[chlobo]

Thanks for the replies.

All I can say is that I feel for you. It doesn't seem like a wise way to run healthcare but I realize that you don't really have a choice. I wish you luck in staying healthy!