#0109 Emergency physician attitudes towards illness verification (sick notes)
Emergency Care Doctors’ Attitudes on Sanctioning Sick Leave
Public health experts recommend that office workers with illnesses stay at home approach to avoid infecting others. Doctors in the emergency care department can advise patients with viral infections on returning to work but have recently seen some workers seek medical care solely for the purposes of obtaining a sick note. In Canada, legislation on taking sick leave and its attendant obligations varies between regions and can impact an employee’s decision to adhere to medical advice or return to work.
In a new study, we decided to survey members of the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians on the impact sick notes have on patients and the healthcare system, the length of time they recommend that patients with a short illness stay away from work, and the training and policies they rely upon to issue sick notes.
Of our 182 respondents, 75.1% said that their workplace did not have a sick note policy in place. Most physicians advised patients to stay at home for minor ailments but varied the leave duration depending on the illness. Patients with influenza-related illnesses were typically recommended to stay at home for 4 days, while those exhibiting an upper respiratory tract infection or gastroenteritis were told to remain home for 2 days. Further, 61.2% of participants said they were unfamiliar with the current sick leave legislation of their province, while 18.8% said that they were unsure.
Our study confirmed that it is common for many emergency department physicians to write sick notes on a regular basis. This could have grave implications for the functioning of the healthcare system during a public health emergency such as an epidemic. With varying advice on returning to work and a limited understanding of governmental policies on sick leave, physicians need to be educated on the latest public health recommendations for patients in order to provide informed guidance on returning to work. This means going beyond their medical knowledge and could include dedicated sessions on occupational health during residency training programs, more occupational health specialists working in emergency departments, and improved communication of current medical leave policy by legislators to frontline health workers.
Link to the original journal article:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/1348-9585.12195
Title of the paper:
Emergency physician attitudes towards illness verification (sick notes)
Authors:
Kate Hayman, Jesse McLaren, Dezi Ahuja, Carolina Jimenez Vanegas, Hasan Sheikh
