Eating at the nurses' station

[nursebrandie28]

Hey my fellow nurses,

I work in the ER and we very seldom get our "30 minute" lunch breaks. Well, one day, I was working day shift and around 2pm, no lunch break and I was starving!! I had a team of 4 patients and all the orders were done, I just had to chart....so I went to the back to get my lunch heated, brought it out, and ate it while I was charting in one of the back corners!! Does anybody else do this??

Brandie

[nursebrandie28, BSN, RN]

I hardly ever eat at the nurses station, I just put this post just to see how other nurses handled it. For example, where I work it is a common thing. At Christmas, the day shift nurses put 5 different dips out and chips and crackers and they snacked all day at the nurses desk. All I am saying is that where I work it is a common thing. At most hospitals where I work at it is a common thing....I usually go to the break room, mainly so I text/call my hubby but once in a while it seems impossible.

I once worked with a ER physician, who would always eat and drink at the nurses desk...he said that he believed in the germ theory!!

[NurseyPoo7]

When I work nights, most of the time I dont have anyone to watch my patients for 10 minutes, let alone a half hour. Keep in mind, the other nurses need to have someone watch their patients and our unit is HUGE is cannot be done

[racing-mom4, BSN, RN]

Every night I work I eat at the desk. So does my partner nurse...1) eating alone in the cafeteria would boring and lonely and 2) we really cant just have 1 nurse alone in the ICU for an extended period of time--

FYI our nursing station is in my opinion cleaner than the cafeteria tables...Pts dont come back there, we dont mix meds on it and we do wash our hands...the only thing that touches the nurses desk are papers.

[RNperdiem, RN]

Our nursing stations are too small to handle people eating at them.

Like many nursing stations, it was built in the days before computers(which eat up horizontal space). There is almost always doctors, nutritionists and pharmacists trying to find space to work. Clutter adds up fast.

Last thing I need is to work around someone's half forgotten drink and greasy pizza.

If I am really busy, I run to the breakroom and grab a quick snack and eat it in there.

[oramar]

The last place I worked, nine months into the job they took away the nurses break room and turned into a doctor's computer charting room. They absolutely forbade us to take food and drinks into the room. They gave us another break room but it was so far away from the unit that it presented abandonment issues if we used it. You darn right we ended up eating in the nurses station. I left there after 18 months and that dirty trick they pulled figured into my decision to leave. At first I was just going to take some time off from nursing but it appears to have turned into a retirement.

[Hausfrau]

Wow, you guys would freak about what I've seen! When I was a nursing assistant student doing clinicals on med/surg... the nurses and cnas would stand next to the food cart.. take out trays that the patient didn't want, and EAT THE FOOD! It wasn't even behind the nurses station, literally.. where the cart was by the sinks in the hall. I remember them grabbing slices of french toast and just standing their eating.

Not only that.. but one CNA was eating while reading a "erotic tales" book.. she'd walk into a patients room with the book in her hand and ask what they needed.

Needless to say after that experience at 18 years old I was scared to ever get admitted to a hospital. I really can't believe what I saw.. it was a big name hospital, too. I hope I never have to see that again.

[sweetsounds]

I saw the same behaviors by NURSES in a large hospital I worked for. I have also seen a nurse sit her sandwich directly on the counter where we charted- no plate! Maybe the people who touched the charts and papers had dirty hands.

As far as the breakroom, I consider every surface in in the entire building to be absolutely filthy. If I can't use a fork, I ain't eating it @ work. I am not a germaphobe; at home if I dropped my Tylenol I would pick it up and take it anyway. Ha,ha.

[flightnurse2b, LPN]

guilty.

i often have to carry a granola bar in my pocket to make sure i even get a bite of something at work. very poor staffing. i have no relief.

i have never in all my yrs in the medical field have ever gotten an uninterrupted 30 minute break, ever.

[Batman24]

We're not allowed to eat at the nurse's desk as it's a JHACO violation. We do however have a break room that is very close by and very clean so we don't suffer.

[adoyo]

I have learnt that many nurses are much blessed to have a tearoom and a complete 30 minutes lunch break each time they are on a shift!! You might think that I am kidding if I tell you that I work at a place where there is no tearoom at all and if at all one gets some minutes to spare in the form of a break, she or he has to eat whatever at the nurses' station or at the residents' lounge!!! Whenever we completely miss to have a break, we are allowed time off with a stern warning that we should strive to take our breaks!! That kind of warning comes from the Manager who does not understand why those on the floor never get time for their meal breaks!! I am now used to eating at the nurses station which is always overcrowded, leave alone not very clean. Sometime 'Germs' are not even aware that we do eat there, so those with tearooms, do make good use of them and pray for those who have none of it.

[Saifudin]

Just don't forget and lick your fingers!

[jeninthedesert, BSN, RN]

I always take my breaks and, when I am a new grad RN, will continue to take my breaks. It's so important to have that time-out to recoup and recollect. I have never understood feeling the need to work straight-through, unless there is an emergency situation or an unstable patient that needs to be dealt with.

I also think it is a violation to have food at the workstation.