title: The rate of sickness absenteeism among employees at King Khalid University Hospital, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
abstract: Sickness absence records were reviewed for all employees of King Khalid University Hospital, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia over a 3 year period from 1989 to 1991. The result showed a sickness absence rate of 7.7% with an average of 0.24 spells of sickness and duration of 1.24 days per absentee per year. The biological characteristics of the absentees showed no differentials in the spell rate of sickness, but nurses and junior workers had higher duration of sickness absence than other categories of workers. Acute respiratory and upper tract infections, sore throat, chickenpox, septicaemia, and diseases of the musculoskeletal system (mainly back pain) were the leading conditions resulting in absenteeism. This study revealed the need to improve the sickness absence records of the hospital to make it a valuable source of information for the management.
authors.affiliation: Department of Family and Community Medicine, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: E A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Bamgboye
authors.forename: I O
authors.initials: IO
authors.lastname: Olubuyide
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: al-Shammari
mesh_terms: D000041:Absenteeism; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D004282:Documentation; D005260:Female; D006785:Hospitals, University; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010564:Personnel, Hospital / Q000145:classification / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015995:Prevalence; D012529:Saudi Arabia / Q000453:epidemiology