Last Updated: September 26, 2009.
Information for Faculty / Staff
Staying home when ill
Faculty and staff should be attentive to their own health and encourage colleagues and teaching
assistants to do so as well. If you are even mildly sick with flu-like symptoms, please
stay home. Seek medical attention if your symptoms persist or turn more severe. You should
return to work only after your fever and symptoms have abated for 24 hours.
Dealing with sick students
Avoid policies that encourage infected students to come to class, examinations or work. Develop contingency plans for dealing with student absences because of flu. We expect a greater than normal number of students to be sick and unable to attend class or come to campus jobs for as many as three to five days. Vaden Health Center will not be able to provide medical excuses.
Faculty should not compromise academic standards, but should think about alternatives for accomplishing course goals under unpredictable circumstances. You may want to provide directions on your course syllabus about how you will handle absences.
Getting vaccinated
While it will not prevent H1N1 strains of flu, the seasonal flu shot is nonetheless highly recommended this year. Check the main page of this website for a schedule of seasonal flu shot clinics.
Since students will be prioritized for H1N1 vaccines, faculty and staff should consult with their own physicians to be vaccinated against the swine flu.
Return-to-work policies for staff
Faculty and staff who experience symptoms are asked to stay home and avoid work until at least 24 hours after you are free of fever or signs of fever without the use of fever-reducing medications. Please refer to Stanford's modified return-to-work policy.
Before you become ill, you may want to develop contingency plans to provide for back-up help or to provide direction to colleagues should you or others need to be out ill. Do not encourage infected individuals to come to work.