Absenteeism among nurses in a tertiary care hospital in India

Absence due to sickness among nurses has not been studied in-depth in the Indian setting.

We studied the sickness pattern among 385 nurses during one calendar year and retrospectively compared the absenteeism among nurses in different work areas of a tertiary care hospital.

Sickness leave was availed by 68.9% of nurses at least once during the year. Nurses in the ward area were significantly older (43 [5.4] years of age) than those in operation theatres (38 [6.2] years of age) and intensive care units (39 [5.9] years of age). The average annual duration of absenteeism per nurse (index of severity) was 27.7 days/ person. The average sickness leave days/spell (index of duration) was 8.82 days/person. The annual inception rate of non-sickness leave (index of frequency) was 1.57 spells/person and for sickness leave was 1.27 spells/person. While nurses working in the ward area took the highest number of unplanned sickness leave (7.36 days/spell), the planned sickness leaves were highest (64.8 days/spell) among those in operation theatres. About half the episodes of sickness were related to diseases of the respiratory tract, digestive system, Infections and Injury. Planned sickness leave mainly constituted maternity leave related to childbearing and was highest among younger nurses in operation theatres and intensive care units.

Unplanned leave demands greater administrative adjustments and substitution. Inappropriate substitution may compromise patient care and sharing of work by the staff present; it may increase the workload and absenteeism. Occupational welfare services at tertiary care hospitals should work towards decreasing absence due to sickness among nurses.