Nurses and Lunch Breaks in NYC

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Hi everyone. I am doing a survey for a project I am trying to create for my hospital. I am a bedside nurse and have gone a whole 12.5 hours not getting a full one hour lunch break. I wanted to know how many of you have experienced the same and how you feel about it? Would getting a full one hour uninterrupted lunch break make any difference to you? Would you be a lot happier/less stressed in your profession if you were able to get that one hour break away from your unit? Also, do you think that patients would receive better care if you had an uninterrupted lunch break? Please feel free to express how you genuinely feel about the situation. Thank you for your time!

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.

I have been a nurse a LONG TIME and I have never gotten an hour lunch break. Most places that have 12 hour shifts allow 30 min meal break with 2 or 3 15 min breaks throughout the shift.

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I don't think I've had a single job, let alone nursing, where I've gotten an hour for lunch... 1/2 hour seems to be the norm

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Are you guys nurses in New York? We don't get paid for an hour in New York so for example depending on the unit we cover each other for lunches.

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Also I am more focused on getting an opinion on how you feel about getting a lunch break. Would it make a difference for you? So when you answer please state how you feel about getting a one hour lunch break where you don't have to be interrupted for anything.

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Specializes in Complex pedi to LTC/SA & now a manager.

Since you posted this in a general forum you are not likely to get replies from only NYC nurses.

I've never gotten an hour break in any industry unless it was an inservice or lunch-and-learn. An hour break would bore me and make me more anxious than a 30 minute plus one or two quick 15 minute breaks...and I'm not in NYC

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I work in ICU and I don't think I would like to have an hour long lunch break. Too many things can go wrong over the course of an hour and sometimes I feel behind even after 30 minutes. As the previous poster said, I would rather have a 30 minute lunch with two short breaks when I have an opportunity. I don't live in NY, but they deduct 30 minutes for our lunch break. If you don't get to take your lunch one day, you can fill out a form and it will not be deducted.

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Specializes in NICU, ICU, PICU, Academia.

I would love to get ANY kind of lunch break that did not involve me having a phone in my pocket on which my patients could call me. Because that is not a break IMHO.

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As for interruptions, I wish there were a way for me to accept calls only from my fellow nurses, because if my patient is crashing I want to know. What I could do without are the calls from pharmacy, lab, family members, etc. that I frequently get while I am eating.

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Specializes in ICU.

An hour? Never heard of anyone getting an hour before. We get a 30 minute lunch break. I don't always take my full 30 minutes because it tends to interrupt my thought processes. I can almost always get that 30 minutes uninterrupted if I do feel like staying the whole time. I wouldn't really want much more of a break than that - what are you supposed to do for a whole hour? It only takes me 5-10 minutes to eat.

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Specializes in ED; Med Surg.

That's why Nurse Jackie irritates me. Not only does she get to go to lunch whenever she likes...she gets to leave the hospital AND go to a fancy restaurant. Well, on second thought this is only one of the reasons it irritates me :)

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I worked on a general surg floor for a summer and we all took an hour for lunch. We didn't take any other breaks, but none of us smoked :), and that entire hour was heavenly.

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