Hospital Pharmacy, Calling in Sick

[Sparda29]

Just wondering how management handles calling in sick at your place. We get 12 days every year at my main hospital but my DOP is an absolute douche about calling in. He questions the hell out of you and almost always asks for a doctor's note.

At my other hospital where I work per diem, they are very chill about it. You call in at least an hour before your shift, they say okay thanks and find a replacement.

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[Dred Pirate]

we have to call our manager directly (not just leave a message on a machine, or leave a message with the tech who answers the phone) - I think we are too easy on people and they abuse it, but that is just me. I have had a job since I was 13 (I am now 37) and have called in sick exactly once in my life, so I may be that douche that questions you,

 

[Sparda29]

we have to call our manager directly (not just leave a message on a machine, or leave a message with the tech who answers the phone) - I think we are too easy on people and they abuse it, but that is just me. I have had a job since I was 13 (I am now 37) and have called in sick exactly once in my life, so I may be that douche that questions you,

Yeah our DOP is always ranting about he never gets sick because his parents let him play in the dirt outside.

If you're not gonna pay me out for unused sick time, I'm going to use every single day that I have accrued even if I'm not sick. I like using sick days for "mental health days" after particularly busy days.

 

[Dred Pirate]

Your DOP might have been my dad - I use that line all the time

But that is why I love PDO - sick, vacation, holiday, all one bank. If I don't call out sick, I get more vacation time (did four "passport" trips alone last year)

At my last job I had a use it or lose it sick time, and was the only Rph, so I had a backup prn guy who let me "be sick" every other firday for 2 months so I would not loose my time.

 

[mustang sally]

We just have to call or text our director here. It's not really a big deal to call in sick. Having said that, we have very few pharmacists/back ups to cover so unless I'm about dead, I'm probably going to drag myself in until there's overlap.

 

[Sparda29]

Your DOP might have been my dad - I use that line all the time

But that is why I love PDO - sick, vacation, holiday, all one bank. If I don't call out sick, I get more vacation time (did four "passport" trips alone last year)

At my last job I had a use it or lose it sick time, and was the only Rph, so I had a backup prn guy who let me "be sick" every other firday for 2 months so I would not loose my time.

The policy here used to be that you get paid out for your sick time upon termination, getting laid off, quitting, retirement, etc. But that ended after 2002. So now the sick and personal days are on a "use it or lose it" system. What I don't get with the director is, how does it affect you other than having to find a replacement. You're not losing money, it's the hospital's money, who gives a ****.

 

[Dred Pirate]

The policy here used to be that you get paid out for your sick time upon termination, getting laid off, quitting, retirement, etc. But that ended after 2002. So now the sick and personal days are on a "use it or lose it" system. What I don't get with the director is, how does it affect you other than having to find a replacement. You're not losing money, it's the hospital's money, who gives a ****.

ya - but being a director in my past life, S**t flows downhill, they constantly are getting crap from their bosses about budgets, etc.

but a use ir or loose it policy is always going to get abused - just go to PDO, all in one bank, makes things much more fair

 

[bacillus1]

ya - but being a director in my past life, S**t flows downhill, they constantly are getting crap from their bosses about budgets, etc.

but a use ir or loose it policy is always going to get abused - just go to PDO, all in one bank, makes things much more fair

I wish we had PDO...we get 13 sick days a year, but I hardly ever use them, because we have very little overlap and are already on a bare-bones staffing model, and someone else will get swamped doing my work. It was nice though to have that many sick days during residency.

 

[KidPharmD]

The policy here used to be that you get paid out for your sick time upon termination, getting laid off, quitting, retirement, etc. But that ended after 2002. So now the sick and personal days are on a "use it or lose it" system. What I don't get with the director is, how does it affect you other than having to find a replacement. You're not losing money, it's the hospital's money, who gives a ****.

Because the odds are that the replacement comes from one of two places, a full time person willing to work overtime (costs more than you would have) or a PRN pharmacist who's hourly pay is usually higher by default than PT or FT pharmacists. In other words, it costs him actual money when you call out sick. Here if you call in last minute, then we don't have time to find a replacement and it usually results in the pharmacy working a man down.

 

[Momus]

For me, the trick is to be sweet with one of the dr staffs... Go make one of offices your primary, visit for routine check ups, then you can ask the girl there for dr's note. Just treat, and talk to the staff calling in rxs like they are your friend, and ask for dr note whenever you please without actually going in there to see a doctor. Always works for me :-D

 

[297point1]

Here is one instance where HIPAA can be your friend.

 

[KidPharmD]

Always nice to learn of dishonest pharmacists </sarcasm>. I wonder what happened between "most trusted profession" and advising our fellow pharmacists to lie to their supervisors.

 

[Sparda29]

Always nice to learn of dishonest pharmacists </sarcasm>. I wonder what happened between "most trusted profession" and advising our fellow pharmacists to lie to their supervisors.

You're not lying to your patients. No one is getting hurt here. The hospital should have enough PRN pharmacists on staff to cover at least 3-4 sick calls in a day (so like 6-10 PRN pharmacists). They should change the system so it rewards you for not calling in sick. One of the per diems at my hospital worked at the state hospital for 30 years. When he retired from there, he had 1500 hours saved up for "sick days", and like 600 saved up hours for vacation days.

That was all factored into his last year's salary which ended up coming out to something near $250k and that is what his pension is based off of. That's how the system should be. I'm betting the "use it or lose it" system was put into place to prevent people from getting $150k/year pensions.

 

[Dred Pirate]

You're not lying to your patients. No one is getting hurt here. The hospital should have enough PRN pharmacists on staff to cover at least 3-4 sick calls in a day (so like 6-10 PRN pharmacists). They should change the system so it rewards you for not calling in sick. One of the per diems at my hospital worked at the state hospital for 30 years. When he retired from there, he had 1500 hours saved up for "sick days", and like 600 saved up hours for vacation days.

That was all factored into his last year's salary which ended up coming out to something near $250k and that is what his pension is based off of. That's how the system should be. I'm betting the "use it or lose it" system was put into place to prevent people from getting $150k/year pensions.

3-4 sick calls a day? are you crazy? We have 50 pharmacists and don't get 3-4 sick calls a week.

 

[homeslice]

You're not lying to your patients. No one is getting hurt here. The hospital should have enough PRN pharmacists on staff to cover at least 3-4 sick calls in a day (so like 6-10 PRN pharmacists). They should change the system so it rewards you for not calling in sick. One of the per diems at my hospital worked at the state hospital for 30 years. When he retired from there, he had 1500 hours saved up for "sick days", and like 600 saved up hours for vacation days.

That was all factored into his last year's salary which ended up coming out to something near $250k and that is what his pension is based off of. That's how the system should be. I'm betting the "use it or lose it" system was put into place to prevent people from getting $150k/year pensions.

So who's paying for this again?

 

[Dred Pirate]

So who's paying for this again?

probably some government desk jockey lol

 

[Sparda29]

So who's paying for this again?

Well in his case, NY State.

 

[KidPharmD]

You're not lying to your patients. No one is getting hurt here. The hospital should have enough PRN pharmacists on staff to cover at least 3-4 sick calls in a day (so like 6-10 PRN pharmacists). They should change the system so it rewards you for not calling in sick. One of the per diems at my hospital worked at the state hospital for 30 years. When he retired from there, he had 1500 hours saved up for "sick days", and like 600 saved up hours for vacation days.

That was all factored into his last year's salary which ended up coming out to something near $250k and that is what his pension is based off of. That's how the system should be. I'm betting the "use it or lose it" system was put into place to prevent people from getting $150k/year pensions.

First, someone is probably getting hurt here. Working for a non-profit organization, every dollar goes somewhere in the budget. If our staffing budget goes over because we had to pay for PRNs and overtime to cover "sick days" that money comes from somewhere. Maybe we don't replace the fax machine, upgrade the 10th floor Omnicell, or get that extra compound equipment we need. Only so much can be budgeted for extra staffing, after that the money comes from somewhere else.

Second, this is the point of a PTO system. One bank for whatever off time you need. If you don't call in sick, you get more vacation time. If you have some at the end of the year, it usually gets rolled over or cashed out.

Third, it does at least speak to the integrity of a person when they lie to their supervisor even if they think it "doesn't hurt anyone."

 

[Momus]

Fu3k integrity. I am not leaving $15,000 in sick pay on the table.

 

[BMBiology]

This policy discriminates against the young, healthy, good employees. Why should some unhealthy pharmacists get to take more days off than you?

 

[mustang sally]

We have a weird system here for sick time (I think). We get two different types of sick leave. The first type doesn't accumulate but it does get paid out when you pass your anniversary. And the second type rolls over indefinitely. So there's actually some incentive to not call in sick. But I do think it would be easier to just have a bank of PTO days.

 

[bacillus1]

i agree that you should use your sick days if the hospital is not paying you out for them at the end of the year (or at some point when you quit, retire, etc).
I have never called off from a single job in my entire life, and I probably would feel too bad to do so for no reason. especially on a weekend or holiday when everyone else has stuff going on. But I would try and use them and probably call off whenever I felt sightly sick.

Also… If i called off 13 times in one year, I am pretty sure I would be close to getting fired (would have to look at our call off policy to be sure)

Yep I agree, but it doesn't make sense. We get all those days, we can't really use them, and we don't get paid out. Plus, if we call out too many times, our supervisor makes us bring in a dr's note every time we call out in subsequent times.

Also, we have ZERO PRN's to work weekdays.

 

[Dred Pirate]

This policy discriminates against the young, healthy, good employees. Why should some unhealthy pharmacists get to take more days off than you?

i agree - hence why most hospitals that I know of do a PDO bank - let you cary over a set amount of hours (usually 5-8 weeks worth) and give you incentive to save up. I took four international trips last year, and multipl long weekend trips and still did not use all 7 of my PDO weeks, that gives me incentive not to call out and nickle and dime my PDO to death

 

[Sparda29]

i agree - hence why most hospitals that I know of do a PDO bank - let you cary over a set amount of hours (usually 5-8 weeks worth) and give you incentive to save up. I took four international trips last year, and multipl long weekend trips and still did not use all 7 of my PDO weeks, that gives me incentive not to call out and nickle and dime my PDO to death

That's the other bull****. The DOP here doesn't let you take that long of a vacation unless it's your honeymoon or you're having your wedding in your home country or something.

 

[Dred Pirate]

That's the other bullcrap. The DOP here doesn't let you take that long of a vacation unless it's your honeymoon or you're having your wedding in your home country or something.

that is BS - if you have the time, they have to let you use them. I usually take one week + friday to get 10 days off for the trips

 

[Sparda29]

that is BS - if you have the time, they have to let you use them. I usually take one week + friday to get 10 days off for the trips

The other problem with vacations is that it is seniority based for who gets the day off. IMO, it should be first come first serve. That way I can submit requests for vacations 8-12 months in advance.

Other scheduling issues. This upcoming Saturday is the end of the pay period. The schedule for the next pay period only went up TODAY. ****ing 2 days before the new pay period starts.

 

[xiphoid2010]

When hospital offer PTO + sick time off, its in such a way that you get more sick days than lost PTO. Eg, my previous place started staff RPh at 26 days PTO but no sick days. When they got bought by a larger system they went to 21 days PTO + 10 sick days.

In this manner, sick days are like an insurance plan, spreading the risks. So some people will be sick 0 day while others sick all 10 days. They cancel each other to average in the middle, but everyon is covered by a 10 sick day safety net instead of 5 more days PTO. Of course, barring the occsional broken limbs for us, its is usually a bigger benefit to the older and sicker employees.

As a younger employee, I can understand the young invincible perspective, it sucks for me too. But insurance only works if everyone join thr risk pool, and we will all be old one day and need those sick days for real. It's like paying for medicare or obamacare, the math sucks for those of who don't need it right now, but it will eventually be our turn. Trying to game the system just means it becomes unsustainable and won't be there when the time comes, or company will just make up for the cost from somewhere else, eg, your pay.

 

[Sparda29]

When hospital offer PTO + sick time off, its in such a way that you get more sick days than lost PTO. Eg, my previous place started staff RPh at 26 days PTO but no sick days. When they got bought by a larger system they went to 21 days PTO + 10 sick days.

In this manner, sick days are like an insurance plan, spreading the risks. So some people will be sick 0 day while others sick all 10 days. They cancel each other to average in the middle, but everyon is covered by a 10 sick day safety net instead of 5 more days PTO. Of course, barring the occsional broken limbs for us, its is usually a bigger benefit to the older and sicker employees.

As a younger employee, I can understand the young invincible perspective, it sucks for me too. But insurance only works if everyone join thr risk pool, and we will all be old one day and need those sick days for real. It's like paying for medicare or obamacare, the math sucks for those of who don't need it right now, but it will eventually be our turn. Trying to game the system just means it becomes unsustainable and won't be there when the time comes, or company will just make up for the cost from somewhere else, eg, your pay.

I found out that unused sick time at my hospital does go into a bank at the end of every year and it can be used when needed. However, when you quit, you lose all your banked sick time.

That is only good if you're planning on staying with the company for a long time. Personally, I see myself bouncing around from hospital to hospital for every little pay/benefit raise until I find the perfect hospital to work for, hence I'd rather get paid out for it.

One of the techs told me to just save up my sick time and near the end of the year, get a doctor's note to be excused from work for 5-7 days and call in and tell them you'll be out for the next 5-7 days.

 

[xiphoid2010]

I found out that unused sick time at my hospital does go into a bank at the end of every year and it can be used when needed. However, when you quit, you lose all your banked sick time.

That is only good if you're planning on staying with the company for a long time. Personally, I see myself bouncing around from hospital to hospital for every little pay/benefit raise until I find the perfect hospital to work for, hence I'd rather get paid out for it.

One of the techs told me to just save up my sick time and near the end of the year, get a doctor's note to be excused from work for 5-7 days and call in and tell them you'll be out for the next 5-7 days.

Companies naturally, for many financial and other reasons, want to reward loyalty and decrease turnovers. Are you surprise they designed system to reward it and put in poison pills for opportunists? It doesn't pay to be naive, but being disingenuous shouldn't get you very far either. Oops, my centrist roots are showing.

 

[Dred Pirate]

The other problem with vacations is that it is seniority based for who gets the day off. IMO, it should be first come first serve. That way I can submit requests for vacations 8-12 months in advance.

Other scheduling issues. This upcoming Saturday is the end of the pay period. The schedule for the next pay period only went up TODAY. ******* 2 days before the new pay period starts.

we do it first come first serve - 6 months in advance - first 5 guaranteed off, the rest we find out when the schedule comes out. But you should always have 4 week of schedule out - no excuse for that

 

[Sparda29]

we do it first come first serve - 6 months in advance - first 5 guaranteed off, the rest we find out when the schedule comes out. But you should always have 4 week of schedule out - no excuse for that

It should be a non-issue where I'm transferring to in a week. I'll be an overnight pharmacist over there.

 

[Sparda29]

Good news, my new hospital has a single PTO bank. Use it for vacation, sick, whatever.