Sick Days

[NinerNiner999]

Well, I'm holed up in my bedroom again with day #2 of "El Gripe", probably the worst flu I've ever had. We have a jeopardy system in my program and I've had to call the same poor guy two nights in a row now to cover my 12's. I've never called someone in to replace me before and feel pretty crappy about it - especially since I ruined this poor guy's weekend but what can I do? How do your programs do sick days and how many days have you ever needed to call in?

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[The White Coat Investor]

You should feel crappy you big jerk. You probably picked that bug up yourself by not washing your hands enough, or getting too close to some cute college thing with a viral syndrome. Now your poor co-workers have to cover your ass. If you're well enough to get on SDN you're well enough to work. Now get up and get to the hospital!!!

Just kidding man. Much like the goofy pain scale, only you know when you're too sick to work. I haven't taken a sick day yet, but I've had to cover for co-workers. Our chiefs usually work it out by moving a "swing" (extra) shift into a "core" (absolutely necessary) shift. So instead of having the usual 4-5 residents on we only have 3-4 and everyone picks it up a little. Alternatively, we just arrange for you to switch shifts with someone who has the day off and your sick day counts as your day off.

 

[Seaglass]

I took a half a sick day once after pushing around an IV pole for 4 hours. I was eventually too tired to get up off my ass and the attending sent me home. They muddled through without calling in the backup.

 

[roja]

I have taken a grand total of 2. I last year due to a family emergency and one this year when my daughter was sick. At our program, we always have a 1, 2 and 3 who is on sick call. The chiefs decide who will cover when someone has to come in sick (depending I guess on who is where and how much coverage etc). If you are the one covering sick call and its m-f day, you simply work the shift. All others are paid. I think its something like 250 bucks. (ie nights, weekends) One person had to take 4 days seconary to having the flu but unfortunately exposed to someone with meningococcemia and was thus slammed into isolation.....

 

[anonymousEM]

Because of someone home sick with "el gripe" I had to work last night. We divide the month up between the seniors on electives so everyone has 7 or so calls on their elective months and you're in jeopardy of being called in for that 24 hours. I got the bonus overnight last night...so now the dept owes me a shift and the person who called out owes the dept...somehow it works back out thorugh the main schedule.

 

[ERMudPhud]

During residency I never had to call in sick. We had one member of each class on backup call for each week, usually someone doing something they could bail out on like anesthesia or OB. If you called in sick you had to arrange to work a shift at a later date for the person who was jeopardized. Exceptions were made for someone who had an extended illness. The really hard core part of the policy was instituted after the sick call person elected to go skiing one day rather than answer his sick call pages. If you were on sick call and didn't answer, forcing the chiefs to scrounge up someone else to cover, you owed the covering person 2 for 1 and the original sick person got off without owing anyone.

As an attending last year I got the worst flu I've ever had, fevers to 103 for 14 straight days and more than 20 lbs of weight loss. Fortunately I only had 2 scheduled shifts. There is no set payback policy and it is up to the individuals involved to work things out.

 

[NinerNiner999]

So I'ms going back into work today, feeling better (but still not yet 100%). I thought about this over the weeekend and the 24 hours I took off of work would cost me about $3200 in the community. In the real world, outside of residency, how do sick days work? Are they paid or do you just eat it for the days you're out?

 

[Rookie]

Whats up Ninerniner
No biggie about taking a sick day off once in a while. We are only human Besides, it gave me a chance to get back into the ED where I haven't been in a long time and not due to return for a while. Glad to have your back man.
Now to get some ZZZs