define break...lol

I think having a scheduled 15 or 30 minute block of time to sit in a break room is kind of an archaic concept.

I work 3rd shift in a nursing home and it's just a blend of down time and busy time. I come in, do my paper work and rounds. If nothing is going on, I then sit at the nurses station and read or chat quietly until a call bell goes off or something happens.

As long as everyone's sleeping and safe and my work is done (for now) I see no reason we can't sit at the nurses station and read. Or study. Or talk. Or do a sudoku. Or whatever.

This isn't factory work. It comes and goes in spurts. Saying "you have two 15 minute breaks and the rest of the time you better be working" doesn't apply to nursing in the same way it does most other jobs.

Anyone?

In LTC my "break" was when I got 10 minutes to chart during my shift.

30 minutes uninterrupted to do whatever I want. If you try to interrupt me, I might rattle off a state law or gently slam a door in your face.

Punching "no lunch" if I don't get my break.

We're allowed 30 minutes but I don't always get that...sometimes my "break" is whatever food I can scarf down in 5-10 minutes, even if it means eating it cold.

There have been times where I tell everyone, including our monitor tech, that I will be in the break room eating my lunch. A few minutes later the tech calls me, "1 needs to go to the bathroom....oh, you're eating?" I just told you where I was going!!! Then I start to get angry and I think I have a reason to. What makes me even more angry is when I come out and there are nurses/CNAs sitting at the desk. I know it's "not their patient" but surely they could help out when the patient's primary RN is on break and the primary CNA is nowhere to be found. >_

Breaks are required by law in some states. If you don't get one, it should be paid...lol. If you say that to your manager they tell you you have organizational issues....lmao! I'm like no you have organization issues in this hellhole building you call a healthcare organization...ugh

The ONE time I go to the bathroom and the Spectralink phone in my pocket doesn't ring.

Seriously, breaks are a necessity for health reasons...like anything else, if you don't take care of the acute stress it becomes chronic. Nurse managers who schedule you on

day/night rotations are trying to kill you, IMHO.

What break?

30 minutes for coffee 45 minutes for lunch.Both off the floor so you can't hear the darned bells. Hour and a half nap on nights.[/quote']

Seriously? That is so awesome!

There is more and more research coming out that breaks are a necessity for patient safety and nurse well-being. While I was always guilty of taking my breaks "with the door open" so I could listen out, I would have loved to shut my mind off for a full thirty and just relax.