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Discussion

mandatory 15 min breaks...

If I sound a little ticked off it's because I just got home from work. Without further delay...

I love my job and the residents in my care. I believe I have a great work ethic and my coworkers and nurses have seen that. I have been a CNA for about a year and have drastically improved the speed of my work.

My problem lies in the fact that I have people that insist that I take 15 minute breaks. I know this may sound trivial but I need every minute with my residents that I can get. I have done all I can to speed up without compromising resident care and refuse to cut corners to accomplish faster work speed. I do prioritize already. I make a chart for myself as to how I am going to go about my day.

I was lectured tonight by a nurse about time management but this was after this person cut about an hour of my time for one of these stupid 15 minute breaks and told me to go to an inservice that I could have gone to another time. I told this person the above-mentioned items and it didn't matter. I was told that other people can take their 15-minute breaks without a problem but most of my coworkers don't do their COMPLETE rounds every two hours. I am at the end of my rope and don't want to argue about these stupid breaks anymore.

By the way, I have looked into whether there are state or federal guidelines regarding this issue and can find nothing saying one way or the other. If I am incorrect, please point me in the right direction.

I feel like I am being punished for having a good work ethic....:crying2:

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    • Experts

    Take the breaks. If you want to, you can spend your break mentally planning what you will do as soon as you return to the floor.

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    PLEASE!!! TAKE YOUR BREAKS. I know you are busy and feel it cuts into your work time, but all work and no breaks is a great set up for burn out and physical and mental exhaustion.

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    you might as well learn about politics now.....by insisting that you dont want to/cant take breaks, you are impugning your fellow CNAs work ethic......take the breaks.

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    I work at a large retail store and we have to take mandatory 15 minute breaks, too, plus clock out for 30 minutes if we work over 6 hours. They make it sound like they are following a labor law, but here is a link that says what the labor laws do NOT require:

    http://www.dol.gov/elaws/esa/flsa/screen6.asp

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    • Author

    Thank you very much for the link. The very end of that link shows me that I should discuss the particulars of this topic with my employer and see what they have to say. I am really not trying to start any trouble on my unit. It is strictly patient care and the time needed to do so that I am concerning myself with. I do appreciate the input of the other posters on this thread and don't want anyone to think I am not taking what others say into consideration. Once again, thank you.

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    in all likelyhood, you will do better, more efficient work if you take the break.

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    When I worked in ltc I did not take my tens very often. By the time I had to walk down a horrible long hallway it was almost time to come back. Plus it made me behind on my checks. I just took my 30 minute lunch break and called it good.

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    Me too. I hardly ever take my 10 minute break. Although I probably should. It's not good to hold your urine all day especially when it's so concentrated from not getting a chance to drink any water, ever!

    It's just that during that 10 minutes I could be toileting someone and making a bed and brushing someone's teeth, or doing vitals, or passing snacks.... and if those things aren't done ASAP you get yelled at. Do I want to get yelled at? No. So pretty much no one I work with ever takes their 10 minute breaks. We're afraid to. That place is like boot camp.

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    • Author

    My sentiments exactly, Fuzzywuzzy....

    In my mind, those two 15-minute breaks equal a residents shower or checking on at least five residents. I feel bad sitting on my behind in the breakroom while one of my residents could be sitting in their own waste (BTW, I am not ragging anyone in this case that takes their breaks, just conveying my thoughts).

    The cherry on top of this lecture was that I was compared to other more experienced CNAs (who I happened to know for a fact don't complete their rounds every two hours). Not wanting to tear other people down just to make myself look good, I simply stated "I am not CNA so-and-so. They do things differently from the way I would do them."

    I am trying not to get bitter about this experience because I love my job and my residents, but I have found this to be the only workplace that is discouraging productivity.

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    There might be state labor laws that require you to take breaks and such on top of the governments law. And I would just work the politics... If that particular nurse that makes you take breaks is there... Just "disappear" for a bit. And she'll think you're taking a break. ;)

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    There might be state labor laws that require you to take breaks and such on top of the governments law. And I would just work the politics... If that particular nurse that makes you take breaks is there... Just "disappear" for a bit. And she'll think you're taking a break. ;)

    I take it people don't understand labor laws

    just take the damn breaks jeez

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    breaks? what breaks? where i work we get a half hr lunch and thats IT

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