So do you actually take your breaks?

[purse]

At my job, we work 8 1/2 hr shifts.. so were suppose to get 2 15 min and a 30 min lunch. The 2 15 min are paid, but the 30 minute isnt.. none of my other coworkers take breaks at all... And when i ask to take my 30 miunte unpaid lunch they make me feel guitly about it! Why would I work when Im not getting paid!!?? Is this unreasonable?? Im wondering how many other people take their breaks? Also, Im the only PCA on the floor, so while im on lunch noone else is there to 'cover' my break, so the PCA on the other floor would have to watch over it while still watching her floor...

[SBJR219]

:yeah:Sometimes all of us find ourselves in situations while working where we cannot take our break. Yes, it comes with the job. But if it becomes a habit where you are not getting a break on a regular basis, this needs to be addressed by management. They need to review the ratios, patient aquity, staffing, etc. on that unit. Your 15 min breaks are already paid for, so if you don't take them you lose them. I worked on a unit where on a DAILY basis we were not getting our breaks. We worked 12.5 hrs. By the time we got a break it wasn't until late in the day. At that time what we did was take our two 15 min paid breaks. The unpaid hour was put down as overtime then because we couldn't take it. Needless to say, after awhile the hospital realized they were paying out lots of OT $$$$$.

[chorkle]

SBJR--

What a wonderful idea! Take all your breaks--stay over an hour--after a 12.5 hour day, and get them paid as overtime.

However, I knew of a situation where a Tech, because of specific assignment, often worked full speed, flat out, for 12.5 hours, without any breaks of any kind, while getting to watch other Techs having plenty of time to, ah, sit around, shall we say. This person did not feel like staying another hour, overtime or no.

Yes, management "needs" to address such situations. Unfortunately, this does not mean that management will do so.

[rnccf2007, BSN, RN]

At my last place of employment we had two 15 minute breaks (paid) and one unpaid 30 minute lunch in a 12 hour shift. I was lucky if I could take one five minute break (sometimes two) during my entire shift, and usually felt guilty doing that. Sometimes the shift was longer than 12 hours r/t extreme short staffing. One day, just for the fun of it, I calculated how much the facility saved annually just by me not taking my 30 minute lunch. Calculate that by the savings they also made from my co-workers! Shortly before I left, a new policy was put in place that we had to clock in and out for lunch. At first, when I clocked out, I would remain on the floor and try to "hide" in the breakroom and actually take my lunch. That really worked out! I was usually called back to the floor, worked off the clock, and sometimes forgot to clock back in. The nurse manager was supposed to cover for us when we took breaks, but she did so in name only, which left the other overworked nurses to cover the nurse who was on break. Finally, most of us retaliated and refused to clock out if we could not take our lunch breaks and signed the overtime sheet as "no lunch". That worked for about a month until the nurse manager informed us she was getting flack from corporate because of so much overtime due to "no lunch". But she still would not cover us. Finally, I just started clocking out and leaving the floor. Yes, I felt guilty about my co-workers. However, the implications of being injured off the clock were far greater: termination, not able to collect my employment disability (that I paid for), and no worker's comp. Also, would you want a nurse taking care of you who had one five minute break in 12 hours? I wouldn't. I prayed every morning before leaving for work for my patients' safety.

[rnccf2007, BSN, RN]

I am sure this is not the same one, but at one hospital where I worked, the RTs filed a class action suit and won; because they did not get their 30 minute unpaid breaks.

[Up2nogood RN, RN]

I can honestly say that roughly 90% of all staff housewide at night in my 450 bed facility take their breaks. We combine them and take an uninterrupted hour off the floor. We are expected to round on our pts right before our break but our buddy will take care of what needs to be done if something should come up. If it's super crazy with high acuity pts than you bet we can cancel our 30 minute meal deduction and managememt has to allow it. Unions are good for some things:)

There will always be those *super* nurses who never take a break and they're the ones that are usually jaded and burnt out. I don't know what they're trying to prove or if it's just poor time management but it makes it tougher on all the other nurses who want their time that's owed to them.

[rnccf2007, BSN, RN]

Actually, according to the US Department of Labor, federal law does not require breaks.

http://www.dol.gov/dol/topic/workhours/breaks.htm

I actualy called the US Department of Labor and was told by a rather sarcastic representative that according to law, employers are not required to give breaks, even if you work 24 hours.

[Poi Dog]

As of my last post in this thread, I have been taking my breaks. I didn't realize that I wasn't impressing anyone skipping out on my breaks. The patient census sheet I get show the time slots for breaks and I dang well am going by that.

[DC Collins, ASN]

Take your lunch. Take your 15's too. The only reason not to is if there is truly an emergency, like a code.

[TinyHineyRN]

Today.....not so much! In my 12-hr shift I took approximately 10 minutes to scarf down my energy bar that was supposed to be my breakfast....but wasn't consumed until 1430! Whoops! Not the healthiest, I know. But isn't that sometimes how shifts go?

Speaking of unhealthy, I also didn't realize I hadn't peed all day either until I was talking to my mom on the phone at 2100 and almost exploded!

[orangeroom]

Breaks? I've been a nurse for 3 years. I can count on one hand the number of times I've taken, or been offered a break.

We usually get lunch. When we don't, we document it and are paid for working.

[hopefulwhoop]

I try to, but I don't always get to take a break. Sometimes, I'm just so swamped that I don't have time for a break :-/ But, I take a break probably 80% of the time.

[sophie_bob_kids]

We get in trouble if we don't clock for lunch, so you better believe we're in that breakroom for 30min every day! They don't provide us with a relief, so the other nurses on our floor absorb your patients.