California nurses--- Do you REALLY get to eat meals?

U.S.A. California

Published

I live in the Midwest and I know that legislation was passed in California that nurses actually get their lunch breaks. We absolutely don't. Hardly ever. Do you REALLY get lunch breaks, I mean a real break where you could go to the cafeteria, don't have to carry your phone with you and run back when it rings? (I can hardly imagine it.) And if you do, who takes care of your patients while you're gone? I am dying of curiosity if it really is so very much better in California for nurses. Thank you!

We are supposed to have a 30 minute lunch break and 3 15 minute breaks. But mostly we take the lunch and one 15 in the morning. We get paid double time if we can't get our 30 minute lunch break. And now since it was realized we were to have the third 15 min. break we may all be getting some back pay. I'll take it!!

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Specializes in Infusion Nursing, Home Health Infusion.

YES WE DO (sounds like obama). We call them resource nurses....they watch your patients while you take your break. I still have to answer my pages though b/c i am in a specialty area....but i just take notes.....get to say I am on break and they know not to push too much. On occasion had to interrupt my break..but then just added on the time.

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We get to take the lunch break for sure, but we did away with the resource nurses so now the charge is "supposed" to cover us for our 30 min lunch. Unfortunately, that means everyone is alloted a specific time, regardless of what time they want for a break. So usually we just cover each other instead of waiting for the charge. As for the 15 min twice per shift, well...I take one 15 break. I really don't need the 2nd one, and I feel like sitting at a computer doing charting is sort of like a break. it helps that we have a 4:1 ratio. To answer someone else's question, they ask nurses to voluntarily break the ratio (in dire circumstances) and usually they make sure that person has a lighter load of pt acuity. Also, we had to sign a waiver giving up our other 30 minute break that we legally are supposed to have. They told us if we took the break, we'd have to work a 13 hr shift to be able to clock out for one hour. And they try to convince us no one wants to work longer, so with only one 30 min break we work 12.5 hr shifts. It is a mind game, but I realize we are luckier than other states!!

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Specializes in Medical/Telemetry/Neuro..

YES! We do get to have our lunch and eat it too. As a charge nurse on a Tele Unit with a 4:1 pt:nurse ratio....one of my main priorities is break relief. I provide direct pt care when the nurses are on a break. We work 7 p- 7a and we take a 15 min. break and an hour lunch! I have worked with many traveling nurses from other states that decide to stay in CA-it's a great place to be nurse. :nurse:

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I worked very briefly in a Midwest hospital and we were given 30 minutes for a meal. No other breaks. When I moved to Cali, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that I could eat my lunch for 45 minutes and have another 2 15-minute breaks anytime during my shift to rest.

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Specializes in Ante-Intra-Postpartum, Post Gyne.

I am sorry, but every time I see this post I am ticked...granted I am in California, but I should not have to feel lucky that I am the exception...I am upset that the rest of the country does not follow suit...also makes me feel trapped in California...don't ever want to move to anther state because of your ratios...talked to a travel nurse who said he sometimes gets 10 patients in a step down unit....WHAT?!?! Not only is this wrong for nurses, but what about the patients!! I will take my outrageous cost of living over your nursing ratios!

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^ Yes, I agree that California should not be an exception to some of the unsafe pt/staffing ratios I have heard of in other states. That was one of reasons I hightailed it out of the midwest state after a month..I was just a new grad and I could not deal with 8 acute pts. Night shifts were worse with 12 pts per nurse. The charge nurse was what the rest of the staff called a 'tough old bird' and she dryly remarked "Honey, I used to care for 18 pts during a shift." Yikes.

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We almost always get our breaks. 30min for lunch and 2 15 minutes breaks. If we don't we get paid 1 hour for the lunch break missed and up to 1 hour total if 1 or 2 of the 15 minute breaks are missed. We have a break nurse and charge nurse who cover our patients so we maintain ratios through out the shift. This is my unit. For the most part this is how it is throughout the hospital though some units stand up for their rights more than others.

If you miss your breaks at other hospitals do you charge 8.5 hours or 12.5 since you are working through your lunch? You should be.

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Yes we do get our breaks in California. If I miss a break because of a surgery, I get missed break penalty pay which is one hour pay for a missed 15 min break. It is sad that nurses around the country in most other areas have to fight for this. I am in the San Francisco Bay Area where we are also paid a professional and respectful wage....yes it is expensive here...but we are paid so much better and have such better working conditions, than other high cost areas (and all areas) of the country. I came here as a traveler and stayed! I am not working in a union hospital, but I truly believe it is the CNA (California Nurses Association) that got nurses to be where they are here. I am not affiliated with them at all, but by doing a lot of research, they seem to be a common dinominator. Nurses in other states have to fight as a huge force in numbers for the rights we deserve. There is no reason why we all have to move to California to get the respect we deserve nationwide!

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