I Feel A Bit Sick, Should I Stay Home Or Go To Work?

I Feel A Bit Sick, Should I Stay Home Or Go To Work?
People aren’t productive at work when they’re ill and they risk infecting others. William Brawley/Flickr, CC BY

You wake up on a work day and feel under the weather. If you’re vomiting or have a fever, the decision to stay at home is probably clear cut. But what if you generally feel unwell but are torn about missing work?

We all get minor illness; this is simply a part of the human condition. In winter, the culprit is often the common cold. The average adult gets two or three per year.

The best course of action for the common cold is to rest and stay hydrated. You can use throat lozenges or gargles for sore throats, and the occasional paracetamol for pain. But antibiotics don’t help. And most of the popular treatments for the cold you can buy over-the-counter don’t work either.

Most people recover fully within ten to 12 days, sometimes much more quickly.


 Get The Latest By Email

Weekly Magazine Daily Inspiration

One of the essential activities that we can all do to reduce the risk of passing the cold to others is good hand hygiene. So wash your hands after coughing, sneezing or handling tissues.

I Feel A Bit Sick, Should I Stay Home Or Go To Work?
For a cold, rest and hydration is best.
Sean Freese/Flickr, CC BY

Self-imposed isolation – staying at home – is an important measure to avoid spreading the virus. With the common cold, we are most infective during the early symptoms of sneezing, runny nose and a cough.

The number of days to take off work depends on the severity of the illness, and the nature of the work and workplace. It’s important for an intensive care nurse, for instance, to avoid any contact with critically ill patients while they have symptoms. An office worker? Perhaps a few days if you have uncontrolled sneezing and coughing, and feel unwell.

What about gastroenteritis? “Gastro” causes nausea and vomiting, diarrhoea, tummy cramps and pain. People suffering from the typical viral gastroenteritis in Australia recover within five to seven days.

Like the common cold, it’s important to wash your hands. This is crucial around the preparation and handling of food. Viral gastroenteritis is highly contagious and the virus can be spread for at least two days after diarrhoea or vomiting stops.

The amount of time to take off work depends on the individual’s illness and the risk to public health. As GPs, we would insist, for instance, that a chef not return to work until at least two days after their last vomit or loose bowel motion.

We’ve recently had many discussions with worried parents about hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD). This mild viral infection is particularly common in children in childcare and school. As indicated by its name, it can cause small blisters on the hands, feet, the inside of the mouth and tongue, and also around the nappy area.

HFMD can be spread from the fluid inside the blisters, but also from coughing and sneezing. The virus is in the bowel motions as well.

I Feel A Bit Sick, Should I Stay Home Or Go To Work?
Children should stay away from childcare or school until blisters are dry. Olesya Feketa/Shutterstock

Again, hand-washing is important to stop the spread. Don’t pop the blisters, and avoid sharing cups, plates and eating utensils.

The blisters are no longer contagious once they dry, and the usual recommendation is for children to stay at home from childcare until they do. Unfortunately for parents, this can take seven to ten days.

What about sick notes?

For the most part, the number of days to take off work for minor illnesses that resolve without treatment is a matter of common sense. As GPs, we’re often bemused by the mutual waste of time that occurs every winter as people see us for no other reason than needing a sick note.

As a society, we need to move away from requiring a sick certificate from the doctor for minor work absences. You don’t need to doctor’s “permission” to be sick so you shouldn’t need it to take sick leave.

People aren’t productive at work when they’re ill and they risk infecting others. The responsibility for this should lie with employers and employees – after all, they know their own workplaces best.

About The Authors

Michael Tam, General Practitioner, and Conjoint Senior Lecturer, UNSW. Dr Alan Huynh, a general practice registrar from the General Practice Unit, Fairfield Hospital, co-authored this article.The Conversation

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

books_health

Monday, 24 July 2023 16:37

Uterine fibroids, or leiomyomas, are benign tumors commonly occurring in the uterus. They affect many women, particularly African Americans, and can lead to clinical symptoms such as abnormal...

Friday, 21 July 2023 15:37

During uncomfortably hot weather, people seek ways to cool down their homes. Air conditioners often become the default solution when temperatures rise as they provide fast and effective relief from...

Friday, 21 July 2023 14:28

  Brushing your teeth is essential for maintaining optimal oral health, but like most aspects of health, the full story is more complicated.

Friday, 21 July 2023 06:06

Are you seeking a gentle yet powerful practice that brings balance to your body and mind? Look no further than Tai Chi. 

Friday, 21 July 2023 05:40

  As the world grapples with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a surge of interest and concern regarding vaccines. Vaccines play a crucial role in preventing infectious diseases,...

Thursday, 20 July 2023 22:38

As the temperatures rise during the summer months, it's important to be aware of the risks associated with extreme heat.

Thursday, 20 July 2023 15:45

People who exercise only on the weekend have similar heart-health benefits as those who exercise throughout the week

Wednesday, 19 July 2023 17:42

The World Health Organisation (WHO) recently reported that around one in six couples globally are affected by infertility. For many years people tended to blame women for a couple’s infertility –...

AVAILABLE LANGUAGES

English Afrikaans Arabic Chinese (Simplified) Chinese (Traditional) Danish Dutch Filipino Finnish French German Greek Hebrew Hindi Hungarian Indonesian Italian Japanese Korean Malay Norwegian Persian Polish Portuguese Romanian Russian Spanish Swahili Swedish Thai Turkish Ukrainian Urdu Vietnamese

follow InnerSelf on

facebook icontwitter iconyoutube iconinstagram iconpintrest iconrss icon

 Get The Latest By Email

Weekly Magazine Daily Inspiration

Saturday, 01 May 2021 08:12

High-intensity interval training (HIIT) workouts have become popular in recent years for a number of reasons. They don’t require as much time as a regular workout (some can take as little as 10...

Monday, 07 June 2021 08:07

Injury to the adult brain is all too common. A brain injury will often show up on brain scans as a well-defined area of damage. But often the changes to the brain extend far beyond the visible...

Tuesday, 27 April 2021 08:56

Peas, lentils, chickpeas, beans and peanuts: if it comes in a pod then chances are it’s a legume. These unassuming food crops have a special ability that makes them fairly unique in the plant...

Tuesday, 20 April 2021 08:05

Wild bees are essential for sustaining the landscapes we love. A healthy community of wild pollinators ensures that most flowering plants have an A-team pollinator species and a reserve bench of...

Thursday, 27 July 2023 20:13

How to train your body for hot weather if you are active or work outdoors Heat exposure is inevitable for those who work or are active outdoors. (Shutterstock) Global warming is making outdoor...

Sunday, 23 May 2021 08:15

We sometimes need to use antibiotics to treat sick animals, but taking advantage of opportunities to reduce antibiotics use could benefit everyone

New Attitudes - New Possibilities

InnerSelf.comClimateImpactNews.com | InnerPower.net
MightyNatural.com | WholisticPolitics.com | InnerSelf Market
Copyright ©1985 - 2021 InnerSelf Publications. All Rights Reserved.