for those who work 12 hour shifts, how long is your lunch break?

[mee9mee9]

1 hr? 30 minutes? 90 minutes?

[FlowerChild2005]

Our lunchbreaks are 30 minutes.Not that we actually get to take them.

[WannaBNursey, ADN, ASN, RN]

I started laughing when I read your post. My brother works in retail for only 8 hour shifts and gets an hour lunch. I work 12 hours and am lucky to get the time to take a half hour unpaid lunch. Forget 15 minute breaks.

[Racer15, BSN, RN]

30 minutes unpaid. Here lately though I have not been able to take a lunch break due to being incredibly busy. I don't like it but there's not much to be done about it when you've got multiple traumas rolling in and not a lot of extra help.

[~PedsRN~, BSN, RN]

30 minutes unpaid. And it's not that we work 11 hours and 30 minutes.... we clock in at 6:45 and out at 7:15. So there's your 30 minutes unpaid lunch.

[javadown2, BSN]

Where I work we have 12.5 hour shifts, you get a .5hr lunch break, you take it when you can. No one has said anything about 15 minute breaks every 4 hours but I'm pretty sure there is a labor law that allows you to take 15 min breaks every 4 hours. Obviously we know that nursing is super busy and we don't always take our breaks/lunch but saying that this is the only job/career that this happens is wrong. I used to work road construction for many years and we never took lunch breaks, just ate when you had a little down time. I do get frustrated at myself sometimes when I haven't ate lunch or even stopped to drink some water ( I get kinda focused). Sometimes you just have to stand up for yourself and stop and eat/drink...

[designer-mommy, BSN, RN]

We get no break. I work 12 1/2 hours with no lunch break, no 15 minute breaks, nothing. It's ridiculous.

[THELIVINGWORST, ASN, RN]

We get no break. I work 12 1/2 hours with no lunch break, no 15 minute breaks, nothing. It's ridiculous.

Are you saying you're not allowed or not able to take a break?

[designer-mommy, BSN, RN]

When I worked in retail I got an hour lunch if I worked 7.5 hours or more and I got two paid 15 minute breaks as well. It was nice.

[designer-mommy, BSN, RN]

Technically we can run out and get something if we're starving but we bring it back and eat it while we're working. We just don't do that because one nurse has 30 plus patients and the other has 16 so we'd be responsible for almost 50 patients for the other nurses lunch break. They're so stinking understaffed where I work at its not even funny. I think that a nurse's job is so stressful that they need that lunch break--uninterrupted--to decompress.

[TraumaNurse95]

I work 1130am - 12 midnight. Per our union contract, we are to receive two 30 minute lunch breaks and one 15 min break. Our facility demands that we take both our 30 minute breaks and they have specific float nurses w/the primary role of giving nurses breaks (only one of which we clock out for). I hate to hear people ***** about taking breaks b/c in my career I've worked countless hours where it is the unspoken norm that nurses NOT take their breaks and that is unacceptable in my opinion.

Gee - why is burn-out and turnover so high amongst nurses ? Let me count the reasons why...

[Caffeine_IV]

30 minutes. I think unpaid.

Most of us eat at the nursing station (nightshift) otherwise we may not get the chance.

[nuangel1, BSN, RN]

30 min unpaid supper break and 2 15 min paid breaks .