How does a nurse call in sick?

Question

Would they make you come in to check on your sickness, and if bad enough-send you home? Or do they quiz you on what it is and say its not bad enough and to come into work? Or do you not have to talk to the people you work with and just let the telephone operator note it... or would they transfer you to your work station area anyway?

I always wondered what nurses do when they are sick? Or just want a day off?

Answer 1

Nurses usually have PTO (paid time off).  The hospital doesn't want a sick nurse into work.  They can make an error with charting and medications; not to mention spreading germs.  If they are sick they have to call in hours before there shift; then they call in on their floor too.  

If there is a nurse short on the floor (IMC for example) the other nurses have to take up the slack for that nurses assignment.  In IMC for example there is 4 pt per nurse.  Now they might have to take on an extra one or the charge nurse has to take on one.  This can be a problem, because the more patients a nurse has the more chance for mistakes, especially in IMC, SICU, and MICU where critical detail is a must and one slip up can lead to death.

Answer 2

Like everyone else....we call in sick. But most of us come to work sick because we are short staffed. We have to talk to our nurse manager or charge nurse, to either find a replacement or told sorry you gotta come in.

Answer 3

You are expected to call a certain number of hours before your shift begins, so they can find a replacement for you.  If you don't call in sick often, there should be no problem.  People will trust that you are sick.  But if you call in frequently, your manager will start to check things out more closely.  If you call in sick when you just want a day off, someone else may have to work a double shift or your peers may have to work shorthanded.

Answer 4

Boomer has a great answer and I am going to vote for her. As an aside, there was a time not so long ago in the Navy when nursing staff could not call in -- you had to actually report in to primary care and be evaluated. So as a charge nurse I would get a call from the nurse or corpsman telling me they had to go to sickcall but that they were too ill to work and of course I took them off the schedule regardless of what sick call might decide. The practice was finally stopped some years ago, thankfully.