How would you feel if you went to get the tires on your car changed, and the mechanic who worked on it jammed some nails into your new tires? Or what if you went grocery shopping, and as you walked out of the store with your bags a store employee came up and knocked them out of your hands, ruining the groceries you just purchased?
These may not exactly be the best comparisons to a doctor showing up to work while he or she is sick, but the point these comparisons illustrate is clear. Obviously, the customer (or patient) wouldn’t be thrilled by what transpired.
We bring this up in light of a new survey that displays a shocking willingness on the part of medical professionals to show up to work while they are sick.
The survey, published in the JAMA Pediatrics journal, found that out of 536 medical professionals surveyed, 95 percent thought that showing up to work while sick put patients at risk — yet 83 percent of respondents admitted to doing exactly that — showing up to work while sick — in the last year. Furthermore, 9 percent of respondents admitted to coming to work sick at least five times in the last year.
While it’s tough to blame medical professionals for getting sick (they are in an environment where that is far more likely, after all), it is simply reckless and irresponsible of them to be in a hospital or medical facility while they are exhibiting symptoms of an illness. That illness could be passed on to a patient who is in a weakened state, dramatically affecting their ability to recover, or even causing catastrophic complications in their medical condition.
Source: Reuters, “Many docs come to work sick,” Kathryn Doyle, July 6, 2015
