What do you do on your break at work?

Nurses General Nursing

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I work nights. SOme of our staff nap, some eat, some play on the computer. Last fall we have the Leonid Meteor showers and a colleague and I went to the beach on our break to watch it. It was the coolest thing I have ever seen in my life! Do any of you do interesting or unusual stuff during your break at work????

Paprikat,

That's what I do smoke a cigarette, only I slam Mountain Dew,

great stress reliever for about 10 min.

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Specializes in ICU, nutrition.

Since I don't smoke, I don't get a break. ;)

I mean, if half the nurses are outside smoking, and I leave the floor, too, who would watch the monitors and take care of the patients? Because as soon as things slow down, those smokers are heading out the door for their "breathing treatment."

My mom was a nurse, too, (semi-retired now) and she NEVER smoked at work. And she was about a half a pack a day smoker at her peak, yet she could manage to make it through a day (or night) without lighting up.

Come to think of it, she didn't smoke in her car either, so she didn't get the fix right before she walked in or right after she walked out (which would be just fine with me in regards to my co-workers).

If I step out of the unit to walk to the dumbwaiter for meds, inevitably one of the smokers will complain that they had to reset one of my pumps, or suction my patient, or something else while I was gone. Yet us non-smokers are supposed to cover the smokers' patients WITHOUT complaining the 3, 4, 5 or more times they take a smoke break! Who, with the exception of one, take at least 15 min. to smoke a cigarette (we do have one speed smoker in the unit).

If I offended any smokers, sorry. But I need to vent about something that really chaps my @$$.

:)

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Since I don't smoke, I don't get a break.

How true! How true!

I don't know how many times I've heard..."I'll be right back. I need a smoke." Then fifteen minutes later they reappear, leaving me with little time for a break, and that's when I am lucky enough to have a second nurse help me with a 40 bed LTC unit.

Lord help us all!

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Ah the smokers! It is a problem! When I was an LPN at a LTC facility I was "partnered" with a nurse who smoked, claimed "hypoglycemia" which meant that she had to leave the unit every two hours to eat and that she could not tolerate being warm...so all isolation patients on her side had to be cared for by ME...she had a bad back so she could not push a med cart..so I had to do her meds as well as my own....and she could not "run up and down those long halls" so I had to CHART on her patients!! In fact, when another nurse "worked with her" and complained about having two full units to run I took it to the administrator. The smoking hypoglycemic with the amazing bad back (it healed at the end of her shift each night) was placed on leave...she cried all night about how unfair I was and how she would "have to go on welfare and die"!

When I went to an agency and was assigned a shift at a nursing home GUESS who was the charge nurse?!?!?!?! AND.....she was off the unit the entire shift leaving me to cope with chest pains and breathing difficulties...alone........as usual!

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Specializes in LTC/Peds/ICU/PACU/CDI.

where i work, ltc facility, i work 11p-7a and have no chance for a break...let alone pee. when we use to have two nurses on each unit, that was different, my facility can't keep nurses to save their life :p.

my staff, however, not only get breaks where they go off for naps, but those who smoke also get additional time away from the floors :rolleyes:. they get a total of approximately 1.5 to 2 hours if you combine the smoke breaks with the nap break. some will even sleep in their chairs, in the hallway, after returning from their nap break :(. and still, those that smoke refuse to light cigarettes for those residents who want their morning cigarette. one person in particular had the :mad: nerve to tell this other cna to light the residents because she didn't have the time...well that other cna couldn't because she's asthmatic...when i insisted that she light those residents because she's a smoker & can tolerate the smoke she acted as if i had slapped her in the face...her :uhoh21: attitude changed though when i suggested that she give-up some of her smoking breaks if she's too short of time at the end of her shift to light them up. the first smoking time for our residents is at 0530 hrs & she should be able to spend her time in with them...don't doubt that she even sneaks & joins them now...lol :lol2:!!!

originally posted by konnihall

since i don't smoke, i don't get a break.

i mean, if half the nurses are outside smoking, and i leave the floor, too, who would watch the monitors and take care of the patients? because as soon as things slow down, those smokers are heading out the door for their "breathing treatment."

my mom was a nurse, too, (semi-retired now) and she never smoked at work. and she was about a half a pack a day smoker at her peak, yet she could manage to make it through a day (or night) without lighting up.

come to think of it, she didn't smoke in her car either, so she didn't get the fix right before she walked in or right after she walked out (which would be just fine with me in regards to my co-workers).

if i step out of the unit to walk to the dumbwaiter for meds, inevitably one of the smokers will complain that they had to reset one of my pumps, or suction my patient, or something else while i was gone. yet us non-smokers are supposed to cover the smokers' patients without complaining the 3, 4, 5 or more times they take a smoke break! who, with the exception of one, take at least 15 min. to smoke a cigarette (we do have one speed smoker in the unit).

if i offended any smokers, sorry. but i need to vent about something that really chaps my @$$.

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Specializes in ER, PACU, OR.

break? what the h*ll is a break?

when i actually get one....i promise i will let you know what i did! lmao! :chuckle

me :)

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Specializes in ED staff.

IF I get to take a break, I empty the bladder. If I get to take a break for longer than that I might just check my email, so send me some :) Wendy

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Specializes in ER, PACU, OR.
originally posted by greer128

when i take a break i go sit and read a good book.

greer,

a whole book? wow! :eek: either you get one h*ll of a break, or are a very fast reader!! lmao! :chuckle

me :)

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Specializes in ER, PACU, OR.

hi! :D i'm actually getting 5 minutes right now!!!!

me :)

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What is a break? I am with you on the smoking thing. The smokers are the first to complain at 1:30p when no one has gone to lunch yet that they did not get a break. they have stopped 4 times already! When I am on break it is like you are not even on break because everyone bothers you with questions that can wait or that admission or post op patient always comes at the time you are on break. We are not allowed to leave the floor either just to grab food and come back. That is why I always try to pack my lunch so I can atleast "shove it down" fast if I need to and not waste time!

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I work midnights, and it's usually me and two aides. On the rare occasions I do get a break, I go to the toilet, dash outside for a quick smoke, grab a SlimFast and tear back to the nurses' station.:eek: On the rare occasions that there is another RN, I do as above, only not a such a frenetic pace.:p Sometimes I even have a chance to look through the Avon book!!:roll

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have to echo CEN.........

a break.........5 minutes is nice..........

but now i am out of here.......

jacuzzi awaits

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