Infectious Diseases | Medical Education | Patient care
Working While Contagious: Why Do We Do This?
Posted by Paul Sax on May 13th, 2009
File this under, “physicians behaving badly”: The nearly universal MD practice of going to work while sick.
The ironic thing is we think we’re being selfless — after all, if we don’t show up, our patients will need to be rescheduled, or someone will need to cover, or some administrative/teaching task will not get done — but let’s imagine for a second that we actually asked our patients what we should do.
Answer: Go home. Get better. Don’t infect me.
Or, to quote the signs that have appeared in our hospital since H1N1 hit, “If you have a cough, sore throat, and fever, please do not enter the hospital unless you are here for care.”
(Patients with these symptoms who are here for care are instructed where to obtain a surgical mask.)
One primary care internist, writing in the New York Times, seems to have kicked the habit:
As a resident, my greatest pride was in never having missed a day for illness. I’d drag myself in and sniffle and cough through the day. Once, I’m embarrassed to admit, I trudged up York Avenue to the hospital making use of my own personal motion sickness bag every few blocks while horrified pedestrians looked on. Now, though, I see the foolishness of this bravura.
Sadly, I think she’s in the minority.
3 Comments »
Dear Prof,
Thank you for your reminder. I am guilty of this ’selfless” behavior. The reason is simple, the community clinic I am working at has very few doctors and many patients. Though I did wear a surgical mask but honestly I should be resting at home instead. But to say that MDs like me are behaving badly is rather harsh I think.
