Do Students Get Breaks In Clinicals?

Nursing Students Student Assist

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Hi, I really would like to know if nursing students are allowed to have breaks during their first Medical-Surgical Clinical. Our CI only gives us 10 min. for a break and we are in clinicals for 6 hrs I feel we should at least have 30 minutes. It takes at least 3 min. to take the elevator and that is not enough time to do anything. When we asked her about the breaks, she got pissed off and for the rest of the day treated everyone unfair and wrote most of us up for any and everything. She stated that we were there to learn and do patient care not to take breaks. Please give your opinion on this situation. Do you feel this is fair? What would you have done? Oh by the way, we still only got 10 min.

Confused and Discouraged

Specializes in Long term care.

Hi there. To me, nursing school is almost like boot camp. We have clinicals from 4p-10 or 10:30p and get one half hour. And not to mention the thousand other criteria we must meet to stay in clinicals. After clinicals every night we have a 10 hour care plan "packet" that needs completed by 4 p.m the next day, and don't have one thing wrong on it or you will be sent home. Nursing is probably the most horrible thing to experience but the end product is a competent nurse.

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Is going to the bathroom counted as using your break-time? Because I tend to go to the bathroom every 2 hrs.

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Specializes in ICU, PACU, Cath Lab.

We get a half hour lunch...no matter how long we are on the floor...I think mostly cause our teachers want to eat!!!

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We had 8 hour clinicals and were supposed to get 2 10 minute breaks and a 30 minute lunch. We were also told that we needed to act like nurses and if there was not time, then do not take it. We usually at least got one 10 minute break. Uggg. Good luck.

Act like nurses? I realize that pt care comes pretty high, but 1st should come self care. If you are a wreck, then you are no good to anyone else. When they say "act like nurses" what they are really saying is "let big business/management walk all over you" naturally you can't abandon your pts, but just like you have rules and laws that prevent you from abandoning care, they have rules and laws governing how they treat their employees.

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ha ha...welcome to nursing. Wait til you work 12 hour shifts and it was pee or take care of your patient. yup!

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ha ha...welcome to nursing. Wait til you work 12 hour shifts and it was pee or take care of your patient. yup!

Need a stronger union then :)

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no unions around here. I agree it sucks but ...ya know. I still love it.

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Thats the case in a LOTTTTTT of places. I dont know anywhere else you could go 10 hours without peeing.

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I've gotten anywhere from no break to 1 hour--it just depends on the instructor.

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Specializes in SICU/CVICU.

12 hour clinical with 30min - 1hr lunch and two 15 min breaks.

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we get about 30minutes breaks during clinicals.

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We were given a 30 min lunch break, and a 15 min coffee break depending on the length of our shift.

Its important to note that while these were the break times offered, wether you will actually get to take these breaks is another story. For my first clinical rotation when I started nursing school, I took maybe 3 breaks the whole semester. Initally the instructors didn't care if we took our breaks or not, becuase they recognized we were new and still feeling our way around the floor. However, during subsequent clinical rotations instructors would get angry if breaks were not taken. One instructor told me that taking breaks meant that you were demonstrating effective time managment skills (Her words, not mine). But I think that in the real world of nursing, there are just going to be some days, like other posters have mentioned, where breaks just don't happen. That's life!

Like others have suggested, keep quick, ready to eat snacks handy, so that you can cram something in your mouth between rushing to prepare a med and answering the next call bell. And your bladder will hold more than you ever thought it could. :chuckle

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