Sickness presenteeism in a New Zealand hospital

The aim of this study was to assess the attitudes of hospital clinical staff to acute personal illness.

A self-reported questionnaire was developed. Four hundred clinical staff employed by the district health board (DHB) who met the inclusion criteria who were randomly selected. Data were collected and analysed using SPSS software. Ethical approval was obtained from the Lower South Regional Ethics Committee and from the DHB Health Research Office.

Doctors were more likely to exhibit sickness presenteeism (SP)--i.e. working despite being sick--than any other occupational group at the DHB. Two main reasons were given for not taking sick leave: staff did not believe they were unwell enough to justify taking leave and they did not want to increase the workload of others. The majority of study participants would not contact anyone for advice about whether to take leave.

This study provides evidence that SP, especially in doctors, is prevalent in the DHB and is similar to findings from elsewhere. Low rates of clinical staff contacting someone for advice on coming to work whilst ill could be targeted to improve infection control.