Sitter breaks

allnurses Guide · Mar 21, 2014

I don't. They have a job to do and I have a job to do. No hard feelings if they end up with the physical work; after all, that's what they signed up for.
I wouldn't mind getting paid to sit around and play on my phone.

Surely, you are messing with us now :cautious:

ICU56 · Mar 21, 2014

Judging by some of the comments here I doubt my contribution is going to be well received...But sitters we have are generally lazy and do nothing. We have to cover for them because we are normally down techs and their 15s take 30 and their 30s take 60. Its always a pita.

Now, please understand at my hospital sitters do nothing. Unless they want to. They are not required to do anymore than press the nurse light and call for help. They don't clean, they don't assist the patients, nothing. They sit on their phones or watch tv. Calling for me for every single thing.

Few, very few are sitters who used to be techs and are worth their weight in gold, those sitters actually do something all day and never take extra long breaks. Those sitters I will cover and give extra breaks for.

Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN · Mar 21, 2014

All facilities that I've worked for has had a policy against taking all breaks lumped into one. 1 lunch plus two 15-minute breaks does not mean a one-hour break. So it shouldn't be allowed.

As for your original question, the floor CNA relieves the sitter for breaks.

BrandonLPN, LPN · Mar 21, 2014

Yeah, I will agree that sitters should 100% be expected to provide all the care an aide would provide. For a hospital to hire sitters who push the call light every time the pt's soiled or needs direct care is stupid. And a burden on the nursing staff.

Why would the position of a sitter who provides no care even be a "thing"? Who thought that was a good idea?

ICU56 · Mar 21, 2014

Our hospital got rid of sitters, then found that we actually do need them for psych holds and the like things that are 1:1 for reasons other than being critical. They brought them back but instead of making them CNA's they are nothing, no cert required. So the powers that be said since they are not CNAs they should do any "patient care" and it seems "patient care" has come to include everything but pressing the call light.

sandyfeet · Mar 21, 2014

Yeah I will agree that sitters should 100% be expected to provide all the care an aide would provide. For a hospital to hire sitters who push the call light every time the pt's soiled or needs direct care is stupid. And a burden on the nursing staff. Why would the position of a sitter who provides no care even be a "thing"? Who thought that was a good idea?[/quote']
Because then the hospital can pay a sitter even less than a CNA!
I was a sitter before I was an RN. Once I alerted the nurse to a change in the patient's condition that caused the patient to move to CCU. That was definitely my most dramatic shift. A good sitter is a nurse's extra set of eyes.

Gabby-RN · Mar 21, 2014

Because then the hospital can pay a sitter even less than a CNA! I was a sitter before I was an RN. Once I alerted the nurse to a change in the patient's condition that caused the patient to move to CCU. That was definitely my most dramatic shift. A good sitter is a nurse's extra set of eyes.

My hospital pays sitters more than PCT's and they are not allowed to do care for the patient.

Mikey31079 · Mar 21, 2014

OK, I told myself I wasn't gonna feed the troll, but I couldn't let this go...

a. I NEVER said I was sitting around playing on my phone the whole shift.

b. you have nothing to base such an ASSumption on.

c. Do NOT infer things about me that you don't know.

ellaballet · Mar 22, 2014

In private settings, I've found some 1:1 sitters remain in the room with their patient on break so that no one realizes what an easy job they have and they can come back just to sit there day after day even if they aren't actually needed.

The last time I was a 1:1 sitter the patient strangled me. Sooooo...uhh...Yeah. Easy job?

There have been times where I've managed to catch the rouge shift the patient decided to sleep through and I could get some homework done but man patient sitting can be difficult. Just having the patience to sit there and tell the same person over and over again that pulling decannulating themselves is probably a really really bad idea for 12 hours straight gets pretty frustrating. And I'm a patient person.

I agree with OP that nothing is more frustrating when they take extended breaks. I'm the only tech on my floor, and when the sitter decided to take an hour instead of 30 minutes for lunch and 30 minutes in the morning instead of their 15 its too busy for me to take a break..I'm hungry too!

ellaballet · Mar 22, 2014

I don't know if its a legal thing but where I work patient sitters aren't allowed to even touch the patient since they aren't trained. So if the patient needs anything or they're trying to get out of bed and verbally telling them not to doesn't work the sitter yells for help. And they get paid more than the CNAs. But most of the time the CNAs do the 1:1s since they can physically do more for the patient, and we get paid less. Very annoying, but typical!

nrsang97, BSN, RN · Mar 22, 2014

Because then the hospital can pay a sitter even less than a CNA!
I was a sitter before I was an RN. Once I alerted the nurse to a change in the patient's condition that caused the patient to move to CCU. That was definitely my most dramatic shift. A good sitter is a nurse's extra set of eyes.

So very true. We had a patient that had a sitter due to pulling at his colostomy, pulling IV's and tubes. She noticed he was acting different and called us and I happened to be on the floor rounding as rapid response. I went into the room, and found what was possibly seizure activity and that he was aspirating. We got him intubated and transferred to CCU. I am glad that sitter alerted us to his condition.

Swellz · Mar 27, 2014

We give breaks an assigned time, so everyone knows when the 1:1 needs coverage. We break up the 15s and 30 min break. They are written with the assignment so breaks don't overlap.

I sat on my fair share of 1:1s before I became a nurse; sometimes I read a book, sometimes I dodged punches. You never know what you're going to get.