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....
I dont think I ever take the 2 15 min breaks at all b/c I rarely have time at all. Even if I do I usually spend that time talking w/ my patients.
At my facility we dont have to clock in & out for 15 min breaks but require to do so for 30 min lunch. We dont get pay for our lunch breaks, of course. But I rarely take my lunch breaks at all b/c sometimes I'm too busy so dont have time to eat and sometimes I dont feel like to eat at all so I just dont take my lunch. Even if I dont take my 30 min lunch I would still clock in/out for it. But on the busy days I sometimes forgot to clock in/out for lunch.
My question is, am I going to get in trouble or causing my employer any problem when I forgot to clock in/out for lunch? Does that mean I break the state law? Is this problem consider as serious that they gonna fire me?
But from now on I'll try to remember to clock in/out for every lunch break, whether I take my lunch or not and whether I am busy or relax.
Clocking out for lunch and returning to the floor is what will get you in trouble. You are not legal, period, end of story. if a. anything happens to a resident and b. anything happens to you you are in a world of hurt. WHich means in the first case, you are toast if the facility's legal wants a scapegoat because a family sued them AND you. And second that workman's comp won't touch you if you hurt yourself. Both these are BAD situations.
I see that a lot of you are young and/or new CNAs. The lunch break at least is important for YOU! You will get fast enough with time to get it all done. You will have plenty of time to talk to residents, once you get the skills/routine solid in your head, you can talk while you work. YOUR brain needs the break and down-time of not thinking constantly. The ones who flame out early are the ones who don't learn to protect themselves. Yes that sounds harsh but it's really true.
Look around here and see how many folks have come in fast and big eyed, how many are still here. Look around your facility and you will probably notice the long timers are the ones who take care of themselves. Not that you don't but if you want to do this job long term, you DO have to think about your self and keep from getting burned out. Breaks do help with that. Now I'm not talking about the break abusers that are hard to find on the floor or the endless 'i'm on a smoke break' aides, those are a different rant. But ones who sit down and talk about life outside or read a book or just take a minute to settle their mind, those are the ones who last.
We who have been around know it will take you awhile to get with the routine and get some speed. If you are trying and genuinely improving, we do give you some slack. And we can tell the ones who will make it pretty much right away, so working through breaks or talking big doesn't impress a whole lot. I know you aren't out to impress us and we know if you are trying to get some skills. So just take the time to chill a bit and talk to us maybe, we don't bite (that hard) :)
Not taking breaks does not mean good work ethics. In fact it is the opposite. Did you read the comments posted here saying they are too busy to take even lunches? They are suffering therefore so are the patients. If they cannot take adequate breaks that is because the employer is refusing to hire more staff. Why? Because they know some employees let them get away with it. If workers do not take the privileges, the employer finds way to take away that privileges. If a nurse truly wants to help patients, it's being ignorant to think that she has to become a work horse. A working healthcare system helps patients health, not an individual worker. A system is not sustainable if the workers are constantly overworked. It's been two years since this posting was written but I would really like to let the original poster realize that she is endangering a system by setting a bad example and precedence for other nurses. She or he has no idea her attitude is fattening the employers bank account and hurting other nurses.
blue cna
53 Posts
breaks? what breaks? where i work we get a half hr lunch and thats IT