Remember primum non nocere? Ok, then stay home

A new study in the Archives of Internal Medicine reports the results of a survey of 150 Internal Medicine residents from 20 residency programs on presenteeism. 51% reported they had worked at least once in the last year with flulike symptoms, and 16% reported working at least three times. The two top reasons cited for working while ill were not wanting to force colleagues to cover and feeling responsible for patient care.

Tomorrow I give my annual infection prevention talk to all new incoming residents at our medical center. And again I'll make a plea for the young doctors to stay home if they are ill. But when will SHEA and other organizations begin to tackle this issue? It's much easier and cheaper for hospitals to mandate influenza vaccination than reduce presenteeism. While mandating flu vaccine allows hospitals to look tough, reducing presenteeism is likely to be more effective at protecting patients.  

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