Breaks

Shantas · Nov 29, 2007

Break? In our hospital we all carry wireless phones. You still can be reached whether you're in the restroom or having a lunchbreak. I fyou can't be reached they'll page you overhead!

You guys have to answer the phone call even when you are having a pee?? Thats horrible....:angryfire

We do the buddy system. If I go for my lunch break, my partner, usually a RN covers for me.

NicoleERRN, RN · Nov 29, 2007

The only breaks we get are + deformities HAHA.. that said, it is usually insane where i work and if you get a chance to eat or drink you take it... you take the good and the bad. if i really need a break one of my collegues would watch my team.. and i would theirs.. There are no true scheduled breaks but we eat and drink when we can..

nicurn001 · Nov 29, 2007

http://www.dol.gov/dol/allcfr/Title_29/Part_785/29CFR785.19.htm

The above link to DOL , Defines what a break is .Your employer has to either allow you to take a lunch break in compliance with this definition or pay you the penalty ( ie. 1 hour pay ).

No point nurse coming here and saying WHAT BREAK , as in all things if you allow somebody to take advantage of you they will !.

Sorry if nurses don't use the laws in their favor , as their employers do , then nothing is going to change and get what they deserve , nothing !

moaning and groaning amongst ourselves changes nothing

swee2000 · Nov 30, 2007

That may be true, but it's not always the reality on my unit. And if an employee can't take a lunchbreak no matter how hard they try, they're supposed to swipe "cancelled lunch" at the end of their shift so that they get paid for the 1/2hr. But that only creates another problem, because now the employee will have a 1/2hr of overtime for that shift, and management really frowns on any unapproved overtime. So I repeat what I said earlier: It's a no-win situation.
(For the record, I am aware of the laws, regulations, and rights that protect employees from these issues)

Guess who didn't get a lunch break at work today? Me!!!!!!!!

I must've jinxed myself when I posted the above comments last night. Not only did I not get lunch, or any break for that matter, but today was quite literally the day from he**! And the best part was when the charge nurse called me at noon to see if I'd work a double shift instead of 8hrs, in addition to my scheduled day-shift tomorrow.

Yet I'm the one to blame for not getting a break because I'm letting people take advantage of me?

nicurn001 · Nov 30, 2007

swee2000 "Yet I'm the one to blame for not getting a break because I'm letting people take advantage of me? "

Yep !

I would not say you are the one to blame , for not having your break ( it is the responsibility of your employer to enable you to either have a break or pay the penalty),rather through inaction you are responsible for what happened .

I am also sorry to hear that you had such a bad day , hopefully another day will be so good ,it will balance it out .

But did you mention to your NM, that you had not , had a break ( though honestly that should have been obvious to your NM ).Or did you fill out the paper work to be paid for your missed break.

On our floor , we do ask what is being done re. break relief . Having said that we also help out in getting breaks organised . If we can juggle assignments around so that all assignments comply with the ratio law , we can go to break without needing another nurse.If we are unable to make that juggle we put in the paperwork for the misssed break .

swee2000 · Dec 1, 2007

swee2000 "Yet I'm the one to blame for not getting a break because I'm letting people take advantage of me? "
Yep !
I would not say you are the one to blame , for not having your break ( it is the responsibility of your employer to enable you to either have a break or pay the penalty),rather through inaction you are responsible for what happened .
I am also sorry to hear that you had such a bad day , hopefully another day will be so good ,it will balance it out .
But did you mention to your NM, that you had not , had a break ( though honestly that should have been obvious to your NM ).Or did you fill out the paper work to be paid for your missed break.
On our floor , we do ask what is being done re. break relief . Having said that we also help out in getting breaks organised . If we can juggle assignments around so that all assignments comply with the ratio law , we can go to break without needing another nurse.If we are unable to make that juggle we put in the paperwork for the misssed break .

Honestly, I "sound" more upset than I actually was. Let me clarify what I mean, though. Yes, I was frustrated and for alot of reasons. Frustrated with how my day was going. Frustrated with not getting lunch or any other break. Frustrated with constantly being on-the-go from 0700-1530(thank God my meds did their job of keeping me awake thru all this). Frustrated with my co-worker who offered to do something for one of my patients while I was tied up in another's room...only to find out that she never did, never had the common courtesy to tell me she didn't, and let me find out from the patient herself and 45 minutes later. Frustrated with the assignment and lack of common sense used by the person who made it, as these were very(!!!) medically heavy & complex patients whom shouldn't have been placed in the same assignment group. Frustrated that I was still working an hour past my shift ending because I had to get all my charting done before I could leave. And frustrated for other reasons that I won't bore anyone with. Thanks for letting me get a few off my chest, though.

Now here's why I'm not as upset: first, when I've had busy days in the past & didn't get a break, I wouldn't let the stress get to me as much as or like it did yesterday. Normally, I'm a pretty laid-back person, I don't typically complain about my assignments(regardless of how difficult they are), mind my own business, and basically go with the flow. In fact, I usually prefer busier days as they make time go fast. The second reason I'm not upset is because, at the end of the day when my work is done and I'm finally ready to head home, all I have to do is push a button on the timeclock that says "Cancelled Lunch", swipe my badge, and presto! I instantly get a 1/2hr of overtime for the lunch I never took. I'm sure that doesn't sound like good work ethics. However, if I'm going to miss my guaranteed break(per the law) due to working my tail off in order to get the work done, keep the patients safe, etc, then I expect to be compensated someway, somhow. It doesn't matter that Uncle Sam will see some of it. The point is getting shown appreciation for doing the work and dealing with the stress that comes with it.

In regards to your comment, "rather through inaction you are responsible for what happened", usually I would agree with that. However, as I mentioned a couple times already, I literally ran my a** off all shift and was constantly in one patient's room or another(and it was one particular patient that consumed a majority of my time). If it weren't for the charge nurse calling around 1130 asking if I could work the dbl shift, who knows when I would've had time to talk to her about what was happening. Although telling her didn't help matters, anyways, because she got real defensive, trying to argue that she didn't make out the assignments vs offering to help or find someone who could. Talk about great teamwork!

nicurn001 · Dec 1, 2007

Swee2000, Sounds like you did all you could re. breaks ie. informed CN , then clocked out missed break , thought you were one of those Martyr Mary's , who cry woe is me , but won't do a damn thing to help themselves . Sounds like you ran your R's off , got no help and then some smart R's on this forum ( me),rubbed salt into your wounds . The only way nurses will get the breaks they need And should is that they need to ensure management pays a price for not giving them. Your post shows a classic example of a person who needed a break and would probably have been revitalised by that break and then been able to function better.