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Sick Often - Calling in to work
dispatch.o
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I've done everything in the past from fast food, to sushi chef. Been a waiter and a register jockey at a gas station. Now I work in a hospital.
In my entire job history previous to working at a hospital (13 years?) I have called in sick few enough times that you could count them all on one hand. Everywhere I've worked, especially around food had a policy that if you're sick... go the fuck home. Especially my previous gig at a retirement home.
Since working in a hospital (2 years) I've called in sick probably 30 times. I've never faked it. I believe you have an obligation when dealing with people who are immunodeficient or have open wounds to not kill them with an infection that could have been avoided.
I wash my hands, I use sanitizer. The thing is, I'm not getting sick from the patients. I'm getting sick from the fucking nurses. I am a per-diem employee, this means while I get no sick or vacation time, I get a slight pay bump and can take any period I want off with no regard to seniority because it is unpaid.
We get nurses coming into work who have lost their voice, are running a fever everything shy of pink eye basically. No one says anything to them, but since they work in surgery (my department) they rarely deal with patients who aren't totally fucking looped out or unconcious.
I have to go to the floors, talk to patients and not sound like I'm dying. I do not get paid for being sick, nurses do. However they don't want to use sick time for actually being sick. They're never "sent" home, the union would never allow it.
Short Question:
People at work keep getting me sick and it makes me look bad. They have paid time off, I do not. They're never told to go home, and I think it may even be a patient safety issue. For now, I just want to know how to go about:
a.) not getting sick as often (I take a multivitamin, is there some other thing I should be taking?)
b.) figuring out a way to tell them to go the fuck home (I am not a boss, I am lowest on the eating shit pile so this probably wont happen)
c.) If all else fails, at least make it understood somehow that I am in fact not faking just to get out of work and I am missing because I feel it's part of my job to not kill people or make sick people sicker.
In my entire job history previous to working at a hospital (13 years?) I have called in sick few enough times that you could count them all on one hand. Everywhere I've worked, especially around food had a policy that if you're sick... go the fuck home. Especially my previous gig at a retirement home.
Since working in a hospital (2 years) I've called in sick probably 30 times. I've never faked it. I believe you have an obligation when dealing with people who are immunodeficient or have open wounds to not kill them with an infection that could have been avoided.
I wash my hands, I use sanitizer. The thing is, I'm not getting sick from the patients. I'm getting sick from the fucking nurses. I am a per-diem employee, this means while I get no sick or vacation time, I get a slight pay bump and can take any period I want off with no regard to seniority because it is unpaid.
We get nurses coming into work who have lost their voice, are running a fever everything shy of pink eye basically. No one says anything to them, but since they work in surgery (my department) they rarely deal with patients who aren't totally fucking looped out or unconcious.
I have to go to the floors, talk to patients and not sound like I'm dying. I do not get paid for being sick, nurses do. However they don't want to use sick time for actually being sick. They're never "sent" home, the union would never allow it.
Short Question:
People at work keep getting me sick and it makes me look bad. They have paid time off, I do not. They're never told to go home, and I think it may even be a patient safety issue. For now, I just want to know how to go about:
a.) not getting sick as often (I take a multivitamin, is there some other thing I should be taking?)
b.) figuring out a way to tell them to go the fuck home (I am not a boss, I am lowest on the eating shit pile so this probably wont happen)
c.) If all else fails, at least make it understood somehow that I am in fact not faking just to get out of work and I am missing because I feel it's part of my job to not kill people or make sick people sicker.
dispatch.o on
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My roommate, who's studying to be a pharmacist, swears by probiotics. The science behind it is fairly new, but purely anecdotally, I've only been sick a couple of times since I started drinking a DanActive a day, and never sick enough to skip work (like, the worst it's been has been a mild case of sniffles).
If you were inclined to try it I would be happy to give you the number or e-mail addres to one of their distributors. One of the best things is they have a money back guarantee, so you can try it for a month and if you don't think it was worth the money, you send the empty bottles back, and they will refund your money without any hassles.
By the way, I haven't been sick or to a doctor in over 4 years. Anecdotal evidence to be sure, but after spending about a year with a phD nutritionist I would most definitely say my life changed for the better.
edit: Also if you want to change the way things work at your place of employment I suggest talking to someone in HR. Be firm but polite and continue to escalate until you get someone who does something or at least knows what they are talking about.
Shogun Streams Vidya
I'll mention sleep again because it's really important. Lack of sleep fucks your immune system over.
You do need exercise though. 30m of cardio per day or 60m of cardio every other day is a good amount.
I second the multivitamin + probiotics suggestion, too.
Also, I would talk to my human resources department about the situation. Explain your reasoning (not wanting to get others sick). Take proactive steps to cover your own ass before it becomes a problem.
As for your coworkers, I'd be direct, but that's just me. If somebody I was working with were sick, I'd just politely say, "Are you sure it's a good idea to be at work where you can get patients sick, too? Don't you guys get paid sick time?" But that's just me and the nice-but-direct approach doesn't work for everybody.
My migraines really ramped up in the last two years so I'm kind of in the same boat, BTW. I have to take sick time a lot because I haven't found a medication that works very well yet. Luckily I've discussed the situation in detail with my boss and my HR rep so it's all clear if I need to go hide in a dark room for four hours one day.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
Have you tried talking to your supervisor about this very point, explaining how you feel? If your supervisor is not an insufferable dick, that is.
So you do not need to do anything special besides the sensible precautions I mentioned above. Granted I eat a reasonably healthy diet with veggies and fruit so I get my vitamins from food. Remember most germs get to your insides via your nose/eyes/mouth by touch. Aerosolized spread of infections is rare. So as long as you make sure your hands have been thoroughly washed with soap before they approach the above portals of entry you should be fine.
I dont smoke, in fact I got sick less often when I did smoke. Odd as that may sound. The only time I use the gel is when there is no sink, typically I can/do use betadine scrub solution to wash my hands in around 30 times a day.
I think I may have been somewhat unclear on part of the problem. It's not just me getting sick, people are seriously ill there a hell of a lot. I'm just one of the few who decides to stay home.
Someone want to recommend a good vitamin brand in case the one I have fails that dissolve test?
(I take vitamins because I don't eat much meat and figure I may as well get some of what I'm missing out on, I'm not a vegan or anything I just don't enjoy meat much)
Edit: I deal with people who can have anything from mrsa (droplet precautions, wheee) to necrotizing fasciitis, believe me I'm wearing orthopedic surgical gloves and a big ugly bright yellow gown with facemask. Then washing my arms up to the armpit off. I don't think it's just an issue of touching my mouth or anything, though I will try to be more mindful.
My supervisor much like nearly all hospital supervisors isnt ever actually in the surgical department, he is in meetings 11 hours a day and has lost all touch with reality. On the upside they have to actually verbally warn me before they can bother writing me up... and they haven't even warned me yet.
I take a multivitamin called Centrum once a day. It has 28 vitamins and minerals in it. Started two years ago, have been feeling better ever since. I'm not sure if they are available in the U.S. though.
What hospital do you work at? My hospital sends people home if they have a fever or exhibit any signs of illness - we send people home if they appear really lethargic or just 'bad'. You didn't say what you do exactly in the hospital, but if you are concerned that patient safety is being jeopardized then you have a responsibility to contact your supervisors and inform them, if nothing is done, then you need to step it up to Joint Commission - etc etc. Our responsibility is to the patient, not to some fucking set of nurses who don't want to use that sick time when they're sick.
Also, your nurses are UNIONIZED? Wow.
As far as your supervisors are concerned, I wouldn't say a damn thing until one of them comes to you. If they investigate the situation and ask you why you are missing so much time, then you explain your concerns about patient safety. Use the term 'patient safety' and 'improving patient outcomes' a lot - that seems to give most hospital managers a buzzword to latch on to.
I assumed unionized nurses was the default. They're union in California, at least.
to the OP:
I almost never get sick. When I do get sick it's usually cause I don't do one of the following: get enough sleep, drink enough water. Be sure you're doing both.
It did not even matter where I worked or what capacity I worked in. One of my positions, I was in a research lab in an associated building attached to the actual hospital complex, and even then my supervisor sent me home if I wasn't feeling well. One of my other positions, I was in an entirely different building a 10-minute walk away (in the hospital's IT department), and even then I was instructed not to come in when sick, since many people go between the buildings and could carry my infection with them. Theoretically nurses should absolutely not be ill and still have patient contact, but with nursing shortages up here, colds and such are often overlooked based on the individual nurse's discretion.
If this becomes a concern for you, check your hospital's employee handbook. The policy's probably in there. Or go check with Occupational Health (or whatever it might be called in your hospital, the department of nurses responsible for employee vaccinations and health) - they should know the policy as it applies to whatever classification your hospital has assigned you. I'm not sure you really want to be making waves over the nurses and clinical staff being sick, but here in Ontario anyways, you'd be in the (regulatory) right doing so. You might still lose your job, but then the newspapers would jump on it, you'd be lauded a hero and probably rehired with an apology or hired somewhere else...
Edit: I'll add that often hospitals have stricter-than-necessary-or-enforced regulations as a legal measure. Ie, no employees are allowed open-toed shoes, skirts, or shorts, but certainly visitors are often seen in these, so obviously they're just giving themselves wiggle room in case a clinician gets a needle in the foot or something. You might want to clarify these too, and Occupational Health should be able and quite willing to help (nurses are awesome).
I've never worked in a hospital that had union nurses. I don't really understand a lot of how unions work, but there's such a shortage of nurses that you can name your price and your hours pretty much anywhere. I've never felt mistreated or anything.