do you drink coffee during your shift?

[aname]

Kind of a silly question, but I've been wondering for some time now. do you have enough time, is there a rule preventing it, do you try to limit fluid intake because you don't have enough time to go to the bathroom?

[kp1987]

Reading this makes me really want a coffee 😂

[renzlao, MSN, APRN]

I work ER and I drink around 3-4 cups a shift. Sometime, I haven't eaten anything at all. Just coffee.

[No Stars In My Eyes]

Too much coffee on an empty stomach sends me flying to the bottle of Pepcid in my purse!

Also, there are times when you just KNOW that your bladder will not cooperate with being ignored for any longer than it takes to rush into the BR and get your britches pulled down; if you're lucky you are not starting a stream before that. Don't like dousing the waistband!

[amzyRN]

I work day shift and only drink coffee on my last day of work for the week. I always drink a cup in the AM but if I drink it all shift or even more than one cup it messes up my sleep and I like to go to bed early on work days. I always go to the bathroom when ever I have to during the shift and I work on a busy floor. Whatever I'm doing can wait 5 minutes (unless someone was coding or something).

[ixchel]

I would give up sex and wine before I would give up my coffee.

One does not simply give up coffee!!!!!!!

[ponymom]

No coffee or tea here, can't stand either one. I only drink water, milk and homemade lemonade and maybe a little bit of Pepsi (love those teeny cute little 7oz cans you can get it in now) at work. I worked steady 10 and 12hr shifts for years in the plants and as a nurse, gawd some people just couldn't function without their coffee.

[Anna Flaxis, BSN, RN]

gawd some people just couldn't function without their coffee.

That would be me.

[nursel56]

Coffee, yes yes yes! I like the good stuff at home but sometimes at work I'll make up a little bit of instant with water to hydrate because I really don't like plain water. I've always been insistent that I get enough fluids as a matter of habit. I remember as a student there was a cartoon picture of a nurse on a bulletin board showing a metal tank for a bladder and wheels for feet.

Wheels for feet maybe, but I vowed then to make hydration a priority!

[calivianya, BSN, RN]

I am one of those weirdos that just about anything that affects awakeness/sleepiness doesn't do a thing for me. I can fall asleep after caffeine, I can stay up most of the day after an Ambien, etc. I don't think coffee actually does anything for me, but I drink it anyway because I like the taste.

I also find a cup of coffee with cream to be a half decent appetite suppressant if I am starving and I'm too busy to take lunch right then, and it's also warm and I'm usually freezing to death.

[That Guy, BSN, RN, EMT-B]

I hate coffee. I drink loads of water.

[NutmeggeRN, BSN]

Reading this makes me really want a coffee ������

Makes me want to pee!

[NurseGirl525, ASN, RN]

I honestly cannot function without my coke. And I am not a nice person without it. In clinical, I drink a full coke before getting there, then I have one stashed in the break room to drink throughout the day. I always have a second to pee if I need to or grab a quick drink. I have never had to hold my pee. It's not good for the kidneys to do so. But I don't take a 20 minute break either. I can pee and grab a quick drink of coke in under 5 minutes. Drawing it out to 10-15 minutes is where the issues start.