Nurses Sick Leave in Winter

What are your experiences regarding nurses taking sick leave in winter?

In most places that I’ve worked I’ve noticed a sharp rise in staff off on sick leave – obviously this is in part due to the winter cough/cold/flu blues, but perhaps it may also have something to do with the run on effect from others being off sick.

In other words, constantly working one or two staff down can be pretty tiring and eventually can lead to you also getting run down & taking a day off to recuperate. This is also compounded if your work load goes up during the winter months.

While I’m on the subject of sick leave, I was interested in a recent allnurses thread that discussed different policies for calling in sick.

The hospital where I work in Australia has no time limits for calling in sick, compared with some of the hospital policies mentioned in the above thread. For instance, you could call in 8 hours before your shift or 8 minutes before your shift without any penalty or ramifications.

Common sense however dictates that calling in 8 minutes before your shift will not only infuriate your workplace and colleagues, it is pretty poor form in general and should only be done in dire circumstances. I would say that in general, most people tend to give at least a few hours notice. (Notice I say *most* people!)