Faculty, Residents and Staff,

In order to maintain a safe workplace, EVMS is adopting practices to protect the health of our employees, students, and patients.  Employees and healthcare providers should not report to work if sick and must stay out of work when sick with influenza-like illness.  EVMS will follow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines for infection control measures for 2009 H1N1 influenza.  These guidelines state that:

Personnel who develop a fever and respiratory symptoms should promptly notify their supervisor and be instructed not to work.  Ill personnel should stay home from work for at least 24 hours after they no longer have a fever, without the use of fever reducing medicines. A fever is defined as a temperature of 100 degrees or greater.

The guidelines also advise healthcare facilities to track absences due to influenza like illness.  To accomplish this, we have developed a "Call Out for Sickness Form" to be used as follows:

1.      Supervisor or appropriate department personnel completes the "EVMS Call Out for Sickness Form" when employees or healthcare providers call out due to flu-like symptoms.  
2.      Fax the form to Occupational Health at 446-7188 or send PDF to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
3.      Instruct healthcare providers and staff with patient contact that they must phone Occupational Health at 446-5870 before returning to work.
This procedure is in addition to other departmental procedures for calling in sick.   

If you or someone on your staff has been out of work due to influenza-like illness since September 1, 2009, please complete the Call Out for Sickness Form with dates absent from work in retrospect.  This will help the Occupational Health Department maintain as accurate a record as possible.  

Employees and healthcare providers may be required to present medical certification for their absence.

Absences due to flu for self or immediate family member (child or dependent parent) care will count as one "occurrence", regardless of duration of absence, or if additional time out is required to care for sick member of immediate family.  For example, if an employee is out for their own illness, but several days after they return to work, they have to be absent to care for a child who now has the flu, the time out with the child would not be counted as another occurrence.  Refer to Human Resources Attendance Policy 4.40.  

It is important to note that these guidelines change periodically, and personnel with suspected influenza-like illness should check the EVMS website (evms.edu) for up-to-date information and recommendations.

If you have questions about H1N1 influenza or vaccine, please contact Lisa Lee, RN at 446-5870.  

If you have questions about the EVMS Attendance policy, please contact Human Resources at 446-6043.