Dayshifters - do you take a breakfast break as soon as you get to work?

Nurses General Nursing

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I work 7am-7pm, and it seems as though the popular thing to do is to take a "breakfast" break as soon as report is finished in the morning. We had an extremely busy morning today and the nurse I was working beside complained all morning that she hadn't gotten a breakfast break and so she had not had anything to eat since dinner last night. This is the only place I've worked where the floor is a ghost town as soon as report finishes. I'm just curious to know if this is common practice elsewhere?

FWIW, I do think the 12 hour shifts make it hard to figure out when to eat and I tend to take a break after my morning assessments and meds are complete (around 10am ish) for a snack and then eat lunch around 1:30, then grab a quick yogurt around 5pm as I'm winding down my day.

There's nothing wrong with taking breaks Ruby. People should take their breaks. However, when you've just walked in the door, and/ or it's making a coworker leave late, that's not right. Others should not have to wait on someone because they decided to clock in and take a break right away. I've seen many people do this at various places I've worked over the years.

This includes the smokers too. Why should they have extra breaks to smoke? Not fair.

I so agree...

The maddest I ever got with another nurse is when she left the floor to go to the cafeteria for her breakfast break 15 minutes after her shift started... and forgot to get report from me, who was more than ready to go home. And then acted like I was wrong for being upset. I ended up leaving my phone number on the chart and telling her to call me with any questions (with charge nurse's approval, of course). No way was I staying late so she could finish her break!!!

Grabbing something quick to eat is one thing; going off the floor for 15-20 minutes at the beginning of the shift is another. And I'm certainly not against breaks - take them when you can get them - but to sneak off the floor or make someone else wait is inexcusable.

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Specializes in General adult inpatient psychiatry.

I'll admit that I do the breakfast thing, but patients eat in the dining room at 8a, so I check in with charge RN after getting report and reviewing my patients and AM meds, and am back in 15 minutes. By then, charge has put in the assignments and I'll have patients asking for meds. It's like the calm before the storm.

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Specializes in TCU, Post-surgical, Infection Prevention.

Wow...

Sounds just like any Consulting/Engineering/Insurance firm I've ever worked at...

Self entitled folk are everywhere

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unreal that someone is taking time off the clock for personal issues. set the alarm earlier :D the shift starts the same time every day. there are several breakfast items that can be nuked and eaten in the car if need be.

but no, if i walked on a floor (as a sup) and found nurses (or techs/cnas/whatever) taking a break before the chairs in the report room got cold, it would be a write up festival. every. time. i. saw. it.

pay for doing their own adls.... wow..... :down: are most of these named "snooki" ???

good lord.... it just keeps getting worse. humanity has peaked. common sense is dying quickly. :no: :uhoh3:

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Specializes in Med/Surg.

Yes, very common at the last facility I worked at. It was a burden on the few of us that stayed behind (psych unit) because we had to scramble shorthanded to do rounds, guard the nurses station, listen to the pts' am ********, etc.

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