COVID in the Break Room?

[adventure_rn, MSN, NP]

Apparently in my hospital, the majority of employee covid cases are coming from staff-to-staff transmission, not patient-to-staff.

Our employer has encouraged us to wear our masks in the break room, but...how are we supposed to eat? On my unit, social distancing isn't really possible, since we have 30 staff per shift with a tiny break room. Also, nobody is wiping down the table with Clorox before or after they eat.

Is anybody else getting this feedback from their admin? I honestly don't know what the solution is.

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

We are to maintain the 6 foot distance when eating. That means people are in places other than the breakroom- our meeting rooms (since we can’t use them for meetings) have been set up with tables and chairs (distanced from each other of course) as have some other unused places.

There are also containers of wipes available with the expectation everyone wipes their area before and after eating.

[adventure_rn, MSN, NP]

@Rose_Queen, those are all great ideas.

[Wuzzie]

19 minutes ago, Rose_Queen said:

We are to maintain the 6 foot distance when eating. That means people are in places other than the breakroom- our meeting rooms (since we can’t use them for meetings) have been set up with tables and chairs (distanced from each other of course) as have some other unused places.

Our compliance person, who is really an awful human being, will not let us eat anywhere but our breakroom which is shared by 70 people. When it was pointed out that there is no way we can make this work she basically told us that we will have to start taking our lunches at 0830, some people will just have to go without lunch and she doesn't really care if that is ridiculous. It should be noted that we are based in team rooms where we CAN socially distance and we are obsessive about cleaning.

[Kitiger, RN]

4 minutes ago, Wuzzie said:

Our compliance person, who is really an awful human being, will not let us eat anywhere but our breakroom which is shared by 70 people. When it was pointed out that there is no way we can make this work she basically told us that we will have to start taking our lunches at 0830, some people will just have to go without lunch and she doesn't really care if that is ridiculous. It should be noted that we are based in team rooms where we CAN socially distance and we are obsessive about cleaning.

I would take that one up the chain. The hospital needs to free up some patient rooms and turn them into break rooms.

The only way I can see one break room working is if you each get a 5 minute lunch break (the part with masks off) and guzzle down a Glucerna, Ensure, or some such. Then put masks back on.

I would sneak my bottle of Glucerna into the bathroom if I had to; pull it out of my pocket and guzzle it down.

I would not be able to think clearly if I had to go an 6 or 8 hours - while working - without eating.

[Wuzzie]

21 minutes ago, Kitiger said:

I would take that one up the chain.

Unfortunately in the middle of all this the last thing they care about is us getting lunch. We can go to the union, and we will if we have to. Right now we are biding our time to see just how strongly she enforces it.

[JKL33]

7 hours ago, adventure_rn said:

Apparently in my hospital, the majority of employee covid cases are coming from staff-to-staff transmission, not patient-to-staff.

Our employer has encouraged us to wear our masks in the break room, but...how are we supposed to eat? On my unit, social distancing isn't really possible, since we have 30 staff per shift with a tiny break room. Also, nobody is wiping down the table with Clorox before or after they eat.

Is anybody else getting this feedback from their admin? I honestly don't know what the solution is.

The solution is for them to provide a space where people can maintain proper distance. They can also make a real plan to stagger lunch times to help facilitate fewer people in the space at once and can provide break nurses as is appropriate so that people aren't taking lunch breaks at unreasonable meal times.

Telling people to wear masks while eating is about par for the course.

Do whatever, file incident reports, report them to OSHA etc.

[pixierose, BSN, RN]

I bring my own wipes ... a baggie in my lunch bag.

We stagger our breaks. Or if I have time (ha!) I’ll go outside and sit on a bench and eat (but that almost never happens). We are not allowed to eat anywhere but the designated area so it’s the best we have (so far). We start at 10:45a and go til about 2:45p... and we’ve made darn sure we each get a 5-15 minute breakfast break in the AM.

(it helps us get a break from all the PPE - I work on a COVID floor and it’s nice to pee once in a while too)

[BlessYourHeartt]

Thank-you for raising this important concern! I fear that if a staff member is contagious, but asymptomatic or presymptomatic and working, the virus may linger in the breakroom air and on more common surfaces than can be consistently disinfected. Same for staff bathrooms.

[Kitiger, RN]

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

1 hour ago, Kitiger said:

I see your video and raise you baby wipes

[OUxPhys, BSN, RN]

I have to wear a mask during my entire shift. I will not wear a mask in the break room. That is my time to actually relax and breathe normally. The best thing to do is limit how many are in the break room at one time, stay 6ft apart, and wipe everything down constantly.