We are constantly understaffed and I never, ever get a lunch break during my 12 hour shift. Right now we are expected to self schedule a break and ask another RN to cover our patients for 30 mins. It is considered a luxury to take any sort of break there and it's really rude to ask another nurse to cover her 5 plus your 5 rooms for a whole half hour. We aren't allowed to have food or drinks (not even covered water) at the nurses station and any time I am able to snack I have to throw it down my gullet before a manager looks up from their press ganey scores and threatens us with verbal or written action.
Not being able to step away for thirty minutes during a 12+ hour shift has really contributed to my burn out. I feel that it is expected that I not have basic human needs anymore.
Does your ER have a good lunch policy? I'd like to figure out something to bring before management.
My ER automatically deducts 30 mins from my clock times, and if I don't take a lunch, I sign my name in a book at the end of the shift and the charge nurse has to sign it. Half the time we forget to sign the stupid book and the other half a mean charge nurse will roll her eyes over signing it. I'm sorry but I am a single mom and cannot afford to work for free...
I'm just frustrated that it is considered a luxury to have a break, and management at my hospital has never once went around asking if people have had breaks. Puh-lease. That would require actually coming to the nurses station to do anything other than call people aside for evaluations. God forbid a patient mistake them for a bedside nurse...but I digress.
ER #1- Actually cares that you take your lunch, and requires you to sign out for lunch. If you don't, you need to explain why. And, a reasonable explanation is always accepted.
ER#2- no mechanism in place for lunches, people rarely take them. Some (me) put in for no lunch and get paid. Some donate a a couple of free weeks to the hospital and don't put in for no lunch.
Clear violation of state and federal labor laws. They don't care.
I work in ER 1. It's a level 1. In 6 mos I have only not taken lunch 2 times. We all cover for each other. It's the best place and teamwork I ever worked.
Over the years I've learned that I have to add up my own hours and compare them with each and every paycheck, because numerous supervisors constantly dock me 30 mins for lunch even when I tell them I don't get a lunch due to no one to relieve me. I have to take pictures of the time clock with my phone, so when the manager says "Oh I fixed it for you." I can say "Nope I'm still short look here right here." It's very sad that I have to do this every day, but I've accepted that I can't rely on managers to fix things when they say they will...especially when it comes to my paycheck and my livelihood. It may sound petty to do this, but 30 mins a day X3 days a week X52 weeks a year = 4,680 mins which divided by 60 = 78 hours a year. That's an entire 2 weeks paycheck of not being paid when you are actually working.
As for your original question, our policy is the same as federal law: the employer is not required to give you any break whatsoever including a lunch break, but if you do take a break and it is 30 minutes or over the employer does not have to pay you because you are not considered to be working. If your break is less than 30 minutes, or if you do not take a break, the employer cannot take out 30 mins from your paycheck without violating the law.
But yeah I've worked 14 hour shifts before with no lunch or a single break. It sucks, and unfortunately it seems to be the norm for nursing. Just browse these forums and it constantly comes up under lists of complaints/dislikes about nursing. I don't know of any other profession where this is considered normal.
A truck driver who skips a break would face disciplinary action. A truck driver who skips a break and falsifies his log would face more severe discipline. (Skipping lunch and not putting in for the pay=claiming you took a break.)
Truck drivers are held to to this high standard because their job performance is critical, and lives are at stake. Odd that we aren't held to this standard.
In facilities that make it a priority that nurses take both their legally required break (or get paid) nurses take lunch breaks. No matter how busy your ER is, they would follow the law if there was enforcement.
Hospitals have nurses work through lunch with no pay for the same reason I speed: I feel the risk is worth the reward. If I thought I would get a ticket, I would drive the speed limit.
Look at it this way: If the CEO paid out of pocket every time a nurse worked through lunch and was not paid, how long do you suppose the practice would last?
Last but not least: If you regularly work through lunch without getting paid, you are donating close to 2 weeks pay to your facility every year. Put in for lunch and donate that pay to a more deserving organization. Or, picture what would happen if every nurse put in for pay every time he/she worked through lunch.
Most of the time I never get a break unless I'm lucky enough to be floating. Then I just cover for everyone else while they get their breaks but they all want to at once....I ended up covering for three nurses so that gave me 12 patients, many of them ICU including one that was incubated despite the fact that I kept saying, "wait until so-and-so comes back" or "go ask another float" >:/
We don't have anyone to cover for our lunches. We have a payroll variance book we have to fill out - otherwise they automatically withdrawal those 30 min from our checks.
Our charge assigns us times to go to break and we are expected to go (barring codes and other unforeseen difficulties). Firsts go, then seconds, and then thirds, so CN tries to be sure we go on time, so everyone gets a chance to break.
It's a luxury for me. I am frequently assigned to our fast track. We triage, assess, do treatments, discharge, and clean our own rooms. It is fast paced, and you can't do it alone. I regularly forgo my breaks because I refuse to leave my partner high and dry. We have meals automtically deducted from our pay but can fill out no lunch forms if needed. I DO keep bottled water with me at the nurses station and my director can sod off if he has a problem with that.
Specializes in Infusion Nursing, Home Health Infusion.
This is going to take some guts but you can do this! The situation you describe will continue as long as you and the others allow it and you do have the power to change it. First you have to just start taking you breaks but before you do that you must have some informal conversations with your coworkers and tell them the benefits of a break and a chance to eat,drink,use the restroom and refresh yourselves. Tell them you plan and that you will help them with your patients and they can help you.There are many many studies proving that you are actually more productive when you can do this. I too have found this to be true,when I am starting to fade if I do not stop and take a break I notice I start missing my IV starts more frequently and have much less patience.That fact alone may ease your mind once you realize that when you return you can kick #ss!
If taking breaks creates a lot of problems they will come to light so management can then fix them. If you continue to solve the problem by not taking breaks they have no incentive or motivation to change things. When I used to be in charge I always made certain we had a plan in place to take breaks and insisted that breaks be taken because I know the benefits. You, after all, are only human and in order to give your best you MUST also take care of your needs. You must have an attitude shift that you will no longer accept this and then a plan to correct it! One person can have a tremendous impact on a working group and I have cleverly made a change that impacted an entire group with this technique.
I don't work in an ER, but the concept is the same on the floor. At my last hospital (travel nurse here), nurses are buddied up at the beginning of shift and lunch breaks are taken when convenient for the nurse - usually occur between 1:00 and 3:00 on either shift. It is expected that the nurse leaving for lunch has no outstanding tasks (no scheduled meds to pass, no bags to replace, etc) and that all their patients are reasonably stable. So in essence, the nurse covering the lunch break could very well have 8-10 patients during that one 30 min break but really have nothing to do with the 4-5 patients they are covering. It works well where I have seen it done. And seriously, when you're working and covering another nurse, you're still too busy with your own patients to even notice that the other nurse is gone.
You have got to make a reasonable effort to take your breaks, and if you don't get them, then document such on your time card and get paid for your time. Everyone has to do this. When people just go along with the culture, then it's much harder for one person to change anything, because then they look like the trouble maker.
If someone offers to cover you for a meal break because they feel well caught up, take the opportunity. Don't decline because you're just not ready, and then complain that you didn't get a break later on when another opportunity didn't arise.
Very few things cannot wait until you've had a chance to eat something, empty your bladder, and put your feet up for a few minutes, unless you have a vented sedated patient or someone actively bleeding, or you know, a true emergency. If your assignment consists of your average belly pain workups with normal VS, there is no reason you cannot go. Don't confuse patient desires with true patient needs. There is no call for you to be starving, dancing around with a full bladder, feeling crabby because you just want to Stop.For.One.Minute, while fetching blankets, ice water, and turkey sandwiches.
If it is too busy for you or anyone to take their legally required meal breaks, then your charge nurse or nursing supervisor needs to be made aware, and efforts to get people out on breaks need to be made.
As a last resort, contact your state's labor board. There have been successful incidents of nurses getting back pay for missed meal breaks, plus the scrutiny will make your employer very uncomfortable. You can report anonymously if you are concerned about retaliation.
The situation you describe will continue as long as you and the others allow it and you do have the power to change it. First you have to just start taking you breaks but before you do that you must have some informal conversations with your coworkers and tell them the benefits of a break and a chance to eat,drink,use the restroom and refresh yourselves. Tell them you plan and that you will help them with your patients and they can help you.There are many many studies proving that you are actually more productive when you can do this. I too have found this to be true,when I am starting to fade if I do not stop and take a break I notice I start missing my IV starts more frequently and have much less patience.That fact alone may ease your mind once you realize that when you return you can kick #ss!
emergency_love
38 Posts
My ER automatically deducts 30 mins from my clock times, and if I don't take a lunch, I sign my name in a book at the end of the shift and the charge nurse has to sign it. Half the time we forget to sign the stupid book and the other half a mean charge nurse will roll her eyes over signing it. I'm sorry but I am a single mom and cannot afford to work for free...
I'm just frustrated that it is considered a luxury to have a break, and management at my hospital has never once went around asking if people have had breaks. Puh-lease. That would require actually coming to the nurses station to do anything other than call people aside for evaluations. God forbid a patient mistake them for a bedside nurse...but I digress.
I like the idea of assigning a "lunch buddy".