Infection Control vs. Human Resources
I'll be the first to admit it. I've gone into work many times when I've had a cough, head cold, low grade fever, paralyzing menstrual cramps, back and neck spasms, and Not Yet Diagnosed nausea with the sweats. Of course the 'right' thing to do would have been to stay home and not risk the health of my patients or co-workers. It is strongly encouraged by the Infection Control Department to stay home if you're sick. I knew better.. but I would go in anyway.
Every since my journey in nursing began, back in my clinical practice days, sick time was always heavily frowned about. Missing even one mandatory clinical day was the worst Sin imaginable... and there would be Hell to pay for it.
One of the most terrifying issues facing nurses these days is the humiliating and horrific experience of being punished for being sick. The hospital will deny this act to the grave, but this punitive treatment of nurses and health care providers is a well known fact by anyone working in the Health Care sector.
At the hospital where I work, nurses and support workers are given up to 5 sick incidents a year before they are put on 'attendance monitoring'. Attendance monitoring is where you are 'red flagged' as having issues with work attendance. You get pulled into your managers office for a sort of disciplinary meeting and notified of this 'issue'. You are then told if you continue to have more sick time there will be a follow up meeting with the manager again and a member of Occupational Health. For any further sick time you are told that you will need to provide a doctor's note as well as you are encouraged to fill out a detailed form describing all of your personal health related problems that are attributing to your attendance 'issue'. The program manager then assures you that this information is confidential and is designed to 'help you' from missing further work. You are also given some Mickey Mouse advice about 'diligent handwashing' and the benefits of wearing a face mask for the entirety of a 12 hour shift.
I have seen co-workers leave the managers office shaking and in tears. I've also been the person crying after a meeting with the management. I have come into work sick as a dog because I was terrified of the retribution from my management. Other nurses have also described this fear, all the while dragging their heels into work with a fever and running to the bathroom every 5 mins. There have been countless times where I'm working amongst so many ill nurses that I myself was afraid to come into work at the thought of catching something from them!
Of course management denies that this 'attendance monitoring' is a disciplinary action. This is supposedly in no way a form of punishment, but more a way of 'helping you'. I've had personal situations at work where I needed to talk to my program manager about several pressing issues and I would never be able to reach her. I would leave phone messages, and email her countless times. I ended up coming down with some virus or another and called in sick for my day shift. Within hours, of that very first sick day, guess who was calling me non-stop? Yup! My manager. How convenient that all of a sudden she magically appears and is ready to speak to me.
Once an employee reaches the '6th sick incident" (say that five times in a row), and are placed on Attendance Monitoring, they are now 'red flagged' to the entire hospital management. Let's say for example an employee wishes to transfer to another area of the hospital or they are applying for a full time position; being sick 6 instances in a year now becomes an issue for your future employment and career. Being on 'Attendance Monitoring' allows other Program Managers to deny you a position, even if your level of seniority entitles you to receive that advancement.
This is another way in which 'Attendance Monitoring' is being held as a punishment over the employees head. The only way to clear your Attendance Monitoring is to show a one year period with only 5 sick incidents on it. So essentially at that point, you have to 'not be sick' for months and months to come in order to 'clear your name'. How anybody could guarantee or achieve that is beyond me.
In 2012 Stats Canada stated that the average sick time for a worker is 7.6 days a year. The same year the average Canadian required 1.6 days off for family reasons/personal responsibilities. According to the National Post the average rate of sick days is the highest among the Health Care and social assistance sector reaching 14 days average sick time.
It makes perfect sense to me that Health Care workers would have a higher rate of sick time. Not only are we exposed to every bacteria and virus known to man, but we are running our feet off for 12 hour intervals, lifting/turning/carrying/pushing/pulling patients (some of which are heavier perhaps than they should be), all the while having our adrenaline soaring during various codes and upon discovering un-flagged Doctors orders ("Ohh.. this patient was supposed to be fasting for surgery.. would've been nice to know. Thanks for NOT flagging the order Dr. Dumb-Ass").
Obviously there's another side to the coin. I know of a nurse who has over a hundred sick days within a year (and I'm not talking about being off for short/long term disability... these are random days). There are definitely the individuals who blatantly abuse sick time. And Holy Smokes is it ever blatant sometimes. If you're going to call in sick maybe you don't want to have Facebook pictures 'live streaming' from your Bridal Shower the same day. I think that these attendance monitoring systems are great when applied to the correct people. But in general, it's a pretty wide brush to be painting with.
So, Infection Control wants us to stay home if we're sick. Human Resources wants us to show up for work unless we're confirmed officially 'deceased'.
So who wins?
Well, I'll tell you who loses... besides the nurses and the health care providers, the people who really end up suffering are very patients we are supposed to be caring for.
Cheers,
Bootsy
The culture of work-above-everything-else is so pervasive and yet so wrong. It is present in many fields, but healthcare really, really should be the place where employees are treated as if someone cares about their health. Not only the obvious (basic respect) but the fact that you guys are the front lines - when you're sick you put others at risk, not to mention that I think most people would want to have someone healthy and alert handling their medical care. It's SAD that the argument even would have to be put in those terms, ie: that it makes practical sense for hospitals to not have a culture of shaming and retribution surrounding sick days... it's even MORE sad that even those arguments apparently don't carry any weight.
ReplyDeleteYup, it is a sad state of affairs all around :(
Thanks Cat-in-a-Box!!
ReplyDeleteYes, it's a very sad state of affairs. I'm not sure how someone would pursue this issue on a higher level but I would definitely like to see things change in this area. This is one aspect of nursing that I find really detracts from my feelings of 'job satisfaction'. I notice even attitude from coworkers regarding sick time. I've had instances where I've called in to the floor to report I that I was calling in sick only to hear grave 'sighs' over the phone from the staff member receiving my call. Or the staff member will say, "We're already short two staff for tomorrow", and then there's a long pause as if they're waiting for you to reconsider your 'decision' to be sick. lol