Anyone allowed to nap on their breaks?

Nurses Safety

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When I did 7a-7p on a Tele floor and all was well, the staff would use their breaks to REM for about half in hour in the visitors lounge. We used that room because it was difficult for anyone to see in it if they walked by (our supervisor). We would get written up if we napped on our own time.

Is anyone allowed to nap? Many companies encourage it in the corporate world. Fire stations have beds for the firefighters.Why can't we use our own time to rest our brains? Doesn't it promote patient safety?

Specializes in Cardiolgy.

When on a day shift, either an early or a late, I don't always have time to get a break, no one is allowed to sleep in their half an hour breaks during the day, most of the time, it is just chance to eat and finish as mcuh paper work as is humanly possible

On a night shift, many staff take it in turn sleeping for an hour, I could not do this. I tried once when I was working for house keeping at a hotel, it made me so ill I will never ever do it again, I felt worse for having an hours sleep than I would have done for staying awake, the rest of that shift I kept falling asleep. It cost me a fortune as well, as I was not safe to drive I had to get a taxi, and then a taxi back to work the next day! each trip cost about £14!!!!!!!! A very expensive lesson.:o

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Specializes in Med/Surg, ICU, Cardiac ICU.

I agree that it is unprofessional for nurses to sleep on the job. Here it is a terminable offense - a lot because people abused the system. No, there is no pay for the half hour lunch but if people won't manage their time properly and be back on time, they are marked late which if it happens more than once, they will be officially counselled for it. I've not seen that happen for 1 or 2 minutes but when it is 10 -15 minutes every time... Plus, here people only work 8 - 12 hr shifts so there should be no reason to have to sleep at work. Of course, we are not completely heartless and I have seen short naps allowed when extenuating circumstances have arisen.

Also, no offense to whomever made the remark about having to wake the residents, but here they still work the 36+ hour shifts and if they do get a chance to nap at night, we try to be mindful of that.

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Napping is something that has been taboo for the history of the profession. (and I've been there for many of those years)

I agree that it not only should be allowed, but can be beneficial for many who work noc sifts. especially for those who do not adjust well to those horrible hours. My only problem is with the staff who do not awaken easily after a 30 min nap or "hide" to take sleep breaks and aren't accessible for emergencies.:

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Sleeping is not a good idea on the job. I charged a surgical unit 7p to 7a for 3 years before taking a prn and travling job and I find it difficult to believe that people sleep on units. I gave my people breaks whenever they wanted.

I made PAPER lunch assignments and breaks, (the regular 30 min and 15 min) but I was VERY lax and allowed 1 to 2 hours, not all at once of course, for breaks and lunch IF there was enought staff and all the work was done.

Sleeping was not tolerated.

I did not believe then nor do i now that a person who is sleeping on the job can perform there job well. I have asked people who were falling out from lack of sleep to go home...WITH NO MALACE.....I lied to my boss and told them anything they wanted to hear (sick, flu ect) to cover for them....But I have also warned people who i caught sleeping to not let it happen again. And I have fired people who were warned and caught again...

I do know in most other professions that sleeping on the job is not tolerated. There are a few exceptions but for the most part it is simply not done....

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Specializes in Community Health Nurse.

I see nothing wrong with any employee, nurse or not, taking a nap on their own time at work. Nurses are not paid for their half-hour lunchbreaks, so if they want to snooze during that time, so be it. When I was a traveling nurse in Hawaii working twelve hour nights, we all slept during our 60 minute dinner break. My worst time of night was getting through the 3 to 4 o'clock hour, so that's when I would nap. An alarm clock was set to wake up the sleeping nurse in time to return to the unit. We would set the alarm to wake us up ten to fifteen minutes before our dinner break was up, that way we had time to "refresh" ourselves and empty our bladders before hitting the floor again.

On another travel assignment I worked in North Carolina, another traveling nurse was caught nodding off "on duty" all the time, and she was fired, reported by the hospital to the Board of Nursing, and had her license put on probation for a year. This nurse was about six months pregnant (or more) and worked another job besides her night job which is why she was always so tired at night.

So, nurses, if you just gotta catch a few winks to feel refreshed at work, and your hospital's don't permit such "warranted rest", you can always go out to your cars and nap in the car, but don't forget to set an alarm clock to wake you up. :rolleyes:

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i am practicing sleeping with my eyes open. im getting good.

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Specializes in psych, med/surg.

o sleeping during break time. When I was a new grad, it seemed the staff I worked with seem to love to sleep during the hours of 1-4 a.m. leaving me with over 14 patients to take care of. believe me I started speaking up but still it didnt matter even when management was told that breaks were extremely long on night shifts. It did not matter. If anything, made matters worse with the charge nurse, who decided to be a vengeful ewnch and make my life miserable.

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Specializes in Everything except surgery.

If you're not getting paid...you're NOT on duty! I do per diem at a hospital where they are allowed to put their two 15 min breaks together with their 30 min lunch and get to sleep in the break room on a comfortable sofa. Or you can take an emplty pt. room. You are allowed to leave the facility and do whatever you want to as long as you return on time. The room is usually labeled with a note of when the room will be free. At the end of the first rounds it is decided when everyone will take their ONE HOUR break. There has never been a problem during the times I have been there.

I don't sleep during my break...because I am a nite person ..but I don't have a problem with the nurses I'm working with doing so. I also don't watch the clock on them either. This is a great unit and everyone looks out for each other. I love going to this hospital and always get good feedback from pts/family and staff members.

Funny how being fair to your employees makes for a better working environment.

Brownie

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Specializes in LTC/Peds/ICU/PACU/CDI.
originally posted by night owl

napping on your break is one thing. sleeping half the tour of duty is another... :eek:

at my facility, i've had staff sleep from 1am to 4 or 5am. they were written up numerous times and now they no longer work there. your break time is your time to do whatever. after that, you're obligated to be fully alert and functioning as a member of the nursing team. ;)

you couldn't be more right! at the ltc facility where i work (11p-7a), most of the cna staff nap for a hour on their breaks (1 hr combined two 15 min coffee & 1/2 hr lunch) & many will either sleep in the hallways just before or just coming back from the breaks. when the charge nurse on duty walk by, they just re-adjust their position, as if they weren't sleeping at all. on top of this, the shift supervisor walk by with blinders on because when verbally warned, the staff just either ignore or verbally abuse her...go figure? i work in an unionized facility where write-ups often doesn't stick....oh well.

however, on the other hand, the charge nurses have so much to do that we literally only have time to use the bathroom just once per shift (7a-3p, 3p-11p, &/or 11p-7a). we're supposed to be going to a paperless system, but we still have patients charts to audit, mars/tars to write-out, & recaps to check among all of the other duties that are expected. we used to have only approximately 15 meds to pass in the mornings & 3-7 blood sugar checks; that's changed due to some of the medications having to be taken on an empty stomach. now we pass approximately 30 meds & 7-11 am blood sticks because the 7a-3p shift state that they're overworked/understaff to perform the glucose checks! in addition, there used to be two nurses per 58 capicity unit each shift; now we're down to 1-11/2 nurses on 11p-7a shift for the same number of patients. and how about the times when the cna staff is short & us nurses have to either fill-in the entire shift or worse yet, do rounds @ 11pm, pass meds @ 1a, do rounds again @ 2a, pass meds @4a, and help with final rounds which require getting a few patients up & giving showers on the their scheduled days...come on now, what are we...supernurses. no! but it's expected of us because we're supposed to be professional & suck-it-up...please!

this facility pays us for our "breaks"....yea, good luck if a nurse can get one in without taking danagerous shortcuts. my union says that it's our own fault if we don't take breaks, but we're discipline if we take lunch/breaks & have to work overtime in order to complete your shift workload. try to ask the shift supervisor to cover all six floors for one hour each to cover breaks while they have their own duties to perform...yea right.

i don't mind helping-out the cnas whenever i can, but i really resent it when they expect me to or when they think that i don't want to when i can't because of my heavy work load. they think that the nurses "hind" behind the med carts...unbelievable. it's hard for them to understand that i can do their jobs, but they can't do mine & i feel that it's not fair for those people to ask for my help in the morning when they've slept most of their shifts through....not to mention many take smoking breaks on top of their coffee/lunch breaks combined! i'm more than willing to assist those cnas that i know work hard & genuinely require my help; i don't appreciate the ones who don't make an effort to do their jobs & look for me to help them do it. i'm finding myself resenting it when 7am comes & the cnas are waving bye-bye to me while i still have to write notes, record am vitals, order stock, count narcs, & give report to the next shift (who show-up at 7am). we regularlly don't leave until 7:30a-8a without being paid for it...on top of everything else.

so i say, if you can get some rest @ your facility, by all means, do so if needed; just as long as you're awake to perform your job.:p double check with your facility/state board polities though!

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In the past, I have worked as a supervisor in a small hospital. Had a registration clerk who worked a full-time day job and her full-time night job with us as well; plus other nurses who commuted a fair distance. I have no problem whatsoever with staff napping on their lunch breaks...I, for one, would rather have that person nap for a bit than to wreck on the way home. Something was said one time and I went to the administrator in defense of the registration clerk and explained my position that a staff member's lunch time IS their time...it is deducted so they aren't paid for it - and I backed it up by presenting a couple of articles (one from an H.R. magazine) about the importance of providing support for the night shift staff. Never heard another word about it.

Babs

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