Sitters, give 'em a break!

Nurses General Nursing

Published

You want to know why you're complaining that the world is ending because you have to take your own vitals? Because your aides are sitting.

You want to know why your aides are sitting? 'Cause your sitters quit.

You want to know why they quit?

'Cause nobody took 10 minutes out of every 2 hours to let 'em pee/smoke/get a Coke.

'Cause they know if they don't get those 10 minutes every 2 hours esp. 7p to 7a they're gonna fall asleep and get fired.

'Cause they were PRN aides who didn't offer to do a 12-hour shift sitting, they just got grabbed and whereas they could keep themselves awake running around the floor all night, they aren't physically prepared to stay in one darkened room all night without breaks and not nod off.

You can't get them to come back because they quit working PRN and went dedicated labor pool in a unit that doesn't use sitters.

'Cause the RN couldn't be bothered to call the doctor to get an order for Haldol PRN, or for effective pain meds, or to order restraints when it was really, really needed. Or couldn't be bothered to give PRNs that *were* ordered.

You know one night I got tired of watching all the RNs drinking coffee and complaining in full view of a sitter who hadn't had a break for 4 hours. I ran and bought her a Popeye's fried chicken dinner. Me, on $7.50 an hour.

2 nights ago for the first time after a hundred sitting jobs, I had a kindly old RN give me 2 breaks Q2H, told me to take my time, and guess what she did, she charted, no skin whatsoever off her nose.

Compare that to the countless times I really needed some help or supplies in the room and had the call bell ignored for 30 minutes or more. Or the 4+ nights I had it cancelled on me repeatedly. Repeatedly!

Got a sitter shortage? Fix it yourself. You can do it.

Frankly I consider it the employer's responsibility to ensure staff get breaks. What a lot of RNs are frustrated with concerning this topic is that DESPITE state and labor laws THEY ARE NOT GETTING THEIR BREAKS, YET ARE EXPECTED TO COVER EVERYONE ELSE FOR THEIRS. And yes pretty much everybody within a hospital gets their breaks (and usually then some) and leaves on time EXCEPT the nursing staff. Heaven forbid anyone BUT a nurse doesn't get a break. Interesting how the state or labor boards do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about this. I guess even the state and labor boards consider nurses as having less rights than any other employee. This is what nurses are frustrated about concerning this topic.

For each sitter I have on my unit, that will be 1 hour of extra work for the nursing staff so that the sitter can be relieved. That is the reality. Whether it is housekeeping, dietary, NAs, unit clerk, supervisors for the different departments, etc, whenever anyone is not there to do THEIR job it becomes the nurses job. Whatever is not in anyone else's job descriptions suddenly by default becomes the nurses job.

I've worked with many exceptional sitters who were great with the patients and more than willing to work with me to accomodate THEIR breaks. I've also dealt with others who have reported me to the supervisor for not immediately relieveing them for break when they DEMANDED it when I was in the middle of report at shift change and REFUSED to wait to see what accomadation could be made and some actually abandon their patient because they wanted THEIR break at THEIR convenience. Guess what, the supervisor was on my side. My priority is first and foremost to the patients, not relieving others for break. Relief for breaks should be our employer's responsiblity, not dumped on the nursing staff.

:yelclap: :yelclap: :yelclap: :yelclap:

When I did work as a sitter, back in the day, I often had 1:1 pts who required contstant intervention. I was busy all noc and exhausted after "sitting" w/ these pts.

Frankly, I did not know enough back then to even know if the pts were undermedicated, or if the nurses could have done anything to help the pts chill out. I just knew that some of these pts were more work for me than being CNA on med/surg was.

When I did have a pt who didn't need much care, I was grateful for the paid study time!

Specializes in Medical Telemetry, LTC,AlF, Skilled care.

I work on a medical floor as an aide on night shift sometimes we get pulled to CCU to do one on one with a patient on suicide precautions, I truly hate it although once they go to sleep (if they go to sleep) it's a good chance to do homework in order to stay awake. Luckily the nurses have always been really good to provide stretch breaks when needed, it is a tough job just sitting and I HATE doing one on ones but I am AGAINST q2hr breaks, it would just be too hard on the nurses. Besides when I work the floor I NEVER get a q2hr break and rarely get the chance to go to the restroom when I want to and I'm just CNA the nurses are even more busier than me. It's not too pleasant sitting with patients when you don't want to but you just have to suck it up and keep going. In a perfect world everyone would get q2hr breaks but that's not going to happen anytime soon lol :icon_roll

I had to do my share of sitting when I was a tech, and I hated it! But I have to say, I NEVER got q2h breaks, and I never needed them. If you need to stretch, walk around the room. Stand up and touch your toes or something. Do some jumping jacks if the pt's asleep. There's no rule that says sitters must SIT in a chair at all times. If you need to use the bathroom, tell someone. If you want lunch, tell them what time you want to go ahead of time. I would always say when I first talked with the RN, "I'd like to try to go to lunch around x:00 if that would be okay." There was only one time when the RN said that wouldn't work, and she asked if I would go half an hour later. That way we both knew ahead of time what to expect. It's a lot easier for the RNs/techs to relieve you if you tell them what you want. You may not always get it, but I have never had a sitter complain to/about me. Just a thought. Communication helps everyone!

Specializes in NICU.

Why is it RN's who are relieving sitters? I've done my share of sitting and found I could often get some good homework done while the pt slept--of course this wasn't always the case ;) There were plenty of days I didn't get a meal break because the floor was too busy, but when I did it was always another tech who came in and sat. I would just make sure I brought some food in with me (or asked for an extra tray) or grabbed a quick bite when I'd go to the bathroom. Besides, if I punched a "no lunch" then I'd earn a little extra money :-)

I've never had a nurse offer nor ever think to ask one. Besides, they're running around so fast trying to get everything done, I don't think I could have caught one, anyhow:lol2:

Specializes in 5 yrs OR, ASU Pre-Op 2 yr. ER.

Originally Posted by DusktilDawn viewpost.gif

Frankly I consider it the employer's responsibility to ensure staff get breaks. What a lot of RNs are frustrated with concerning this topic is that DESPITE state and labor laws THEY ARE NOT GETTING THEIR BREAKS, YET ARE EXPECTED TO COVER EVERYONE ELSE FOR THEIRS. And yes pretty much everybody within a hospital gets their breaks (and usually then some) and leaves on time EXCEPT the nursing staff. Heaven forbid anyone BUT a nurse doesn't get a break. Interesting how the state or labor boards do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about this. I guess even the state and labor boards consider nurses as having less rights than any other employee. This is what nurses are frustrated about concerning this topic.

:yeahthat: !!!!!!

Listen. If I can't even relieve myself for a break, I can give a rat's patootie what the state law says about your breaks. Like it or not, it IS my choice when/if to relieve you. I will not ever choose your break over the health and safety of my pts. Sorry. I'd love to see someone report that! I'd love to breakdown my day and list all the things that I still needed to get done while someone is again demanding another break. Hmmm, titrating up on levophed, or relieving the sitter for his 4th break.....hmmm.

This kind of attatude scares me, Give a rats patootie about the law? Wish I could pick and choose which laws I can follow or ignore. Im busy also but I use the time I relieve a sitter to catch up on charting wow something I have to do anyways.

Specializes in OB, M/S, HH, Medical Imaging RN.
Yeah, I guess you're in a spot if you're the only nurse. I haven't seen that yet myself, so the nurses all hit the bathrooms whenever they need to.

I wish I had a nickel for every time I had to run around doing the pee pee dance because I didn't have time to go and wished I had a foley with a leg bag. Break? what break? That's rather funny.

I'm not saying that you're not a good sitter nor am I saying they're all lazy but in my own personal 31 yrs as a nurse I've come across very few sitter's who needed a break other than running to get food because they didn't come to work prepared. They either slept, watched TV, or stayed on the phone. Help? That's a joke. The patient is incontinent and I need some help..."sorry I'm suppose to just sit" and that's exactly what they do.

Low pay is their choice, don't complain, get an education, then they could sit around like the RN's and make big bucks doing it.

Again, this is in no way a judgement of you, just my personal experience with sitters.

I've only ever worked with agency sitter's, I've never seen or heard of a sitter who works for the hospital. Our patients with sitters are not allowed to be restrained because that's what the family is paying for. Mittens are allowed in some situations. I medicate them just as I would if they didn't have a sitter. If I was the pt I wouldn't want to be anxious or restless if I didn't have to be. Thanks for informing us about sitter's who work for the hospital. Didn't know you guy's exsisted.

Specializes in Cardiac.
This kind of attatude scares me, Give a rats patootie about the law? Wish I could pick and choose which laws I can follow or ignore. Im busy also but I use the time I relieve a sitter to catch up on charting wow something I have to do anyways.

Sorry such a basic concept scares you. I'm not going to jeopardize my pts safety relieving someone if I can't. I chart as I go on a huge flow sheet. I don't ever "catch up" on charting. My pts assessments are changing to often for me to do that. I can't bring it into another pts room and chart while I sit in the doorway either. BTW, does anybody care about MY breaks and the laws on how they apply to nurses?

Specializes in Mostly LTC, some acute and some ER,.

I've been a sitter before a time or two. . . No one offered to give me a break . . . until like . . . 5 hours and 25 minutes later . . . Let me tell you . . .. screw the bathroom break, thats a long time without a cigarette for a smoker!!!!!

i understand of the safety of the 1 on 1 . yea you do need to stay awake as much as possible. a person does need a break, a person does need to emtry their bladder unless you all think the sitter has a cather bag on them. man would that hurt standing up with a full bag. yeaaaaaaaaaaaaa !

Specializes in ICU/PCU/Infusion.

for some reason, i can't get the last page of this (old) thread to load.

so i'll just post my comment here.

let's see. if my math is correct, a 10" break q 2 = 120 minutes of break in a 12 hour shift. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

yes, the sitters need to have breaks. if the techs can't do it, then i will. if i walk in the door to do an assessment or something, i often ask the sitter if they need to use the bathroom or go get a drink while i'm in there. but there's no way in heck i'm going to work my 12+ hours worrying about whether or not a sitter was able to take 2 HOURS of breaks during our shift.

my goodness! that is just funny!

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