Uninterrupted breaks

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I am chair of our clinical transformation council and was told by my manager that I need to organize a system for the nurses to take uninterrupted 30 minute lunch breaks. The problem? No one is willing!!!!! The entire floor is refusing to hand off their phone for 30 minutes to another nurse and go eat. The receiving nurse wouldn't be responsible for anything except basically answering a call for pain meds or emergencies. I just don't understand why people aren't being advocates for themselves. I personally want a break, and have no problem handing off my phone AND taking someone elses phone for 30 min so that we can all regroup and relax. Why do we always have to play the martyr?? :confused:

Do any of yall get uninterrupted lunches? What are your thoughts on this? I'm just blown away that people are refusing a break!

It's not about being a martyr and it's not about trust. I love breaks and I trust my co-workers. Unfortunately I know they are just as busy as I am. If there is a crisis they will be there, but there is no way they can take care of the normal stuff that goes on for both patient loads; pain meds, stooling, family questions, new orders, new admissions, ... etc. When I come back I can never catch back up.

Sort of like eating bad brownies... they taste great at the time, but if they keep making you sick pretty soon you just stay away from them.

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We have the same problem at my work! I get that its an ICU and I wouldn't want to be told when to take my break. However, when no one else is leaving the unit to eat.. I feel like I am the slacker because I WANT my break. Usually I eat in like 10 minutes. I don't want to be the one to bring it up to managers or whatever... but I think it needs adressed. In 12 hours, we are supposed to get 2 15 min breaks and 1 30min lunch. I get like maybe 10 min. :(

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Handing off your patients for 30 min would not mean that the nurse watching them would have to do your admission, answer family questions or page doctors. unless it is an emergency, i cant think of anything that can't wait 30 min except for maybe pain meds. and a prudent nurse would round, and do a quick wrap up before taking her break. its just so simple in my head......our floor is just very resistant to change.

having an uninterrupted break would boost morale, and increase pt safety by ensuring our rest, hydration and nutrition. i can't think of another profession that works over 12 hours without an uninterrupted 30 min break....

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Handing off your patients for 30 min would not mean that the nurse watching them would have to do your admission, answer family questions or page doctors. unless it is an emergency, i cant think of anything that can't wait 30 min except for maybe pain meds. and a prudent nurse would round, and do a quick wrap up before taking her break. its just so simple in my head......our floor is just very resistant to change.

I'm not sure what your floor/unit is like, but on mine the work never stops. You made my point... the nurse covering is not going to do the 30 min of work that I would do if I were there. And instead of a pain of 3/10 it is now 9/10 and the family and the admission,,, and the orders... etc are all backing up and take longer than if I was just there to do it at the time.

No, it is not healthy, and it is not ideal, and I'm not proud of it. I generally play it down with my co-workers and I always tell new nurses that it is not a good habit to get into. Having said that you seemed to want to understand why and I was trying to share with you .... from the point of view of someone who is NOT a martyr, enjoys breaks when I get them, and not the least bit resistant to change.

I understand that in your mind it is simple. Your original e-mail sounded like you wanted to understand, now it sounds like you are really just wanting to criticize.

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wow. having a break is such a touchy subject :eek:

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Handing off your patients for 30 min would not mean that the nurse watching them would have to do your admission, answer family questions or page doctors. unless it is an emergency, i cant think of anything that can't wait 30 min except for maybe pain meds. and a prudent nurse would round, and do a quick wrap up before taking her break. its just so simple in my head......our floor is just very resistant to change.

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I do rounds at least once an hour during my shift, but rounds for me involves making sure they are in bed, nothing is beeping, they look comfortably asleep or at least comfortable, and their call lights are close by. I'm nights. I'm not going to wake my patients up and ask if they need anything before I go on break. I wait until they call. Which means I can't take care of the potential need for pain or nausea meds, toileting, a beeping PCA, or anything like that prior to my break.

Look, I'll be frank. If my boss or our unit based committee chair came to me and said we were instituting this, I'd say fine. And then I'd make sure that all my staff on nights got a break if they wanted, and I'd totally ignore it for myself and those who did not want to do so.

I'm interested...to whom does the charge nurse give up her phone? Who is going to be taking over my charge duties AND all my patients while I'm supposed to be on my 30 minute break? I've got such a new crew on weekend nights, I'd be a little hesitant to add to anyone's anxiety and work load. Naw, I'd rather be available.

Again, believe me, over the course of my shift I have at minimum a total of 30 minutes of break time. I use it. I just don't want to take it all at once, and I don't want to give up my phone. Why is it that only ONE way is the right way? It would totally stress me out to leave the floor for 30 minutes with three new grads on my weekend rotation. If taking 30 minutes stresses me out, how can that be beneficial? Let me take my break in the manner in which I choose. I'm not a kindergartener; I don't need to be forced to lie down on my rug for a mandatory nap time.

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haha. i totally agree with you bluegrass. you make very good points :yeah:

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My main concern about taking breaks now is this, my charge nurse will not accept narcotic keys or my phone. So even if I go on a fully sanctioned clocked out break who is responsible for my patients?

I'll bet it's me isn't it? So if something awful happens to one of my patients I can just imagine a lawyer in court asking me why I thought it was a good time to go on break.

However the situation the OP is in is different.

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Maybe instead of instituting a policy from the top down, you can institute one from the bottom up.

Ask the staff how they want their breaks. Ask them how the unit can facilitate the nurses and aides to have sufficient break time. Then develop a break policy from there.

That would sit with me much better than someone just telling me I have to do something a certain way, without any input from the staff it actually affects. I'd also be much more likely to support it (and comply) even if I disagreed with it, if I knew that the majority of my coworkers wanted it that way.

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I completely agree with Bluegrass on taking "bottom up" approach. I've worked on tele floor and I know it's difficult to take full 30 minute break when you have very sick patients who keep you busy all night long and yet you just don't feel comfortable handing them off to someone while you are taking a break. Like a few people have already said, if something goes wrong with your patient while you are off for a break, you will still be liable for what happened. This was one of the reasons why I never took full 30 minute break when I worked on the floor.

Try to listen to your staff and figure out what will work best for them instead of "pushing down" new rules. That way, you will be able to decrease resistance and make your staff feel like their voice is heard. As a staff nurse, I hate it when the management tries to implement new policies that are supposed to make our working environment better and yet they create more problems because they fail to listen to their staff!

Good luck! :nurse:

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Specializes in Cardiology.

Well, who knows what is going on. I had someone on my staff tonight beg me not to make him take his dinner break. When I finally got it all sorted out, he just didn't want to have to stay late and as we were short-staffed, he knew we weren't going to get things done on time.

I rarely get uninterrupted breaks, but it has way more to do with being in charge (nursing student by day, in charge in the outpatient lab by night) than with me not wanting to take breaks!

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this is a labor law issue, in most states. The employer is mandated to give/allow these breaks. I dont think that employees are allowed to "waive" them. Therefore, if it can be proved, the employer is in trouble if they are not taken. That said, the employer (ethically, probably not legally) needs to provide appropriate coverage for that break. If an employee is refusing to take the break, they obviously shouldnt be paid for it, and you may find the occ. employee that is doing that on purpose.

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