Hi, Theresa - hope you are doing better each day! I do not have anything to add to the very good comments already expressed here, but always find your columns thought-provoking and spot on. All of us in health care need to take better care of ourselves and our colleagues as well as our patients! I am watching MSNBC this morning and they have just interviewed Dr. Uche Blackstock, whose new book LEGACY discusses the history of the effects of race on health care. I think the book only came out within the past couple of weeks and so I thought I'd drop you a note about it. It sounds eye-opening and just like something you might like to review. Take care of yourself!
Thanks for this great book suggestion, Linda. I also appreciate your enthusiasm for my writing in this newsletter. I am doing better and better every day after Covid. So far today I haven't felt the tiredness that lingered afterwards. It feels like I'm really returning to normal.
No wonder we are all stressed and unhappy (for corporate greed perhaps). Explains the epidemic of mental health issues and the consequences-- such as gun violence, suicides and extremism.--and as well a cycle of more illness from people working while ill. Is what this my grandfathers envisioned for us when they liberated Europe? Liberal snowflake rant concluded for now.
Great question. You are expressing thoughts I have myself. What if we tried giving everyone a real safety net, for sickness, unemployment, loss of work and loss of housing? I think it would make such a difference in the overall mental health of our country, not to mention our daily interactions with people. Kindness begets kindness, and unfortunately the same is true of unkindness.
I completely agree with you! Combining PTO as sick days and vacation is so wrong. One of the articles I read about sick leave quoted some health care management "expert" saying that this use of PTO gave workers "flexibility." But as you point out, the only real flexibility it gives is the decision to work while sick in order to preserve vacation time. Ridiculous! And don't even get me started on how oppressive it is to have staff "earn" vacation time. I doubt that senior management have the same rules apply to them. Thanks for making this important point.
The US practice of forcing or coercing employees to work while sick is immoral and short-sighted. Especially nurses! I am shocked that you were only granted two sick days. How inhuman.
When I was a high school teacher, in theory we had sick days, but the school refused to hire subs. So if we were sick and wanted to stay home, we had to ask our colleagues and friends to give up their free periods and cover our classes for us, so of course we were all extremely reluctant to do that. That is how coercion works. I didn’t take a single sick day during my entire three years working there, and I guarantee that kids and other teachers got sick because I came in sick. (Plus, when I was sick I would just put on a movie or ask the kids to use class time to catch up on homework while I shivered and snuffled at my desk, so it’s not like my presence was valuable to them.)
Here’s how sick leave works in Europe: If you are sick, you call in to say you are taking a sick day, and they say “No problem. Feel better.” If you need to be out for more than three days, you need to send in a doctor’s note, but that is no problem because everyone has a primary care doctor (universal health care ftw!), and the offices are set up to email notes when needed. There is no limit to sick days, nor is there ever any pressure to work sick. This is the way it should be everywhere.
Mari, brilliant! Thank you, as always, for bringing in the example of Europe and how Europeans are so much more reasonable about work/life and work/illness balance than we are here in the U.S. Your examples of working sick are so indicative of how counterproductive the lack of sick time is--pointing out that you most likely got other people sick and that you weren't teaching your students. A friend here in Pittsburgh took off no time from her private school teaching job after a serious concussion because they also wouldn't hire subs--really terrible. Ah, Europe. I know it's not perfect there, but for all citizens to have a basic safety net that acknowledges the reality of sickness and injury sounds so...relaxing. We all need and deserve that.
I am so sorry that you have covid again and a nasty case at that. Feel better soon. As a survivor of a bone marrow transplant for AML leukemia, I am appalled that nurses would be forced to work on such a unit while sick. Their presence while sick could actually kill a patient. Fortunately, Memorial Sloan Kettering where I had my transplant does give their nurses adequate paid sick time.
Patricia--thank you for making this point, giving us the voice of a patient. It is scary for patients to think a nurse might come in sick, especially on a bone-marrow transplant floor. I am very happy to learn that MSK has humane sick leave policies for nurses, since that is what they and patients deserve. Thanks also for your good wishes for my recovery--I'm still tired, but every day is better than the one before, which helps.
I would also like to offer best wishes for a speedy recovery; having COVID is no joke. Theresa, this issue of working while sick is just so stupid, as it flys in the face of everything we know both about infectious conditions and MSK injuries which impair physical activity. You had an excellent post about this issue some months back, and keeping it on the “front burner” to be seen and discussed is a smart way to keep the issue front and center with our industry. The hope is that a reasonable system can be hammered out between healthcare workers and management which will provide protection for staff and patients while minimizing any “gaming” of the system.
A fight for another day, Theresa, though not today. Now is for your rest and recuperation from your illness, as we all need your voice for the long haul…
Thanks so much for your elucidation of the possibility of hope for reasonable sick leave policies if we keep discussing the issue. Fingers crossed. Thank you also for your good wishes. I have trouble slowing down and I appreciate the reminder to rest and recover. My daughter Miranda does that for me, too, and I do my best to listen.
Hi, Theresa - hope you are doing better each day! I do not have anything to add to the very good comments already expressed here, but always find your columns thought-provoking and spot on. All of us in health care need to take better care of ourselves and our colleagues as well as our patients! I am watching MSNBC this morning and they have just interviewed Dr. Uche Blackstock, whose new book LEGACY discusses the history of the effects of race on health care. I think the book only came out within the past couple of weeks and so I thought I'd drop you a note about it. It sounds eye-opening and just like something you might like to review. Take care of yourself!
Thanks for this great book suggestion, Linda. I also appreciate your enthusiasm for my writing in this newsletter. I am doing better and better every day after Covid. So far today I haven't felt the tiredness that lingered afterwards. It feels like I'm really returning to normal.
No wonder we are all stressed and unhappy (for corporate greed perhaps). Explains the epidemic of mental health issues and the consequences-- such as gun violence, suicides and extremism.--and as well a cycle of more illness from people working while ill. Is what this my grandfathers envisioned for us when they liberated Europe? Liberal snowflake rant concluded for now.
Great question. You are expressing thoughts I have myself. What if we tried giving everyone a real safety net, for sickness, unemployment, loss of work and loss of housing? I think it would make such a difference in the overall mental health of our country, not to mention our daily interactions with people. Kindness begets kindness, and unfortunately the same is true of unkindness.
I have thought alot about this.
Some results from PTO.
Meaning that total days off = sick + vacay.
So what would I do?
Got to work sick to preserve my vacation.
Ridiculous.
I completely agree with you! Combining PTO as sick days and vacation is so wrong. One of the articles I read about sick leave quoted some health care management "expert" saying that this use of PTO gave workers "flexibility." But as you point out, the only real flexibility it gives is the decision to work while sick in order to preserve vacation time. Ridiculous! And don't even get me started on how oppressive it is to have staff "earn" vacation time. I doubt that senior management have the same rules apply to them. Thanks for making this important point.
I hope you’re feeling better, Theresa.
The US practice of forcing or coercing employees to work while sick is immoral and short-sighted. Especially nurses! I am shocked that you were only granted two sick days. How inhuman.
When I was a high school teacher, in theory we had sick days, but the school refused to hire subs. So if we were sick and wanted to stay home, we had to ask our colleagues and friends to give up their free periods and cover our classes for us, so of course we were all extremely reluctant to do that. That is how coercion works. I didn’t take a single sick day during my entire three years working there, and I guarantee that kids and other teachers got sick because I came in sick. (Plus, when I was sick I would just put on a movie or ask the kids to use class time to catch up on homework while I shivered and snuffled at my desk, so it’s not like my presence was valuable to them.)
Here’s how sick leave works in Europe: If you are sick, you call in to say you are taking a sick day, and they say “No problem. Feel better.” If you need to be out for more than three days, you need to send in a doctor’s note, but that is no problem because everyone has a primary care doctor (universal health care ftw!), and the offices are set up to email notes when needed. There is no limit to sick days, nor is there ever any pressure to work sick. This is the way it should be everywhere.
Mari, brilliant! Thank you, as always, for bringing in the example of Europe and how Europeans are so much more reasonable about work/life and work/illness balance than we are here in the U.S. Your examples of working sick are so indicative of how counterproductive the lack of sick time is--pointing out that you most likely got other people sick and that you weren't teaching your students. A friend here in Pittsburgh took off no time from her private school teaching job after a serious concussion because they also wouldn't hire subs--really terrible. Ah, Europe. I know it's not perfect there, but for all citizens to have a basic safety net that acknowledges the reality of sickness and injury sounds so...relaxing. We all need and deserve that.
I am so sorry that you have covid again and a nasty case at that. Feel better soon. As a survivor of a bone marrow transplant for AML leukemia, I am appalled that nurses would be forced to work on such a unit while sick. Their presence while sick could actually kill a patient. Fortunately, Memorial Sloan Kettering where I had my transplant does give their nurses adequate paid sick time.
Patricia--thank you for making this point, giving us the voice of a patient. It is scary for patients to think a nurse might come in sick, especially on a bone-marrow transplant floor. I am very happy to learn that MSK has humane sick leave policies for nurses, since that is what they and patients deserve. Thanks also for your good wishes for my recovery--I'm still tired, but every day is better than the one before, which helps.
P.S. Apologies, I think I spelled “flys” wrong; not nice to do that to an English professor!
Your spelling is just fine! Your heart's in the right place, which is what matters the most.
I would also like to offer best wishes for a speedy recovery; having COVID is no joke. Theresa, this issue of working while sick is just so stupid, as it flys in the face of everything we know both about infectious conditions and MSK injuries which impair physical activity. You had an excellent post about this issue some months back, and keeping it on the “front burner” to be seen and discussed is a smart way to keep the issue front and center with our industry. The hope is that a reasonable system can be hammered out between healthcare workers and management which will provide protection for staff and patients while minimizing any “gaming” of the system.
A fight for another day, Theresa, though not today. Now is for your rest and recuperation from your illness, as we all need your voice for the long haul…
Thanks so much for your elucidation of the possibility of hope for reasonable sick leave policies if we keep discussing the issue. Fingers crossed. Thank you also for your good wishes. I have trouble slowing down and I appreciate the reminder to rest and recover. My daughter Miranda does that for me, too, and I do my best to listen.
Hope you are feeling better ❤️
Thank you, Mimi! Every day is better than the one before and I'm trying to focus on that, while resting as needed. Hugs!
❤️❤️👍🏼👍🏼🙏