NO LUNCH??? NO BREAKS??? Is that common in nursing?????

stilltrying · Feb 27, 2009

That is so true. I must agree.

**canoehead, BSN, RN** · Feb 27, 2009

The break room is STAFF ONLY. That makes me crazy too, and so does family behind the desk. I may think their tops, but I need my boundaries respected, or my eyeballs start to pop.

massrn116 · Feb 27, 2009

It happens where I work (see "do nurses eat their..lunch). I have observed that the nurses I work with cannot organize sometimes to get their lunch or I should say prioritize themselves and their needs and look at the needs of their co-workers. Many days I have to say enough is enough and I tell one of my co-workers I am going to lunch. In nursing school we were told if we do not take care of ourselves we cannot take care of our patients. You may have to really look at your day and realize you can put things aside for at least 15-20 minutes. You deserve a break and you deserve to go to the bathroom. It is NOT a badge of honor to be a martyr. Try teaming up with one other co-worker, it might be a little more hell in your day but if you each cover one another, taking the time for yourself may help. In school we were also told to tell our patients we were going to lunch and kind of inferring not to call for anything.. today it amazes me to see the look on a face when a family member will visit and want to speak to the patient's nurse. If I tell them the nurse is at lunch, it is almost as if I said something unacceptable. I think we nurses have created this monster.

nicurn001 · Feb 27, 2009

Your posts are becoming quite pretentious and condescending. Telling someone what they "will not do in the future" simply is not constructive. Nor is saying how you dont think we would do anything whether the economy is bad or not. You are in California, protected by a union and ratio laws. It is easy to stand over there and point your finger at the rest of the country like we dont know what we are doing, but i doubt the CNA would support your manners. I respect the CNA, and the nurses who fought to keep their ratio laws. Were you out there marching in the streets with them, or are you just enjoying the conditions they fought for and won? Anybody that marched and fought would know it was a hard fight, and would not be so judgemental of nurses in other states, who arent afforded such protections. You have read posters that said if they even mention the word "union", they could be fired on the spot. I personally remember supervisor classes where they made us watch videos about how "bad" unions are. The rest of this country is not California. Try working in another state and see if you still talk so loud.

Sometimes I am guilty of writing with the convictions of the converted , so rereading the note that appears to have rattled your cage , it does appear to be overly aggresive , I am sorry for that .:selfbonk:

However , the best indicator of future behavior , is to look at past behavior . I've tried not to be judgemental in the thread , making it clear that I was advocating what could be done , not what should be done .

I have marched in the streets , it is only because of those who struggled in earlier times , that we in California , have the protections we have now . Those nurses were faced with the real posibility of losing their livlihood , in a time when there was not a financial safety net for them . I have great respect for them !, they knew that if you want to resolve a problem you have to do something about it .

I have lived and worked outside of CA .

In this thread , as we all do , I am simply expressing my own opinion . Which in this case is that the nurses who view not getting breaks as a problem , are the only ones who can change this problem , nobody else will do it for them :deadhorse. There will always be risks in trying to bring about change . Obviously you have to do your own risk /benefit analysis to decide if action is warranted .

mscsrjhm · Feb 27, 2009

In reply to post 146:

I am not attempting to be a martyr.

This issue is not a clinical issue, and cannot be solved by looking it up in a text book, or bringing up what you were taught in school. This is an opinion issue.

The law states that I get paid if I don't get 30. It doesn't say employer must guarantee 30.

My sister is a welder, and frequently misses her lunches also. She doesn't do this to be a martyr. She gets into the same pace mode, and also doesn't want to stay 2 hours late to play catch up.

While I am at work, I don't think about "me" time. I don't like to stop if I have set my pace.

amy0123, BSN, RN · Feb 28, 2009

Through agency, I have worked at places that required their own staff to do this.
I just don't get it.
I go to work to make money, and consider putting food in my children's mouths a great responsibility. I work very hard, am a good employee, do my job, and respect the employer/employee relationship. I'm pretty thick skinned, don't let little things bother me, and try to work with all P&Ps without complaint.
But-
NEVER MESS WITH MY MONEY!!!
If I don't get lunch- I WILL be paid.
And, isn't it illegal to mandate employees to perform criminal acts? Falsifying timecards to avoid paying employees for time worked- wouldn't that be criminal in a really big way?

All staff get the same lectures from administration. I'm not sure what the big deal is to the facility about no lunch breaks. If we weren't so overloaded by what administration gives then we would always have a lunch break. In one facility, staff had to swipe in and out electonically. lunch breaks were automatic. If you missed a lunch break - God be with you. Because if you did not a good enough reason to convince the supervisor why you had no lunch break - it was not granted. And being "too busy" about anything was never accepted. You really had to fight for it. It got to the point were nurses just gave in because they were not up to dealing with the stress and labor of convincing administration. UGH! Going to the labor board sounds like a good idea.

nicurn001 · Feb 28, 2009

In reply to post 146:
"I am not attempting to be a martyr. "
"While I am at work, I don't think about "me" time. I don't like to stop if I have set my pace."

If you have the freedom to choose whether to take break or not ,what you say is fine .In order to make that free choice , your employer is required to enable you to take your break, away from patients , not tethered to your patients by a pager etc.and if your break is interupted , legally it is not a break .

How is it " me time " . As one poster put it eloquently when you are not given enough time to change your tampon ! , calling a break "me time" , seems to be saying that by taking breaks nurses are acting selfishly .

cardiacRN2006, ADN, RN · Feb 28, 2009

... go to the labor board.

What's that?

Exactly.

mscsrjhm · Feb 28, 2009

If you have the freedom to choose whether to take break or not ,what you say is fine .In order to make that free choice , your employer is required to enable you to take your break, away from patients , not tethered to your patients by a pager etc.and if your break is interupted , legally it is not a break .
How is it " me time " . As one poster put it eloquently when you are not given enough time to change your tampon ! , calling a break "me time" , seems to be saying that by taking breaks nurses are acting selfishly .

If I need a bathroom break, I take one.

The "me time" I speak of is not for the bathroom. It is that down time for 30 minutes to just get away.

Per the post I was referring to : "In nursing school we were told if we do not take care of ourselves we cannot take care of our patients"- implying that the lunch break is necessary for our well being, and implying an attempt at martyrdom.

I just haven't had a need for the down time. (Perhaps I really should have used that term instead of "me time".)

This is obviously something very important to you, and as a co-worker, I would respect your opinion on this subject. I also would expect my opinion to be respected.

BradleyRN · Feb 28, 2009

the nurses who view not getting breaks as a problem , are the only ones who can change this problem

I am certainly on your side. I only defend the right to see this hurdle as too high to jump because of the lack of unity amongst nurses. One nurse standing up usually results in an example being made of her, and instills fear into the rest to keep them from ever doing the same. The deck is stacked against us, because the same people we have to fight for our rights are the same people that pay our salary. It is an overwhelming fight to someone with bills to pay. They dont want go first into this battle. It is not their fault individually, but it is all our fault collectively. I have only two choices. I can move to California and leave my family and friends behind to have good working conditions, or i can stay and hate nursing just because i am always guaranteed to have too many patients. After all, no lunch is just a side effect of that issue, as are all of our problems. :)

WhitemountainmagicRN · Feb 28, 2009

It is so common in other worlds!...I have been an ICU nurse for 15+years and I can tell you that more often than not, I do not get a lunch break, let alone a 15min break. If I get to eat it is usually at the nurses station while I am charting. I have worked at large trauma hosp and very small hosp, my exp has been the same all over.

L&DForMe · Feb 28, 2009

I havent read thru all pages, so this may have been suggested already....

You'll learn to pack your lunch with a meal you plan to eat, but also with several little baggies of snacks to munch on along the way.

Some days youll get to eat your "real" lunch, and some days you just snack here and there.

Ive worked in a hospital setting for 8 years. As a CNA on med/surg, then a CNA in L&D, and now I work as a HUC (secretary) in L&D while going thru nursing school. Not one time in any of those positions, and working both 8 and 12 hour shifts, do I remember a time that I wasnt allowed at least 3 minutes of time to go to the bathroom, or eat, or both. Nor do I remember clocking out at the end of my shift thinking I was hungry or had to go to the bathroom because I COULDNT do either during my shift.

I stopped taking official breaks a loooong time ago! I work nights, and find if I stop for too long, its hard to get restarted If I get to stop for a couple of minutes every hour or two, I do better that way.

So missing breaks/lunches isnt that big of a deal for me. We dont get paid for our lunch breaks (30 min), but do get 2 paid fifteen minute breaks in a 12 hour shift. Very few of us demand to get our breaks. RNs/CNAs/HUCs....we all work as a team to get breaks when needed. Some nights we only get enough time to pee. Other nights we sit around waiting for something to happen.

Give it some time and you'll realize that it "all comes out in the wash". Acceptable? No. But you get used to it.