How often do you take a break?

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Doing an assignment, interested in finding out if nurses take a break during their shift? Presuming the majority don't.

seriously, this has become humerous to me. i don't think i'm that great, i think the job is that easy. i hate going to work because it's a snooze fest to me. ok, i'll give you a run down of my average day in LTC. I don't always work 7-3, but for my own simplicity, i'll just pick this shift.

get to work at about 0630. get a sharpie, highlighter and pen out.

then i get report. a lot of nurses write down "whole" or "crush" on a report sheet so they know who takes their pills whole, who takes them crushed (duh, sorry). i simply put a "C". if there's no "c", i don't crush it. I write "GT" for a g tube patient. I highlight the name of the patient who i need to chart on for that shift. i will write "ABT/reason for abt" uti, uri, wound, etc. if i don't write anything on a highlighted persons name, i know it's medicare charting. i then count narcs, check the med cart to make sure i have all my supplies, including supplements, accuchek supplies, etc.

then i go smoke...wander around, chat, etc.

i start my meds no later then 0800. i look on each med sheet to see what is a stock item and i grab all stock meds at once, to prevent me from taking meds out of one drawer, closing it, opening another drawer, taking a med out, closing the drawer, taking a stock med from another drawer, etc. occasionally i'll pass two people's meds at once. if they are in the same room, i write their name on the cup with the sharpie and go pass them together. a nurse the other day thought i was a genious for doing this. i thought it just seemed like a quicker way to do something. if i know i have a big treatment to do, if there is no wound care nurse, i will do a treatment mid-med pass. i'll know who has treatments because i've already gone through the treatment book and written down all my treatments on a separate sheet of paper i carry with me. i wouldn't sign the book though, until the end of the shift when the treatments are done. anyways, i finish the med pass, i check the fax machine, see what i have to fax at this point in the shift. check to see if the vitals are done. i always have vital sign equipment on my cart, because if someone needs a BP to be checked before administration of a certain med, i can't always wait for the nurse's assistant to get it, so i get it myself. it saves time. then i take a break, just a couple of minutes. that's all i want. then i chart, or do things that have to be done at the nurse's station. then i do treatments and accuchecks. after everyone's done with lunch, i start the second med pass. then i do anything i haven't done yet and wait to give report. generally i'm waiting for the nurse to show up.

i think it's all about time management. i have worked in the hospitals for years and i'm currently prn at one of the local hospitals. my day is the same there too. i know what's expected of me and i get everything done in case there is something unexpected, i know i'm atleast on my schedule to handle anything out of the ordinary.

again, i don't think i'm super nurse, i think i have just mapped out a schedule that has worked for me. maybe it won't work for everyone, but like i said, i have never stayed late at work before.

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Thank you very much for taking the time to type out your daily schedule!

seriously, this has become humerous to me. i don't think i'm that great, i think the job is that easy. i hate going to work because it's a snooze fest to me. ok, i'll give you a run down of my average day in LTC. I don't always work 7-3, but for my own simplicity, i'll just pick this shift.

get to work at about 0630. get a sharpie, highlighter and pen out.

then i get report. a lot of nurses write down "whole" or "crush" on a report sheet so they know who takes their pills whole, who takes them crushed (duh, sorry). i simply put a "C". if there's no "c", i don't crush it. I write "GT" for a g tube patient. I highlight the name of the patient who i need to chart on for that shift. i will write "ABT/reason for abt" uti, uri, wound, etc. if i don't write anything on a highlighted persons name, i know it's medicare charting. i then count narcs, check the med cart to make sure i have all my supplies, including supplements, accuchek supplies, etc.

then i go smoke...wander around, chat, etc.

i start my meds no later then 0800. i look on each med sheet to see what is a stock item and i grab all stock meds at once, to prevent me from taking meds out of one drawer, closing it, opening another drawer, taking a med out, closing the drawer, taking a stock med from another drawer, etc. occasionally i'll pass two people's meds at once. if they are in the same room, i write their name on the cup with the sharpie and go pass them together. a nurse the other day thought i was a genious for doing this. i thought it just seemed like a quicker way to do something. if i know i have a big treatment to do, if there is no wound care nurse, i will do a treatment mid-med pass. i'll know who has treatments because i've already gone through the treatment book and written down all my treatments on a separate sheet of paper i carry with me. i wouldn't sign the book though, until the end of the shift when the treatments are done. anyways, i finish the med pass, i check the fax machine, see what i have to fax at this point in the shift. check to see if the vitals are done. i always have vital sign equipment on my cart, because if someone needs a BP to be checked before administration of a certain med, i can't always wait for the nurse's assistant to get it, so i get it myself. it saves time. then i take a break, just a couple of minutes. that's all i want. then i chart, or do things that have to be done at the nurse's station. then i do treatments and accuchecks. after everyone's done with lunch, i start the second med pass. then i do anything i haven't done yet and wait to give report. generally i'm waiting for the nurse to show up.

i think it's all about time management. i have worked in the hospitals for years and i'm currently prn at one of the local hospitals. my day is the same there too. i know what's expected of me and i get everything done in case there is something unexpected, i know i'm atleast on my schedule to handle anything out of the ordinary.

again, i don't think i'm super nurse, i think i have just mapped out a schedule that has worked for me. maybe it won't work for everyone, but like i said, i have never stayed late at work before.

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Telephone Triage, ED, Trauma.

We get a 30 minute lunch break and 95% of the time, we do take it. Only during the winter months or if we are super short do we not get a break.

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About never. I take lunch 50% of the time. Ive gone all 12 hours without peeing.

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here in Cali, we must take breaks, at least on paper. We have a relief nurse, she does not get a pt assignment or at least till all the lunch breaks have been met. In the am there is a 15 min break, some people prefer not to take theirs, but it is put on the sheet anyway. Everyone gets the 1/2 hour lunch break. If things are totally insane we are paid for lunch, and at times the manager will call out for pizza or such. Since Jan 05 I think it has been a state mandated thing that we have to have a relief nurse and we must take breaks or the hospital will get fined. Sometimes the paper does not exactly match the breaks, but we try to get everyone a break. Most nurses who stay late have had a really horrendous day or they dont know how to multi-task( one class that surely should be given in nursing school). The relief nurse has to be really coordinated to make sure everyone gets their break at the time they signed up for or the whole lunch breaks will be screwed up.

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Specializes in LTC, Agency, HHC.

HAHAHAHA A break? As in the two 15 minute breaks I should get by law? Hehehe I don't take them....no time...but I do make sure I take my lunch. And if I don't they pay me for it. Ah, but now corporate is whining about "We don't have the budget for OT," I care for 30 patients on any given day, and my med pass is top priority. Takes me about 3 hours to do. Then I have treatments, etc, and then what if my patient codes on me? I could sure use another nurse!

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Specializes in LTC, Agency, HHC.
i take a break as soon as i get report, i work LTC through agency. i take a break as soon as i finish the med pass, i take a break after the afternoon med pass and i take a break again before i leave. i don't understand how people can not take breaks. i've worked LTC and critical care and L and D, pretty much everything but OR, PACU, etc. I find a way to take a break. and i have NEVER in 6 years of being a nurse, stayed late to chart. i just wouldn't do it.

How, pray tell, in LTC did you get your breaks and not stay late to chart...let me guess you didn't work medicare! I have 15 medicare patients I need to assess, do 2 med passes, chart and everything in between.....so please tell how you did it!!

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Specializes in long term care.

anytime i want to, i deserve it, it keeps me from going postal. allie1945

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Specializes in Geriatrics.

Only take those naturally-made breaks -- the quiet periods of the day (or night) when all my nursing home residents are snoozing. I don't clock out for them, though, b/c the minute something happens, whether I'm eating or not, I'm up. I don't plan my breaks -- they just happen! lol

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On 12 hr day shifts we get a two 15 min coffee breaks and two 30 min meal breaks. I always take my morning coffee break (need to get a breather from the insanity) and my lunch break (starving!!) but I will often forgo the afternoon coffee break so I can catch up on charting at a more leisurely pace. Usually I take 10-15 minutes of my supper break as I prefer to eat at home and the extra few minutes allow me to tie up all the loose ends so I don't have to stay late.

On nights we get two 1 hr breaks. If it's busy we will take less.

Note:

On any given shift we will have 4 short stay observation patients, 3 pediatric patients and 14 medical patients to 1 RN and 1 LPN (mixed medical/pediatric unit)

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Specializes in Neuro ICU, Neuro/Trauma stepdown.

in my experience the charge schedules the lunch times, and generally it works. as far as non meal breaks....if i've got even a minute to sit at the desk and chill or if i'm b/s-ing with a co-worker, that is a break! i would not be able to work without a meal, i simply cannot concentrate, i get irritable and prone to make a mistake--that's not fair to anybody.

BTW, i quit smoking a year and a half ago and noticed how little taking a break meant to me after that...

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Where I work we don't even have a break room so I guess we are not suppose to take a break. I would love to have a lunch break without families asking me to get dad a cup of ice or play "could you answer a question?".

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