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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Call in to work sick tmw?

72 replies

sunnysunchild · 02/12/2018 15:57

I'm got the cold. Admittedly I'm not dying. But snotty headachy sneezy and achy all over. In bed at present.

I'm a nurse doing baby vaccinations the next few days. Clinic looks dire ( super busy lots of teeny babies needing jags) No one else will do them in my absence ,so I'll need to run catch up clinics in the next few weeks..
I could 'man up' but feel really crap today
Stupid strong work ethic always makes me feel guilty.
Mental health also not great at the moment... but I'm a smile and you'd never know.
Be kind please...

OP posts:
Rudgie47 · 02/12/2018 16:36

I'd call in sick its not fair on those babies passing a cold onto them.
Also isn't pneumonia spelled with a p?

Zulor · 02/12/2018 16:37

Day and night nurse is also good. Lemsip, as I'm sure you know, is just paracetamol and will provide feck all relief.

CrabbyPatty · 02/12/2018 16:37

I think the key here is "Mental health not great at the moment" - is it really your cold making you feel too unwell or is that just part of the 'mask'? I'm saying this as a nurse who struggles with my own mental health. I don't think I've ever truly had a cold that's kept me off. Ward nurses come in with colds all of the time. But if you don't feel well enough to do your job properly (for whatever reason) don't go in. Don't over think it. Be warned a day off for mental health is unlikely to solve the problem.... Best wishes. xx

waxy1 · 02/12/2018 16:37

If you study your conditions of employment, you may see that attendance is expected, unless you are so ill as to be unfit.

Staying home to avoid passing your cold onto the babies is not bona fide sick leave, unless your terms and conditions are different from mine.

Zulor · 02/12/2018 16:38

Rudgie of course not. It's now peeneeuuumonia. It's Numonia. With an N.

MrsDrudge · 02/12/2018 16:38

Call in sick because
(A) you could give your cold to babies/parents
(B) as a professional you are accountable for your actions, if you made an error because you were not well (ie not thinking clearly due to headache, cold etc) you would still be liable because you had chosen to go to work.
HTH

YearOfYouRemember · 02/12/2018 16:39

Recklessruby - you were right the first time. Believe in yourself not in someone who doesn't have a proper user name.

CrabbyPatty · 02/12/2018 16:39

Just to revisit comments regarding fairness on the babies I've worked in neonatal intensive care and the place would fall apart if nurses stayed off with a cold - its all about good hand hygiene. If it was a major risk there would be set rules in place (which there aren't) and as someone said a baby could get a cold from anywhere. The decision should be based on how well OP feels.

StealthPolarBear · 02/12/2018 16:43

". It may feel like a cold now but you don’t know that it won’t become ‘numonia’ or a chest infection or similar."
This is madness. Do you apply that logic to everything? It's a slight graze now but who is to say it won't get infected and my leg will have to be amputated? Better stay home until that graze heals.
Fwiw I think you should stay home unless you feel much better tomorrow op. But not because it might develop into something else!

SurferRona · 02/12/2018 16:47

Day nurse capsules. Every 4 hours. Dries up the cold, stops running nose, relieves congestion. Makes you feel ok too. With good hygiene (which you'll do anyway) will be little chance of passing on. Frankly, reception will be full of germs this time of year. Babies risk exposure anyway, you can mitigate risk by the above.

grumiosmum · 02/12/2018 16:50

Surely you don't need a bunch of strangers on the internet to tell you if you feel well enough to go to work tomorrow?

BoomBoomsCousin · 02/12/2018 16:55

Do you not have a protocol for deciding when a contagious virus is too serious to go into work with? It sounds like you could do the work, so it’s really all about whether the cold is too serious to risk passing on to babies. Which would seem like the sort of thing HCPs should have guidelines over.

Justsaynonow · 02/12/2018 17:07

Call in sick because
(A) you could give your cold to babies/parents
(B) as a professional you are accountable for your actions, if you made an error because you were not well (ie not thinking clearly due to headache, cold etc) you would still be liable because you had chosen to go to work
^^This
Your employer who encourages/insists you come into work while fuddled with illness is not going to take your illness as an excuse if you make a mistake while at work.

bellalou1234 · 02/12/2018 17:09

Us nurses are obvs super hero's who dont get ill. Don't feel bad phoning In sick. Your employer should have contingency plans for cases like this

christmaschristmaschristmas · 02/12/2018 17:11

It's only 5 o'clock Sunday night - you will probably be far better tomorrow morning after having a night nurse tonight. Buy some day nurse tomorrow and take every 4 hours.

I would push through TBH - you've just got a cold. Like many many people at the moment. Yes you are immunising babies but you're not going to be coughing / sneezing all over them because you are an adult not a 5 year old!

BelindaBellender · 02/12/2018 17:11

Difficult one. Many parents will have juggled things around to make the appointment but then again I wouldn’t like a snotty nurse spluttering all over my babyGrin
Maybe see how you feel tomorrow?
I work amongst sick people and wouldn’t risk it if I’m honest.

thedancingbear · 02/12/2018 17:13

If this was a feller you'd all be shouting 'man flu!' and be telling him to take some panadol and get his ass in gear, no?

Babies can pick up bugs from anywhere.

AiryFairyUnicornRainbow · 02/12/2018 17:13

See how you feel tomorrow, but to be fair it sounds like you have already made your mind up

If you need a sick day, take one - but you sound like it would be making a rod for your own back having to run extra clinics - and if the thought of this is going to cause you anxiety, I would dose up and go in

mumlost1940 · 02/12/2018 17:32

User 139 etc., Numonia? - I think you you mean Rumania.

userabcname · 02/12/2018 17:34

Hahahahhaaa "numonia". What a tit.
Yanbu OP - call in sick, stay home and rest up!

Ghanagirl · 02/12/2018 17:39

@user139328237
”numonia” thick and rude!

mumlost1940 · 02/12/2018 17:40

The baby clinic waiting area is a bio-hazard zone of creeping, crawling, bacteria: what's yet another bug to add to the mix? I was a nurse and often went in with a galloping cold. Nobody died.

KiaraMacleo · 02/12/2018 17:45

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Original poster
sunnysunchild · 02/12/2018 17:53

I feel like shit mumlost1940 but great to hear you were always so devoted to your job!
Tbh I probably got this bug from one of the snotty unwell children or parents who brought themselves to last week's imms...

OP posts:
Toughtips · 02/12/2018 17:55

Erm. Unless you've got a temparture then I'd be going in. I was 34 weeks pregnant and in work with an awful chest infection hoping I'd get sent home but no such luck.

Hand hygiene needs to be top notch and maybe a mask if you're coughing and sneezing.

Mental health issues are another matter entirely. Maybe rethink your role if you're struggling to cope? Or try access some counselling?