How often do you use the "cancel meal deduction" option before clocking out?
During our employee orientation, the HR rep talked to us specifically about taking advantage of this. She said: "even if someone asks you a question while you are on your break, cancel your meal deduction-because your break was interrupted."
There's probably 1/5 or 1/6 shifts that I actually have time to take a 30 minute break. The rest, like most of us, I just work straight through, thirsty and starved with a full bladder.
Are you recouping with the "cancel meal deduction"?
Does your employer even offer that as an option?
I am glad that mine does- I cancel my meal deduction at least once a week. I try to use it sparingly- if I eat an "entree" at the desk, I consider that "time for a meal" and do not cancel.
I am just wary of if/when they will try to say that I am using it too often...
It's when you don't click out for lunch, but employer assumes you took one and deducts 1/2 hr from your time. So say you're on the clock 0700-1530, so total 8.5 hours, but that includes a lunch break so you're paid for 8.00.
So we're talking about documenting on those days where there's no time to take a break, that we didn't, and getting paid for 8.5 hrs.
I work 8s. They're busy 8s. Low ratios, but sick patients. If it's not my night to be running crazy, it might be my buddy's. We really typically all pull together and make sure that we get breaks, even if we don't forward our phone to our buddy or go to the cafeteria. Our 12 HR overnight peeps often take a short nap in the lounge that is located on the unit and is designated for that purpose. They're also the first to volunteer to stay over.
One thing that I like about 8s is that I can go full out and still make it with granola bars and hydration if the need arises. Of course, if I need a snack or bathroom break, I take it; I would say I miss break about once a week. The managers are very supportive and encourage us to use the time clock function if we don't get our break; we just have a very unpredictable, unstable patient population at times, so even those with the best time management can need to just plow through. If we all have downtime, even if we eat at the desk but get a good amount of time to rest, visit, and laugh, we usually all agree that's a break, even if not in the traditional sense.
Now, I know some people who regularly miss break *and* stay late to chart. These are the folks who have told me that they've been talked to about time management. I do feel that the managers are generally very good - much better than other floors and tons better than some of the stories I've heard from other facilities.
In the OR, I rarely got out for a break, even to use the bathroom. Plus I worked 12s. In the OR it's also really tough to even grab a sip of water or whatever - totally different environment. In those instances, I always clocked out "no break". They were in the midst of staffing catastrophes and I felt that by documenting, I was doing my part to supply data that supported the many anecdotal accounts. Not sure it helped, but I do prefer my current environment - plus you just couldn't ask for a better team.
We don't have a 'cancel meal deduction' ... not 100% sure what you mean - but our 'mandatory' 30-minute breaks are kind of a joke. Sometimes I actually do take that long, other times I work 15-20 minutes of it... but either way, I'm getting out 45-60-+ minutes late all the time due to the endless **** dumped on us.
If I had time to take a break, but chose not to for whatever reason, I don't clock out no lunch. I clock out no lunch when I didn't have any time.
It really depends on how busy my coworkers are. There are plenty of times I will sit at the desk and eat my food (against policy here, too, but that's the advantage of working nights - the suits are not out in force) just so I can be available if something happens because my coworkers are so overloaded it's unfair to ask them to listen for my patients, too.
The past few shifts have been a great example. I've had a patient who was 1:1 because of the type of equipment he was on. My ten bed section of my unit had 3 1:1 patients and five nurses, so we had two nurses with three patients each, since three of us had 1:1 patients. There was an empty room, but fortunately nobody ended up with four patients by the end of the night. Those two nurses with the three patient assignments were drowning all night long and only had each other for help since us 1:1s couldn't leave our patient rooms, while I had time to study for a test and read two brand new novels I got from Kindle Unlimited on my phone. Technically speaking, none of the nurses in the 1:1 assignments got relieved for a break because the other coworkers were too busy.
Yeah, I could have clocked out no lunch, but I was freaking reading books and putting my feet up for at least 80% of my shift. That, to me, would feel a little dishonest since I spent at least six hours of my shift goofing off and doing things not related to patient care.
If I had time to take a break, but chose not to for whatever reason, I don't clock out no lunch. I clock out no lunch when I didn't have any time.
It really depends on how busy my coworkers are. There are plenty of times I will sit at the desk and eat my food (against policy here, too, but that's the advantage of working nights - the suits are not out in force) just so I can be available if something happens because my coworkers are so overloaded it's unfair to ask them to listen for my patients, too.
The past few shifts have been a great example. I've had a patient who was 1:1 because of the type of equipment he was on. My ten bed section of my unit had 3 1:1 patients and five nurses, so we had two nurses with three patients each, since three of us had 1:1 patients. There was an empty room, but fortunately nobody ended up with four patients by the end of the night. Those two nurses with the three patient assignments were drowning all night long and only had each other for help since us 1:1s couldn't leave our patient rooms, while I had time to study for a test and read two brand new novels I got from Kindle Unlimited on my phone. Technically speaking, none of the nurses in the 1:1 assignments got relieved for a break because the other coworkers were too busy.
Yeah, I could have clocked out no lunch, but I was freaking reading books and putting my feet up for at least 80% of my shift. That, to me, would feel a little dishonest since I spent at least six hours of my shift goofing off and doing things not related to patient care.
Even though you were "goofing", you were still 1:1 to that patient. You were still monitoring, you were available for an alarm, you were still performing a job duty.
I would not have claimed a break because admin needs to know that particular staffing matrix is untenable.
Just because your 1:1 was fairly stable, it does not change the fact that you were performing a job duty by being in the same room.
I use this each and every time I don't get a meal break at the hospital where I have worked prn for a couple years. I would say 75-90% of my shifts I don't get a break.
My hospital had to pay out big time money to nurses in certain departments that are notorious for this (OR,ED,GI,ICU) a couple years ago. I was PT then, and got over $1000. Actually, this wasn't just the one hospital-they whole "system" - 4 hospitals in all. The federal government was involved - they had to pay a fine too.
We all had to sign an agreement with HR that we would clock no lunch if we missed our lunch due to staffing/interruptions, etc. Also, we had to clock in time if we checked our emails from home, or if someone calls us when we are off to talk work.
The managers/charge nurses are now the ones that get in trouble if we don't get our full lunch - and thankfully for my dept, they don't take it out on us - we've been getting our full lunch break quite often lately.
"Working for free" is call volunteering, and I do... just not performing my job function at my place of employment. There, I demand to be paid for the work that I do.
Most of the nurses I work with don't have the balls to do it. They work through their lunch breaks, day in and day out, without compensation.
I am baffled that labor laws do not apply to the nursing profession.
Same here. It makes me insane. If I don't get a break, I make sure I'm paid for my whole shift. But it really makes me look like the jerk when I'm the only one.
If I had time to take a break, but chose not to for whatever reason, I don't clock out no lunch. I clock out no lunch when I didn't have any time.
It really depends on how busy my coworkers are. There are plenty of times I will sit at the desk and eat my food (against policy here, too, but that's the advantage of working nights - the suits are not out in force) just so I can be available if something happens because my coworkers are so overloaded it's unfair to ask them to listen for my patients, too.
The past few shifts have been a great example. I've had a patient who was 1:1 because of the type of equipment he was on. My ten bed section of my unit had 3 1:1 patients and five nurses, so we had two nurses with three patients each, since three of us had 1:1 patients. There was an empty room, but fortunately nobody ended up with four patients by the end of the night. Those two nurses with the three patient assignments were drowning all night long and only had each other for help since us 1:1s couldn't leave our patient rooms, while I had time to study for a test and read two brand new novels I got from Kindle Unlimited on my phone. Technically speaking, none of the nurses in the 1:1 assignments got relieved for a break because the other coworkers were too busy.
Yeah, I could have clocked out no lunch, but I was freaking reading books and putting my feet up for at least 80% of my shift. That, to me, would feel a little dishonest since I spent at least six hours of my shift goofing off and doing things not related to patient care.
Occasionally I'll be the only RN, with an aid, on a low census unit in my hospital. If the house supervisor doesn't come to relieve me for a break, I sign no break. I did this just the other night. I was beyond bored most of the night- reading and crushing candy, but I would have killed to go to the vending machine and didn't even have that option.
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What is meal deduction?