Comments on: Nurses Sick Leave in Winter

By: George

George — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 11:40:02 +0000

After all nurses are human and we cannot stop them from taking sick leave, especially in winter. The situation is not at all confined to Australia, rather all parts of the world have the same issue of nurses and other professionals taking leaves in winter due to bad health..

By: RN

RN — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 04:49:38 +0000

I am a NUM and my experience with leave throughout winter is seasonal illness in addition to burn out. Not burn out from increased occupancy as we no longer have a winter and summer occupancy we are full all the time! But burn out resulting from junior staff having to co-ordinate, dilution of permentant staff with agency replacing sick leave, and acuity rising. There is often a viscous cirlce where a staff member may need 2 shifts off, leaving the only other senior to run the show then they end up sick too. There is no easy fix, I roster a little different and prepare junior staff in co-ordination early. I also report sick leave trend at staff meetings and counsel staff who are taking excessive leave. It is good to be supportive but directive in expectations. I guess though there is the occassional sickie as it is dark and cold for a 0700 start.

By: Peter McCartney

Peter McCartney — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:51:46 +0000

Oh! I’m serious alright! Mind you, 1975 was a long time ago.

By: Ross

Ross — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 11:06:00 +0000

???! Surely you’re not serious!

By: Peter McCartney

Peter McCartney — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 13:38:07 +0000

Just another war story – Back in the days of my training and life there after. (Industrial) Diarrhoea became such a common excuse, they’d call for stool samples to prove our point.