Nursefriendly.com: presenteeism

Friday, February 18, 2011

Sick doctors who work are doing more harm to their patients than good

Doctors: if you’re sick, don’t go to work.
The stereotype of doctors is that they go to work, despite whatever symptoms ail them. Calling in sick places strain on colleagues. Especially in residency, where team members are expected to pick up the slack.
In a recent column, the New York Times’ Pauline Chen discusses the image of self-sacrifice that a sick doctor going to work portrays:
Hacking, febrile or racked with the sequelae of chronic illnesses, doctors who are sick have continued for generations to see their patients. Although published reports for over a decade have linked patient illnesses like the flu, whooping cough and resistant bacterial infections to sick health care workers, as many as 80 percent of physicians continue to work through their own ailments, even though they would have excused patients in the same condition.
In today’s age of H1N1 influenza and other assorted public health worries, presenteeism is being looked at. Interestingly,
researchers in the business world have begun to question this assumption. Instead of focusing on problems incurred by absenteeism, these researchers have analyzed the impact of what’s been called presenteeism, or working despite being ill. And it turns out, at least in early studies, that those employees who choose to go to work sick are expensive. Presenteeism costs companies more than $150 billion a year in lost worker productivity.

via kevinmd.com

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Sunday, November 21, 2010

How to call in sick without jeopardizing your job - CNN.com

Eric McCoole, 38, called in sick on St. Patrick's Day in 2000, and no, he didn't have a cold, the flu, or a sinus infection. He didn't even have the sniffles.

"Being of Irish descent, I wanted to take the day off," says McCoole, a government employee in Alpine, California.

He called early enough so he could leave a message and skip the awkward talk with his boss. "The next day a supervisor came over the PA system and announced, 'Two people called in sick yesterday, St. Patrick's Day: Eric McCoole and Brian O'Malley.' Luckily, everyone laughed," McCoole recalls. "He said next year we should flip a coin to decide who takes that day off."

Ah, the good old days. Few folks in today's workplace are calling in sick even if they have a cold, the flu, or a sinus infection. Given the economic meltdown, the highest unemployment rate in years, and layoffs around every corner, workers are more likely to drag themselves into the office even when they feel like death warmed over.

Health.com: Is it a cold, flu, or something else?

The fear? If they call in sick, they won't have an office to drag themselves into the next day.

Why you should call in sick

While they might feel heroic, sick employees who come to work -- a phenomenon known as presenteeism -- can actually hurt companies. Even if you're not scheduled to scrub into the ER and save lives, you can still endanger others by showing up for work in a cloud of germs.

"You always have to weigh the risks and the benefits," says Dr. Aaron E. Glatt, M.D., a spokesperson for the Infectious Diseases Society of America and president and CEO of the New Island Hospital in Bethpage, New York.

Glatt suggests asking yourself, "What greater good can I do by being there?" If it's not essential for you to go in, and you know you won't be productive, stay home.

Health.com: Is your job making you sick?

People who are coughing or sneezing (symptoms of illnesses spread by airborne transmission) should probably stay home anyhow, according to Glatt, as should anyone with an open wound or those incapable of keeping good hygiene. "We have to be conscious that we are not only taking care of our own health, but the health of other people," he says.

via cnn.com