Not taking a break

[Yellow90]

Nurses take your breaks! I know some of you are thinking "easier said than done". I am well aware of that. I work on a very busy PCU / Tele floor where 1 patient is going to CT, one has to go surgery, and one of the doctors wants to round with you all at the same time. When I first started I always missed my breakfast break. Now I make it a priority.I have had those days when I have taken my breakfast break at 11:30am and lunch at 4:00pm, that is super late. I very rarely miss my breakfast break, but I will always take my lunch. Once taken, I am a happier me!

If someone has not ate, you have a short-temper and low tolerance for problems. Even if not, your tummy is not happy and neither are you. This makes our job ten times harder, but this is a situation we have some control over. Once you take your break, take your full break. We will always have something to do and never have enough time to do everything. Prioritize patient care and yourself in the mix. Not taking a break will put you at higher risk for burnout syndrome.

TIPS:

Charting--> Don't wait till the end of the day to do all your charting. Chart as you go and as it happens.

Find your break buddy at the start of shift. Yes I live in California, but my facility does not have a special break nurse.

getting water for your patient ---> drink a glass of water also (that's something I have to remember also) :)

Before you think you might take your break --> check all your patient's and give all the PRN if needed --> that way you have a some piece of mind, then run and take your break

It is your responsibility to take your breaks and to take care of yourself. We give all day, so give back to yourself. You are also a priority.

Everyone please provide your tips!!!!

Rest Breaks Matter for Patient Safety

The Long- Term Effects of Nurses Not taking their breaks

[GeneralistRN]

I don't always get a 30 minute uninterrupted lunch break, but I always eat and stay hydrated and use the facilities when needed.

If it's interrupted, then by law you must be paid for the meal period.

[GeneralistRN]

Nope. you know why? Cause they had to sign off on this situation years ago , saying that no one would ever be able to claim this again ( everyone got some excuse for a payment ).

Also, if it does come up, the manager just tells you that its YOUR fault for not finding someone to cover your patients.

You can't permit your employer to get away with not paying you for a meal period that is interrupted. Anything that they had you "sign off" is immaterial and cannot override the FLSA, which requires that they pay you. The manager can say it's your fault for not finding coverage, until they are blue in the face, but they must still pay you.

[GeneralistRN]

I never take my breaks. I will eat my lunch on the floor. I simple don't feel comfortable ever leaving my critical patients alone and having another nurse "watch them" for me just doesn't really cut it. Also it never fails that by the time i get to a place where i can kind of relax for a second, the doc decides to put in an art line or something that needs the assistance of that patient's nurse.

***Edit: I do take multiple pee breaks if thats any compensation!

Don't take this the wrong way, but there's something wrong with you if you don't feel comfortable leaving your patient for 30 minutes in the hands of your coworkers and consequently are taking meal periods on the floor without pay.

I'm assuming you work in a critical care area if you have "critical patients." I see problems here.

For one thing, you're eating lunch in the unit and caring for critically ill patients at the same time? You are nasty and dirty for doing that and I strongly doubt that it is allowed. Two, I've worked in critical care: both in a medical ICU and in a cardiothoracic ICU. Finding people to cover a critical patient for 30 minutes is not a big deal and there is no reason you shouldn't feel comfortable doing that.

Lastly, if you're at lunch at the doctor says he need to put in an art line and needs help (although I don't know why he would even need your help with an art line after the timeout...), then you just tell whoever is calling you that "I can't help right now; I'm at lunch. Tell him he has to find someone else." Problem solved. Learn to assert yourself.

[JerseyTomatoMDCrab, BSN]

My last hospital job "addressed" this issue by the manager calling the phones of the nurses who were supposed to be on break and writing them up when their phones rang in their pockets. "Your phone ringing interrupts your break which is against policy." -__-

My current PRN hospital job has an option when you swipe out for the day, the clock asks "Did you taken an uninterrupted lunch break?" so you will not be deducted if you didn't get a chance to eat. It's a nice way to get credit for meals you missed but if you select "yes" too often the manager will have a talk with you about time management which, as we all know, really doesn't have anything to do with missing breaks.

[JerseyTomatoMDCrab, BSN]

For one thing, you're eating lunch in the unit and caring for critically ill patients at the same time? You are nasty and dirty for doing that and I strongly doubt that it is allowed.

That's quite a statement to make about a person as a whole based on one single habit they practice at work. I'm fairly certain that the poster to which you are replying isn't standing there shoveling turkey chili in their face while inserting an IV or gnawing on a sub while titrating a drip. I think what the poster means is that they don't leave the unit or sit in the break room to eat but instead they do it at the desk. Universal precautions dictate clean hands in and out so theoretically anything "nasty and dirty" picked up while eating is going to be cleansed off prior to entering the patient's room and any germs picked up at the bedside will be removed before heading back to the nurse's station.

I'm not saying I agree with this practice one way or the other but I do think your choice of words was poor.

[TriciaJ, RN]

While I appreciate your attempts to advocate for your coworkers, remember that they are adults and professionals and ultimately responsible for the decisions they choose to make with their time. I had a coworker once *insist* that I go take a lunch break while my patient was acutely deteriorating and I was in the middle of starting antibiotics, putting up inotropes, giving fluid boluses, etc. I finally had to be quite sharp with her that I was choosing not to go on a break and it was not her place to tell me that I had to.

If your coworker had time to stand around and insist, she should have offered to cover your patients for you. That's cover as in "provide care for" not "watch".

If my coworker is "watching" my patients in addition to her own full load, and something bad happens to one of mine, will it be my fault for taking my break at a bad time? And when there is no good time?

At a previous job where I tended to miss breaks (but billed for every nanosecond) management liked to say "Just take your break." But they would not provide anyone to take proper care of my patients in my absence and I did not trust them not to throw me under the bus if something bad happened.

[martymoose, BSN, RN]

Don't take this the wrong way, but there's something wrong with you if you don't feel comfortable leaving your patient for 30 minutes in the hands of your coworkers and consequently are taking meal periods on the floor without pay.

I'm assuming you work in a critical care area if you have "critical patients." I see problems here.

For one thing, you're eating lunch in the unit and caring for critically ill patients at the same time? You are nasty and dirty for doing that and I strongly doubt that it is allowed. Two, I've worked in critical care: both in a medical ICU and in a cardiothoracic ICU. Finding people to cover a critical patient for 30 minutes is not a big deal and there is no reason you shouldn't feel comfortable doing that.

Lastly, if you're at lunch at the doctor says he need to put in an art line and needs help (although I don't know why he would even need your help with an art line after the timeout...), then you just tell whoever is calling you that "I can't help right now; I'm at lunch. Tell him he has to find someone else." Problem solved. Learn to assert yourself.

It may be dirty and nasty, as you call it, but theres this little thing called a license. That little piece of paper that we are asked to risk EVERY SINGLE TIME WE WORK, because management has NO CLUE.

Seriously, you think one WANTS to eat on the run? If it wasnt such a big deal, then why are so many of us DOING IT? Because , hmm, let's see. I sign off my pts to the only available person, who happens to be a new grad just off orientation. Does that seem safe to you? And before you say "wheres the charge" they are either in a 5 pt assignment ALONG with charge, or are off the floor with pts with tests that must be accompanied by an RN.

Assert myself? to Who? management? who runs us into the ground like this?To the shirts who say this is your new staffing pattern- suck it up buttercup?

Ughhhhh. done

[BSN16]

Don't take this the wrong way, but there's something wrong with you if you don't feel comfortable leaving your patient for 30 minutes in the hands of your coworkers and consequently are taking meal periods on the floor without pay.

I'm assuming you work in a critical care area if you have "critical patients." I see problems here.

For one thing, you're eating lunch in the unit and caring for critically ill patients at the same time? You are nasty and dirty for doing that and I strongly doubt that it is allowed. Two, I've worked in critical care: both in a medical ICU and in a cardiothoracic ICU. Finding people to cover a critical patient for 30 minutes is not a big deal and there is no reason you shouldn't feel comfortable doing that.

Lastly, if you're at lunch at the doctor says he need to put in an art line and needs help (although I don't know why he would even need your help with an art line after the timeout...), then you just tell whoever is calling you that "I can't help right now; I'm at lunch. Tell him he has to find someone else." Problem solved. Learn to assert yourself.

"Don't take this the wrong way but ..... You are nasty and dirty for doing that......"

Firstly, i would trust my coworkers with my own life, sorry that i just don't feel comfortable with any nurse having to manage 4 ICU patients.

Secondly, I know it is technically not allowed but every single nurse on my unit eats their lunch on the floor and yes management is aware of this. I am not "consistently taking taking meal breaks on the floor without pay" In no way is shoving a bite of sandwich in my mouth while i run and answer my pumps and change drips taking a break.

and lastly, you're right next time a doc wants me to do a procedure on a patient and needs my assistance ill just say "Sorry Doc i gotta take my lunch, can't this wait???" Trust me it's not a problem about being assertive.

[loriangel14, RN]

what?? 2 hours? Are you kidding?

Yep usually at least that long. We nap.

[DeeAngel]

I always make it a point to take my breaks and on the rare occasions I can't then I note it on my time card so I can get paid for that time. I think people who claim to always be "too busy" to ever take breaks are disorganized.

[pebblebeach, BSN, RN]

I wish they enforced breaks at our hospital. It's extremely difficult to find even 10 minutes to sit down for a second and have a granola bar and some water.

[GeneralistRN]

It may be dirty and nasty, as you call it, but theres this little thing called a license. That little piece of paper that we are asked to risk EVERY SINGLE TIME WE WORK, because management has NO CLUE.

Seriously, you think one WANTS to eat on the run? If it wasnt such a big deal, then why are so many of us DOING IT? Because , hmm, let's see. I sign off my pts to the only available person, who happens to be a new grad just off orientation. Does that seem safe to you? And before you say "wheres the charge" they are either in a 5 pt assignment ALONG with charge, or are off the floor with pts with tests that must be accompanied by an RN.

Assert myself? to Who? management? who runs us into the ground like this?To the shirts who say this is your new staffing pattern- suck it up buttercup?

Ughhhhh. done

Unless you've been willfully neglectful to your patients before leaving to go eat, or haven't charted their vitals or condition your whole shift, then your license isn't going to be in jeopardy for some unexpected occurrence that takes place while you're off the unit. It doesn't happen. So... yeah. You aren't risking your license by going to lunch.