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 Med/Surg.

No, I'm not new, nor have time management issues. As I said in my post, it has been "utterly ridiculous" on my unit lately. Even the RN I worked with on Saturday didn't get a lunchbreak. And I was helping her out with 3/4 of the med passes(in addition to all my other work) because we had so much going on with our patient group that the 2 of us were drowning in quick sand. And the Charge RN couldn't help us because she was helping out a different RN & the NI-II that was with her....and they weren't doing well either.

Yes, I agree to a point that "you get what you ask for". But I also do not intentionally cause myself pain and misery, either, if time & opportunity would allow me a minute to catch my breath, stuff a cracker down my mouth, or make a bee-line for the bathroom. If only I could tell a patient that they'll have to wait 15 minutes(for whatever they need/want) so that I can eat, pee, etc. But then I wouldn't have a job. Also, just an FYI, it is not usual for me to miss getting a lunch or being able to use the bathroom if needed. It's just lately that there's been an issue.

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Specializes in Medical Surgical.

Yes, we have to go to the bathroom!! We must draw the line there! But I still don't understand how all of us can take meal breaks. There is nobody to watch your patients, in many cases. Everyone else is stretched to the max too and they don't know anything about your patients, even if they did have time to take care of them. I used to try to eat on duty, but it is no pleasure to have to answer the phone during a "break" or to think about all the work that has already piled up and is getting more substantial every minute you sit out on break. Also, I get no pleasure from wolfing down food that then sits in your stomach like a lead balloon. A real meal break would mean that someone is taking responsibility for your patients for an UNINTERRUPTED 30 minutes. Otherwise, I don't see the point and I don't call cramming chips, etc. in your mouth while you chart a meal break.

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When I worked on med/surg we all got a lunch break. The problem was 1. we couldn't leave the floor 2. we could not pass off our beeper, so while at lunch I was lucky to have 10 minutes to woof down my lunch. Either my beeper would go off, I would get overhead paged or I'd get a phone call in the break room.

Then you didn't get a lunch break.

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No, I'm not new, nor have time management issues. As I said in my post, it has been "utterly ridiculous" on my unit lately. Even the RN I worked with on Saturday didn't get a lunchbreak. And I was helping her out with 3/4 of the med passes(in addition to all my other work) because we had so much going on with our patient group that the 2 of us were drowning in quick sand. And the Charge RN couldn't help us because she was helping out a different RN & the NI-II that was with her....and they weren't doing well either.

Yes, I agree to a point that "you get what you ask for". But I also do not intentionally cause myself pain and misery, either, if time & opportunity would allow me a minute to catch my breath, stuff a cracker down my mouth, or make a bee-line for the bathroom. If only I could tell a patient that they'll have to wait 15 minutes(for whatever they need/want) so that I can eat, pee, etc. But then I wouldn't have a job. Also, just an FYI, it is not usual for me to miss getting a lunch or being able to use the bathroom if needed. It's just lately that there's been an issue.

Go to the bathroom when you have to go. Those patients aren't going to go down the tubes in the few minutes it takes for you to go to the bathroom.

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I pee as many times during shift as I need too.

Over last two years, it was only once or twice when I was not able to take a lunch break, and I charged for it and got paid for it.

Take care of yourself.

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I could never work somewhere that didn't allow me to eat or pee for 12 hours. First of all, I take a diuretic daily for HTN, so I need to pee a little more often than a lot of people. Second of all, I'm one of those people who gets dizzy and lightheaded, and my hands start to shake if I haven't eaten in a really long time (I can easily go 6-8 hours, but not a 12+ hour shift plus commute time getting there and back). I definitely understand that nursing is unpredictabls, and that there may be days when circumstances will not allow me to clock out for a 30 minute lunch, but I need to at least be able to eat a granola bar and have a little water while I chart. I'm only a student, and we do all of our clinicals at the same site. I've only had one RN so far make a statement to the effect of "You'd better pee now, because once we start you won't get another chance!" I worked with another nurse on the same floor who took normal BR breaks as needed. We don't do full 12 hour shifts until this coming semester, and now we'll be there twice a week, so I should get a better idea of what to expect at that hospital at least. I just hope I don't have unrealistic expectations - I'm sorry, I'm not a martyr, and I won't work for free either!

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Specializes in SICU.
No, I'm not new, nor have time management issues. As I said in my post, it has been "utterly ridiculous" on my unit lately. Even the RN I worked with on Saturday didn't get a lunchbreak. And I was helping her out with 3/4 of the med passes(in addition to all my other work) because we had so much going on with our patient group that the 2 of us were drowning in quick sand. And the Charge RN couldn't help us because she was helping out a different RN & the NI-II that was with her....and they weren't doing well either.

Yes, I agree to a point that "you get what you ask for". But I also do not intentionally cause myself pain and misery, either, if time & opportunity would allow me a minute to catch my breath, stuff a cracker down my mouth, or make a bee-line for the bathroom. If only I could tell a patient that they'll have to wait 15 minutes(for whatever they need/want) so that I can eat, pee, etc. But then I wouldn't have a job. Also, just an FYI, it is not usual for me to miss getting a lunch or being able to use the bathroom if needed. It's just lately that there's been an issue.

Well I hope things get better for you soon. That is no way to work. :o

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One thing I've always disagreed with is hospitals only expecting their staff to take one 30 minute meal break for 12 hour shift. If I'm working a 7A shift, for example, that means I eat breakfast at ~5:30am, then lunch around noon, then nothing again until I get home around 8pm.

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Specializes in ICU, School Nurse, Med/Surg, Psych.

Working the night shift at a LTC facility as the only RN I am required to be "available" during my meal break. If I get called to the floor for patient care you bet I get back on the clock. i am not a volunteer. I think nurses are reluctant to imploy self care. it is part of the personality traits of the type of people who are attracted to the service industry. I have IBD and I make time for my personal care. this is part of the questions that I ask when interviewing for a position. I want to know the working conditions and how much support I am going to get from my manager. I wouldn't work in a place where i repeatedly did not get breaks and lunch. Take a minute and look at the Fair Standards Labor Act- federal statute for the protection of workers. Labor day is not just a day off work- it is a celebration of those who fought against "the man" so that we could have a lunch break.

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Sounds like some of us should make some New Years Resolution to take care of ourselves. There is no reason not to go to the bathroom when needed...now I am not saying stop cardiac compressions to go but one should definately be able to say to their charge... "I need the little girl's room brb" and go. If you don't get an undisturbed lunch break or rest break (some choose no to eat) then put down no lunch break. Of course one should not take advantage of saying no lunch break when they have had down time during their shift that they could have gone. The unit you work on will still be there when you get done, I promise. So please take care of yourselves, no one else ever will.

Toq

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Specializes in OB, M/S, HH, Medical Imaging RN.
I also do not intentionally cause myself pain and misery, either, if time & opportunity would allow me a minute to catch my breath, stuff a cracker down my mouth, or make a bee-line for the bathroom. If only I could tell a patient that they'll have to wait 15 minutes(for whatever they need/want) so that I can eat, pee, etc. But then I wouldn't have a job.

I cannot imagine losing your job because you had to use the bathroom, that would be utterly insane. It doesn't take 15 minutes to pee. Realistically 1-2 minutes including sanitizing your hands.

When I would try to go eat I would make rounds on my patients, see if they needed anything, tell them I would be at lunch but would still be available, 99 times out of 100 they didn't bother me. It was the charge nurse, unit secretary or doctors. I doubt I would have ever lost my job for eating lunch either.

I cannot imagine anything other than an ongoing code that would keep me from using the bathroom.

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Specializes in ER, IICU, PCU, PACU, EMS.

No job is worth sacrificing myself!

If I'm expected to meet the basic human daily needs of my patients, then I feel no guilt about satisfying my own also. I picture a nurse handing out dinner trays, smelling the food with her hands shaking and feeling faint because she's working a 12+ hour shift and hasn't had time to eat - that's insane!! We are supposed professionals, not slaves. Stop accepting treatment as such.

With regard to meal breaks, my previous hospital had a rule that if you were interrupted during your meal, then clock no lunch. It was the only thing I liked about the place. My current hospital has us carry our assigned cell phones even during breaks. We do not clock no lunch. So, if you bother me during my meal, then I extend my break for the amount of time you take from me.

I give over 100% effort every shift and most times, I can't get everything done - it's a 24 hour continuous job - it'll have to be done later. Blame it on the powers-that-be for piling on more work and patients that one can handle.

I am one person, I can do one thing safely and competently at a time (sometimes two) and I use the bathroom and eat. It's not something I expect - it's something I demand.

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