Experts advise nurses to remain home when experiencing flu symptoms

The world relies on nurses to take care of the sick every single day, whether it’s an ICU nurse monitoring vital signs or a pediatric nurse administering medications and delivering those wonderful pieces of ice. But what happens when nurses sense the onset of flu-like symptoms?

The answer is easy – stay home, said Vicki Allen, MSN, RN, CIC, FAPIC, director of infection control at CaroMont Regional Medical Center in Gastonia, North Carolina. He also serves on the Committee of the Association for Infection Control and Epidemiology Communication Professionals.

“We expect you not to come to work if you get sick because we don’t want you to compromise [the health of] patients and other staff,” Allen said.

Allen said hospitals have policies reminding nurses and other staff to remain home in the event that they have a flu-like illness. It’s essential to envision these policies commonly to be certain that they’re working. “We review the rules every year,” Allen said. “We usually start thinking about it in July or August.” Estimates show that flu activity normally begins around October and November, peaks between December and February, and should proceed until May. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Moreover, the CDC reported that flu activity in 2017–2018 was the very best for the reason that 2009 pandemic within the U.S.

Working with flu symptoms – but why?

Preventing flu-like illnesses will not be a straightforward task, especially when nurses and other medical staff introduce them into the workplace. It seems obvious – stay home if you find yourself sick. Instead, for a wide range of reasons, people are inclined to tire out at work because they’re sick, said Sophia Chiu, MD, MPH, co-author of the study: “Working with Influenza-Like Illnesses: Presenteeism Among U.S. Health Care Professionals During the 2014–2015 Flu Season,” published November 2017 within the American Journal of Infection Control.

“The greatest number of people working with ILI were hospital workers (49.3%) compared to health care workers in long-term care facilities (28.5%),” the study authors wrote.

More research is required to know why there may be such a big discrepancy in numbers when comparing the 2 sorts of facilities, but Chui said it might correlate with the distribution of staffing types in hospitals in comparison with the distribution of staffing in long-term care facilities. The study found that “the highest percentage of people using ILI are doctors and pharmacists. Here are the results according to the settings,” she said. And the most common reason people came to work while sick was to feel able to perform their job duties, Chiu said. Others testified that they didn’t feel “that sick.” How you feel is one thing, but Chiu reminds everyone how important it is to be symptom-free for 24 hours before returning to work. This means maintaining a normal body temperature for a full 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medications, according to CDC guidelines. Otherwise, you could be contagious and put patients at unnecessary risk, which poses an even greater risk to elderly patients or people with weakened immune systems, such as cancer patients, Chiu said. According to the CDC, flu-like symptoms usually last about two days on average. The gray zone is the time when you can still spread the virus. “Most healthy adults can infect others someday before symptoms appear and as much as 5-7 days after becoming in poor health,” says Dr. CDC. Nurses who postpone sick leave could be better at preventing the spread of ILI simply because they can stay home without as many consequences. Looking at the survey results, some respondents cited financial concerns about taking too much time off, which influenced their decision not to call in sick, Chiu said. She also added that concerns about loss of wages were more common among respondents living in long-term care facilities.

Eyes on policy change

Returning to work after sick leave may be burdensome for some nurses, especially if they need authorized medical examinations with a health certificate upon their return. Administrators of the CaroMont Regional Medical Center decided that the rules regarding health checks require some amendments. Allen said that after lengthy discussions with key stakeholders, they decided to update their policy, which requires health checks for employees returning to work after a bout with the flu.

“We change the policy according to the needs of our staff,” she said. “We want to make it easier for an employee to cancel work as well as return to work.”

In the fall of 2017, after many meetings and discussions, they were able to change the policy that once required health screenings related to ILI. “We work together with a committee of physicians, and we edit and review this policy. It is a multi-stakeholder approach,” Allen said. “We then present it to a formal committee that makes the final decision.” CaroMont’s policy includes an important caveat. Health checks are still required if nurses, doctors and other staff have any other communicable disease. In that case, health checks are mandatory before staff can return to work, Allen said. Freelance writer Elise Oberliesen contributed to the writing and research of this article.

What factors stop you from calling in sick? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

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