The guilt

[dakcp2001]

I had to call in sick tonight. I have had a headache all day that has kept me awake. There is no way I can work a 12 hour night shift on zero sleep, I Have been awake since yesterday afternoon, yet I feel so guilty when I have to call out. Anyone else feel this way? Now I have a headache, I am overtired, and I feel guilty. going to try to go back to sleep, but now the guilt will just keep me up. I used to feel the same way if I stayed home from school as a child.

 

[tinkerbellandeeyor]

I know how you feel I feel the same way when I call in sick

 

[minkydog]

I dont' know if people in other professions feel that way, but I think just about every nurse I know feels terrible when they have to call out. Perhaps it's because we know how hard it is on everyone when someone calls out sick. I have known nurses to go to work with pneumonia, fevers, and even a week after appendectomy because they feel so driven to "not call out."

It's not like you do it every week. I wouldn't go to work with a blistering headache either, especially for a 12hr night shift. How dangerous is that?! Your coworkers will understand and if they don't, they'll get over it. Just remember that if you make mistakes because you went to work compromised with a terribly headache and sleep deprivation, a jury will just ask, "Why did you do that when you KNEW you could be a danger to your clients?" You're doing the right thing.

 

[Fire14]

I'm same way but like minky said we have to remember our pt's safety and take care of ourselves first.

 

[avgeek81]

I feel the same way. Ive had sore throat, headache, ear ache and pretty much whole body ache with a fever on and off for the last 3 days. At first I just thought it was a normal cold but I usually dont get aches and it usually progressed to stuffy nose and congested. Plus usually when I hjave a cold Im starving and I didnt want to eat anything with this sickness.

I shouldve gone to the DR yesterday but didnt want to miss work, I work retail so this is a busy time. I had to work til 1am and felt terrible the whole night. When I got home my temp was 101.

I finally went to the DR today. They gave me some antibiotics and cough/ pain meds and told me to stay home from work for the next 2 days. When i picked up my scripts I gave my manager the DR note. They werent happy but what can i do.

Also I hate using my vacation time for being sick. Atleast if Im back by monday I still get paid for christmas. BTW the only other time I have called out is last October when I was stuck in CT because of hurricane Sandy and i only missed one day because I stopped in on my way home to get my scheduale and they asked me to stay since they were short staffed

 

[Sabeking]

I always felt that way. I used to attribute it to being Catholic..just kidding. At the end of the day we all have a time when we need a break, period. Be thankful that you can and rest. Nobody ever said at the end of their life that things would have been better if I had just worked that one day. That is what sick days are for!!!

 

[Albort]

Told boss the day before that im calling in cuz im sick...
she begged me to come in because everyone else and their mothers were calling in. I felt bad so i went in...

Got my boss sick instead, she told me to go home from then on... lol

 

[LiveYourLife]

Nope, not an ounce. Because that is what sick days are for. Being sick. Plus, I think it is extremely selfish for those who are sick to come to work, and possibly infect others with whatever incubus they have. Stay home. PLEASE.

OP, I hope you feel better. I am sure your headache will go away if you just relax (could be a tension headache), and get some sleep. Don't think about work, trust me, it will be there waiting for you when you go back.

 

[minkydog]

Nope, not an ounce. Because that is what sick days are for. Being sick. Plus, I think it is extremely selfish for those who are sick to come to work, and possibly infect others with whatever incubus they have. Stay home. PLEASE.

OP, I hope you feel better. I am sure your headache will go away if you just relax (could be a tension headache), and get some sleep. Don't think about work, trust me, it will be there waiting for you when you go back.

My DH always said, "If you drop dead, they're gonna just step over your cold, lifeless body and keep on rolling." Hopefully, in a hospital setting they'd at least try a little CPR

 

[kimblebee]

I have called in sick 4 times in the past past 3 weeks. 2 days because I had a cold and hardly had a voice. Today and tomorrow because of a wicked stomach bug. I work on the phones so I need a voice and can't be stuck on a call when I need the bathroom. TMI sorry I do feel bad about calling in sick but we are pretty slow right now so I know I won't be missed.

 

[dakcp2001]

I just woke up after a glorious nap! Almost 6 hours! My headache is better! I must be coming down with something I've got a touch of a sore throat and I'm all stuffed up.

 

[Disney Doll]

If you're sick, stay home.
Otherwise you infect everyone else, and if you're a nurse, it could be a danger to your patients who are already compromised if they are in the hospital.

 

[dakcp2001]

I did stay home. They called me at 330 am to ask me if I felt better and could come in. I said no and they hung up on me. I wish I could stop feeling so guilty.

 

[JoiseyMom]

I did stay home. They called me at 330 am to ask me if I felt better and could come in. I said no and they hung up on me. I wish I could stop feeling so guilty.

Don't feel guilty. When you are sick and can't work then that is that. I think, they were rude and unprofessional to call your home at that time after you had called out already. Being nurses they should have known better!

 

[design_mom]

I feel guilty UNLESS I have an obvious symptom like a fever or vomiting. If I have a symptom like that I feel like nobody can quibble that I'm calling off. However, if it's just feeling lousy or congestion, I feel like I ought to suck it up and push on through. (Of course, when *other* people come in with nasty congestion or whatever, I wish that they'd stayed home... so my guilt is probably misplaced, but often guilt is.)

FWIW, my SIL is a nurse. Until recently, she worked at a hospital (but she's now at a doctor's office). At the hospital, their schedules were set up so far in advance, she didn't always know when to request off for her kids school/sporting events because those schedules had not been released by the time her work schedule was made. If she couldn't find someone to switch shifts with her (or she didn't want the shift they were offering) she would call out to go to the event. It never seemed "right" to me, but she didn't seem to have any qualms about it because "everybody does it." In that case, she wasn't really sick and she probably could have had a "miraculous recovery" and have come in for the second half of her shift if she'd been needed. I know from a previous thread that you don't have kids, and have had scheduling issues with co-workers before -- maybe if *they* would call off when they're not sick, they would assume that you might, too. Maybe they thought you were getting some Christmas shopping done, or whatever. As far as I know, SIL has not called off from work at the doctor's office... I think the "culture" is different there and they have been better about covering for each other.

 

[dakcp2001]

I feel guilty UNLESS I have an obvious symptom like a fever or vomiting. If I have a symptom like that I feel like nobody can quibble that I'm calling off. However, if it's just feeling lousy or congestion, I feel like I ought to suck it up and push on through. (Of course, when *other* people come in with nasty congestion or whatever, I wish that they'd stayed home... so my guilt is probably misplaced, but often guilt is.)

It is a lot harder to "suck it up" when you work 12 hour night shifts. I am afraid that without sleep I will make a med error or cause a car accident. Staying up all night is not a good thing when your feeling lousy. 12 hours is a very long time when you have not slept.

 

[design_mom]

It is a lot harder to "suck it up" when you work 12 hour night shifts. I am afraid that without sleep I will make a med error or cause a car accident. Staying up all night is not a good thing when your feeling lousy. 12 hours is a very long time when you have not slept.

I wasn't saying that you *should* suck it up... just that *I* felt guilty when I didn't. (My job does not involve life and death situations.) You asked in the OP if anyone else felt guilty calling out. I was explaining when I did, not trying to pass judgement on your choice to call out.

 

[U2_rocks!]

I very, very seldom take sick days for myself, but occasionally I need to take one because of my kids. I do feel bad (not really guilty) a little, especially if clients are waiting on stuff from me. But I do have the ability to do some things from home, so it usually works out OK.

I have to say, the worst I ever felt was when my appendix got inflamed at the end of my vacation and I had to have it out the weekend before I was due to come back to work. There was a deadline to be met and I had planned to take care of it on Monday and Tuesday, but now suddenly I was recovering from an appendectomy! My boss, who has mellowed a lot since then, seemed to care more about the fact that I didn't have a good plan in place for my assistant to seamlessly take over than the fact that I'd just had surgery! I cam back to work on Friday (5 days after surgery!) even though I wasn't due to come back until sometime the following week. It was fine, I healed really quickly, but still - guilt!

 

[dakcp2001]

I wasn't saying that you *should* suck it up... just that *I* felt guilty when I didn't. (My job does not involve life and death situations.) You asked in the OP if anyone else felt guilty calling out. I was explaining when I did, not trying to pass judgement on your choice to call out.

Ok! Thank you for the clarification. I was a little offended, I swear I rarely call out! It takes a lot to make me stay home. I would never just call off all willy nilly. I rarely get sick though, so I guess I am pretty lucky. Sorry for misunderstanding your post. It is the guilty feeling that made me read it that way. lol.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

All I can say is I understand. It's that time of year... We've had a lot of people out with illnesses - one manager told me she had nurses showing up for their shifts, running into the bathroom to throw up, then going home. Subsequently things are tight on shifts, but what can you do.

For those who don't work in hospitals, it's a catch 22, because people say don't come in when you're sick, but you are often penalized if you go over a certain amount of sick hours, and if it happens too often, you can lose your job.

My general rule of thumb is that I don't go if I'm too sick to take care of patients, but realistically I can't stay home every time I don't feel well. I try to save my sick time for when I'm *really* sick, but with kids that get sick and an elderly parent that I'm responsible for, I've had to use sick time for them when all three were hospitalized earlier this year. I also had to use a sick day to attend a funeral so that counts against me as well, so I'm hoping I don't get really sick this winter. I am sick with a head cold and sore throat right now but fortunately I already put my time in for the week. I was just thinking this morning what I would do if I had to go to work today.

I am pretty shocked to hear they called you at 3am to come in - if it was deliberate. I bet they were either desperate, or didn't realize you called in and were just going down a list frenzily calling people. I've had it happen to me and I've done it before myself when I'm the one making the calls (while also trying to care for patients). I mean, people have to go home at some point - by law they cannot work more than 16 hrs (at least in this state), so if people are all already working doubles and there's nobody coming in, there's a big problem, which leads to those desperate phone calls. (Yeah, no stress!)

At any rate, hope you feel better! Try not to feel too guilty.