Meal and Potty Breaks

Nurses General Nursing

Published

OK, I am seeing this way too much - nurses who are not able to even take a bathroom break, let alone a meal break.

How often does this happen to you where you can't get to the bathroom when you need to?

What about meal breaks?

Do you put in for OT if you miss your meal break or do you just donate your half hour?

What are your options? Do you have a supervisor or manager who will relieve you if requested to do so? Do you and another nurse spell each other? Or is it every man for himself? :devil:

We get sufficient breaks where I work and I kind of have no choice but to take a potty break when needed, due to a GI condition. But I work with a nurse who has very heavy periods and sometimes she can't in to change her sanitary items soon enough and has accidents. :uhoh3: This is really embarrassing for her and it makes me just plain mad. I always urge her to just go but she waits til there is a problem, says she's too nervous to leave the floor for a few minutes, even though I tell her I'll cover for her while she tends to her menstrual equipment needs.

Specializes in Gyn Onc, OB, L&D, HH/Hospice/Palliative.
for her to actually bleed all over herself (been there) repeatedly, in the name of patient care is totally ridiculous! :nono: go to the bathroom, fer chrissakes!

i worked for a while in a crazy busy amb unit doing telephone and walk-in triage. anywhoo i told the insane nm there that exactly,, a person should at least be able to have the time to change their tampon at work!!!!, she was pretty flabergasted... she still expected the nurses to clock out on time, but continue to work until every pt was seen, sometimes 1-11/2 hrs p clinic closed,, not me, never have, never will, just my bad non-caring attitude i guess :nono:

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Specializes in Med-Surg/Peds/O.R./Legal/cardiology.

Good grief, y'all, this is insane!! I agree 100% with SICU Queen. TELL the other staff members that you're going to the BR or to eat your meal. It is your NM's responsibility to provide coverage. Don't torture yourselves! You will soon find yourselves sick and/or burned out if you don't become more assertive.

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Specializes in Medical Surgical.

What good is it to take a break if you just get even farther behind and have to stay overshift even longer?

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Specializes in Acute Care Cardiac, Education, Prof Practice.
What good is it to take a break if you just get even farther behind and have to stay overshift even longer?

Because sometimes it is good to take a minute, five or 10 minutes to reset your brain and allow you to stop, breathe and then jump back in the pool.

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Specializes in Med-Surg/Peds/O.R./Legal/cardiology.

You know how when you're on an airplane and the flight attendant explains what to do if the O2 apparatus falls down? "Apply it to yourself FIRST and then your child"... The same goes for nurses. If you don't take care of YOURSELF first, you can't be a very effective caregiver. That includes meals and potty breaks. Food feeds the brain. With it, you are able to think more clearly, focus more sharply, assess more accurately, and react more swiftly. That has been well proven in children who eat a good breakfast before going to school--they do so much better. Moral of this story: EAT AND PEE!!!

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Trauma, Ortho, Neuro, Cardiac.

I can say with assurance it doesn't happen here, and I work med-surg.

Shame on the nurse that doesn't take time out to potty, that doesn't make sense to me. As far as breaks, 99.9999% I break for a meal, no matter what is going on, even if it's only 10 minutes. I'm no good if I'm stressed and hungry. No good to myself, no good to my patients. Actually, I'm more productive when I eat so it doesn't delay me going home.

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I worked for a while in a crazy busy amb unit doing telephone and walk-in triage. Anywhoo I told the insane NM there that exactly,, a person should at least be able to have the time to change their tampon at work!!!!, she was pretty flabergasted... she still expected the nurses to clock out on time, but continue to work until every pt was seen, sometimes 1-11/2 hrs p clinic closed,, NOT ME, never have, never will, just my bad non-caring attitude i guess :nono:

I would never ever work off the clock. I tell people I am hitting the head and that is it. I don't always eat but I won't give up head call as needed.

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Specializes in Med Surg, Hospice.
You know, I guess I've gotten old and crotchety, because I just don't put up with this anymore.

I eat, and I go to the bathroom. I don't ask. I TELL someone that I AM going to do these things, and then I go do them. In turn I offer to relieve my coworkers so that they too can use the bathroom and eat.

Be proactive. INSIST on being able to eat and use the bathroom.

I do this too... if I don't eat, I get physically sick and I get a migraine. My body knows when I need to eat. As for the bathroom, I'll go anytime I have to. No way am I risking an accident or a UTI. There's one charge nurse that always jokes when I tell her I'm going to eat "You ate yesterday, no eating today." Or when I'm asked to do something and I'll say I need to pee first. "No peeing. You peed already this week". Then she laughs. I'm to the point where I need to take care of ME first and if that means the floor doesn't have me for half an hour or 5 minutes then they'll just have to do without me and adjust for that length of time. Unless there's a code and I'm needed (which is rare), they can just deal with me being gone for a few minutes.

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There may not be a law that says a hospital has to give you a break, but the one where I work automatically docks my time in the assumption that I took a break. If I don't get a break, I used to mark it down and then tried to figure out if my pay worked out correctly. Now I make sure I take my breaks. That work will be there when I get back (no, I don't leave my patients unsafe) but I often have to catch up my charting due to my new mentality. Sometimes this means I work a few minutes late in the evening, but that doesn't bother me as much as donating my time to the hospital! I sell my time, I don't volunteer it.

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What good is it to take a break if you just get even farther behind and have to stay overshift even longer?

You will be more physically comfortable and able to think clearly, plus get paid for the OT.

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Here is some interesting information on meals/breaks:

http://www.ewin.com/articles/restper.htm

According to this site, looks as though there isn't a Federal Law that actually mandates any type of breaks. There are some statutes for breaks or a 5-to-25 minute lunch, but that's about it.

I like this WY (re: Lunch periods)!!!

WY = 60 minutes for employees who must work on their feet.

Uhhmmmm....I live in WY and have yet to get 1/2 hour lunch out of 13+ hours of working let alone 60 minutes - it sounds great, but it is a myth.
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Specializes in NICU.

https://allnurses.com/forums/f86/lunch-breaks-10173.html

This is a link to a similar thread from 2001. Things haven't changed.

https://allnurses.com/forums/f86/lunch-breaks-10173-5.html

A post on this page talks about California law, unfortunately, it does not seem to have any effect on our hospital. I have been told that we are a District Hospital, so State Law has nothing to do with us. True or not, I don't know at this time. I do know a nurse from a hospital in Northern California which has a Union, and they do get the extra pay and OT for missed breaks.

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