title: Why hospital physicians attend work while ill? The spiralling effect of positive and negative factors.
abstract: Recurrent reports from national and international studies show a persistent high prevalence of sickness presence among hospital physicians. Despite the negative consequences reported, we do not know a lot about the reasons why physicians choose to work when ill, and whether there may be some positive correlates of this behaviour that in turn may lead to the design of appropriate interventions. The aim of this study is to explore the perception and experience with sickness presenteeism among hospital physicians, and to explore possible positive and negative foundations and consequences associated with sickness presence.
  
  
  
  Semi-structured interviews of 21 Norwegian university hospital physicians.
  
  
  
  Positive and negative dimensions associated with 1) evaluation of illness, 2) organizational structure, 3) organizational culture, and 4) individual factors simultaneously contributed to presenteeism.
  
  
  
  The study underlines the inherent complexity of the causal chain of events affecting sickness presenteeism, something that also inhibits intervention. It appears that sufficient staffing, predictability in employment, adequate communication of formal policies and senior physicians adopting the position of a positive role model are particularly important.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.
authors.forename: Fay
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Giæver
authors.affiliation: Department of Occupational Medicine, St Olav University Hospital, Trondheim, Norway.
authors.forename: Signe
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lohmann-Lafrenz
authors.affiliation: Department of Research and Development, Division of Mental Health Care, St Olav University Hospital, P box 3008 Lade, 7441, Trondheim, Norway. lise.lovseth@ntnu.no.
authors.forename: Lise Tevik
authors.initials: LT
authors.lastname: Løvseth
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001294:Attitude to Health; D003142:Communication; D004651:Employment / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006785:Hospitals, University; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009664:Norway; D015279:Organizational Culture; D010465:Perception; D010820:Physicians / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000069597:Presenteeism; D000068616:Professionalism; D018582:Sick Leave / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
keywords: Health; Intervention; Physicians; Positive and negative causes and consequences; Qualitative study; Sickness presence; Stress; University hospital