[chellet98]

Originally Posted by Traumamama59

My questions for you would be: ARE you the only one that takes a break? If you are then that could be why you get the rolled eyes look. Another thing, do you help your coworkers when you aren't busy and they are or is this when you take your break? One more thing, are you taking your breaks during a time that you have patients and are busy? And, do you expect your coworkers to cover your patient load so you can take "your 40 minute break?" ER nurses are a whole different breed and with the exception of one, the nurses where I work never leave the department for meal breaks for any length of time, let alone for 40 minutes. The charge nurses are good about letting us go to the gift shop or letting the smokers go out for a few, but ONLY if there is NOTHING going on, patients in holding patterns waiting for test results, doctors, etc. Are others in your department getting or even taking breaks? Look around, if the pattern is that your coworkers stay in the department and eat and take only scant pee breaks or whatever, then I would suggest that you amend your behavior to match theirs, or you will be the object of resentment among your coworkers. As I said, ER nurses are a whole different breed, we learn to inhale food or go with none for 12 hours, as well as hold our bladders for 12 hours, and we learn to take care of patients non-stop for 12 hours without a break to "regroup." There are times when we have down time, but there are times when we are full for 8 to 12 hours straight, taking care of multiple patients one right after the other, and NO ONE even thinks of taking a break, let alone asking for a break. Does it exhaust us, yeah, but the occasional patient that gives you the adrenaline rush makes up for the exhaustion. In answer to your question, if you ever expect to take a full break then ER is not for you. If you EVER get a full break then consider yourself lucky, but never EXPECT to take a full 40 minute break, cause odds are it ain't gonna happen.
As for the second situation you mentioned. You should not have had to be there at 7am if you are supposed to get off at 6am and you certainly shouldn't have been expected to stay. That's what the incoming shift is for. Fresh blood! If you are routinely getting off an hour late then that's wrong and your relief needs to step up to the plate and take over for you so you can go home. That's one of my biggest beefs is that there have been times that I have had to chase down my relief who is chit-chatting in the nurses station instead of coming into the room I am in and relieving me.

Good luck in the ER,
Pam

Thank you all for your comments, I appreciate all of your wisdom. In replying to your questions...yes I help my staff out and feel as though that is a requirement in the ER, yes they are getting 30-40 breaks (this amount of time was mandated by HR for the ER every other floor is 1 hour!) on the nights that we can take breaks (somehow I just end up not getting mine), yes they smoke and I do not (I feel like 4-5 smoke breaks=30 min lunch), and finally yes I am human and need to collect myself in order to take proper care of my next 4-6 hours worth of patients
Am I wrong here, because I feel as though even some of you feel as though it is taboo. I am just looking out for me and my patients, I know my limits and what is safe for me. I do not feel as though I should consider leaving the ER just because I am human

[Katnip]

I hope this makes you feel a bit better:

We almost always get our breaks. 15 min in the morning and half an hour when we need it. Our charge nurses keep a very close eye on this. They feel if someone is consistently not taking their breaks then there is something wrong and that person needs to learn to loosen up a bit.

There are days now and then when it's hard to get that full break in all at once. I've actually taken my break at the end of the shift, come back, given report and gone home. But I got my break.

[Repat]

I have to say something here. Those of us who suck down food and don't take breaks but relish the adrenaline are doing us all a disservice. Sure, you are probably an employer's dream, as long as no errors are made due to exhaustion, or overwhelming numbers, or whatever. The American Medical Students Association spoke up loudly about unsafe working hours, and they won some concessions. We have to say out loud that it isn't right for people to run 12 hours straight without even going to the bathroom. It's dangerous. Period.

[angel337]

Originally Posted by Repat

I have to say something here. Those of us who suck down food and don't take breaks but relish the adrenaline are doing us all a disservice. Sure, you are probably an employer's dream, as long as no errors are made due to exhaustion, or overwhelming numbers, or whatever. The American Medical Students Association spoke up loudly about unsafe working hours, and they won some concessions. We have to say out loud that it isn't right for people to run 12 hours straight without even going to the bathroom. It's dangerous. Period.

you are absolutely right, it is dangerous, but it is also dangerous when you work in a high acuity, level trauma I ED and just about EVERYTHING that comes through the door is chest pain, gun shots, possible bowel obstructions and horrible GI bleeds and everyone is busy with their own patients. trust me, its one of those things where you have to be there to believe it. just when you think you can get a break, something else happens and this is why where i work, a break for us is only about 20 minutes. this is also why i know i only plan to stay a ED nurse for maybe 5 years, just to get the experience before i move on to a different style of nursing. some ED's don't have the same level acuity that we do and i have worked in some that were heaven compared to where i am now. but i do like my work and yes, nurses do need to speak up, but when patients are having acute MI's before your eyes its hard to say "ma'am i know your husband is having a heart attack, but i need to eat". or you have a febrile seizure 8 month old that the parents just drove to the front of the ED door. alright i better stop, i have to be at work in an hour and i 'm already stressing myself out

[ednursedee]

You are absolutely entitled to your breaks. I work a 7p-7a shift, and there are not enough nurses for someone to watch my patients while I leave the unit, but I usually do get to eat. If it's been a horrible night and I literally gulp a Slim Fast bar as I'm running down the hallway (yes, I've actually done this) then I make a note that I did not get my lunch so that I will not be docked 30 minutes for it. During the day at our ER, the day shift has designated times for lunch, others on their team will watch their patients. Same goes for evenings. We just don't have all the resources on nights to make sure that people are able to leave the units for lunch. Our cafeteria closes at 7pm anyway, so it's not like we'd have somewhere to go, besides the breakroom.

I was an ER nurse for a few years before I finally developed this mentality. I've also gotten to where I go outside for "fresh air breaks." I don't smoke, but I have friends who do. When one goes outside for a smoke break, I follow on out after her/him and stand outside, chat, and just get away from the phones ringing, the call bells going off, and the monitors alarming. I think it's really incredible that we work in a field where we tell everyone to take care of themselves, help those who can't take care of themselves, and we are looked down on for taking care of OURSELVES. Are there any other professions where you are EXPECTED to hold your urine in a full bladder for 12 hours and not eat the entire 12 hours you are on the clock? Right now, I can't think of any. Why should we feel bad or guilty or be looked down on because WE ARE HUMAN and we have to eat and pee? Let's face it, there are always going to be IV's to start, meds to give, people to discharge/admit, and orders to take. All those things will still be there after you get back from your pee break.

Where I work, on nights we tend to eat at the desk, yep, I know it's wrong, and we'll all get in trouble one day, but we do go back to the break room when we can. If you have a cafeteria that's open while you're there and you want to go to it to eat so that you can leave your unit, maybe you can develop a rapport w/ one of your co-workers. Work out a system where you watch her/his patients and he/she can watch yours during lunch. We had to do that when I worked in Memphis, because there was just no way for the charge nurse to relieve everyone for their breaks.

As far as your co-worker getting upset because you were leaving at 7, and your shift had ended at 6, well, she needs to get a life. Good Lord, as someone else put it in an earlier post, "That's why we work in shifts!" I tell this to my co-workers when I get report from them and they apologize for something they haven't done. You do what you can while you're there and the next shift can pick up where you left off. It took me many years to finally learn this. I would always stay late...at least 30 minutes after my shift left...because I felt like I "just had to get this one more thing done." Well, there's always going to be "just one more thing" to do.

Just continue to do your best and stand up for yourself. I hope they will soon stop rolling their eyes at you and making you feel bad. Good luck!

[tiredfeetED]

Im charge in the ED..7-7p. I make sure everyone gets a quick morning break..because..lunch sometimes comes late.. The float nurse (if we have one) covers lunch and I usually break some nurses too for there 30 min lunch. If we are slammed..Ill call out the clinical sups. to help cover..Afternoon breaks rarely come unless we are not busy. I seem to go last to lunch, got to make sure my staff is content first! Ohhh and for your Code situation...takes a Doc, 1 RN maybe 2, RT and someone to do compressions...and someone to chart. Unless your relief is not there..Go home, your 12 are done!

[Rena RN 2003]

our dayshift RNs have a designated 1 hour lunch and very rarely do they not take the full hour. it's good to get off the floor and regroup.

i work nights and we have no designated 1 hour lunch period. we haul *** until things slow down and then we break to eat (usually at the nurses station even though we know it's not the most appropriate thing to do). rarely do we ever not get to eat. that being said it also may take us 3 hours to finish a burger and fries.

i smoke so it isn't that important to me that i get a full uninterrupted 1 hour lunch. i would rather take it in 5 min incriments and my cohorts in crime go along with me. at the same time, i will stop one of my nonsmoking peers and say "hey, it's beautiful out tonight, take 5 or 10 and i'll watch your people." sometimes they take me up on it and sometimes not but at least the thought is there for them.

it doesn't sound like your problem in your ED is related to taking breaks at all especially since you stated that your peers are getting their breaks too. i would look somewhere else for the cause of the eyerolling.

have you ever thought about just asking them what the problem is when they do this? the best way i have found to cure a problem is to go directly to the source and ask questions (in a nice calm manner indicating that you would truly like to fit in with the ED crowd). ER nurses are a mouthy bunch (in my experience) and the don't often hesitate to tell ya how they feel.

best of luck in the ER.

[MrsWampthang]

In our ED, we automatically get paid for the full 8-12 hours with no docking us for any type of lunch/dinner break. I guess because it's considered that we won't get those breaks. Other floors do get breaks for lunch or whatever and it is built into their time, they work 8 and 1/2 or whatever so they get paid for the full time they are supposed to get paid for. On days one of our charge nurses is really good about telling us to go get something to eat, even if we may not get to eat it right away, plus they started letting the food cart stop in ER so we could grab something from it instead of having to go to the cafe. Our cafe is open on nights with a limited menu, but again, we go down, get our food and come back. We always eat at the nurses station except when JACHO or the health department is in house. I guess I am just used to not clocking out to eat, since I have worked in EMS in one form or another since 1987, although at least when I was on the ambulance we could go out to eat, even if we did have to get up and leave to go on a run. (don't miss those days at all ) I wouldn't know what to do if I worked in an ER where you actually got to leave and go eat for 20 minutes or more. I would be in HEAVEN!!!!! I have to admit, there are times. especially at night when we will go an hour or more without a patient, so we do "get breaks" per say, (last night was NOT one of those nights however, left dayshift with almost a full ER! ) Again, good luck in the ER. Keep chugging away and I'm sure you'll be fine.

Pam

[TraumaGuy]

I understand i work @ a Level 1 Trauma Center and i am always either in acute care or on one of the trauma sides. But one thing i must say good about where i work is that the charge nurse and/or sec. will page overhead for first lunch, second luch and so on till everyone goes on break, it is a great system.

[needsmore$]

Originally Posted by ednursedee

You are absolutely entitled to your breaks. I work a 7p-7a shift, and there are not enough nurses for someone to watch my patients while I leave the unit, but I usually do get to eat. If it's been a horrible night and I literally gulp a Slim Fast bar as I'm running down the hallway (yes, I've actually done this) then I make a note that I did not get my lunch so that I will not be docked 30 minutes for it. During the day at our ER, the day shift has designated times for lunch, others on their team will watch their patients. Same goes for evenings. We just don't have all the resources on nights to make sure that people are able to leave the units for lunch. Our cafeteria closes at 7pm anyway, so it's not like we'd have somewhere to go, besides the breakroom.

I was an ER nurse for a few years before I finally developed this mentality. I've also gotten to where I go outside for "fresh air breaks." I don't smoke, but I have friends who do. When one goes outside for a smoke break, I follow on out after her/him and stand outside, chat, and just get away from the phones ringing, the call bells going off, and the monitors alarming. I think it's really incredible that we work in a field where we tell everyone to take care of themselves, help those who can't take care of themselves, and we are looked down on for taking care of OURSELVES. Are there any other professions where you are EXPECTED to hold your urine in a full bladder for 12 hours and not eat the entire 12 hours you are on the clock? Right now, I can't think of any. Why should we feel bad or guilty or be looked down on because WE ARE HUMAN and we have to eat and pee? Let's face it, there are always going to be IV's to start, meds to give, people to discharge/admit, and orders to take. All those things will still be there after you get back from your pee break.

Where I work, on nights we tend to eat at the desk, yep, I know it's wrong, and we'll all get in trouble one day, but we do go back to the break room when we can. If you have a cafeteria that's open while you're there and you want to go to it to eat so that you can leave your unit, maybe you can develop a rapport w/ one of your co-workers. Work out a system where you watch her/his patients and he/she can watch yours during lunch. We had to do that when I worked in Memphis, because there was just no way for the charge nurse to relieve everyone for their breaks.

As far as your co-worker getting upset because you were leaving at 7, and your shift had ended at 6, well, she needs to get a life. Good Lord, as someone else put it in an earlier post, "That's why we work in shifts!" I tell this to my co-workers when I get report from them and they apologize for something they haven't done. You do what you can while you're there and the next shift can pick up where you left off. It took me many years to finally learn this. I would always stay late...at least 30 minutes after my shift left...because I felt like I "just had to get this one more thing done." Well, there's always going to be "just one more thing" to do.

Just continue to do your best and stand up for yourself. I hope they will soon stop rolling their eyes at you and making you feel bad. Good luck!

Excellent post Dee- Couldn't have said it better
Anne