(no subject)

[disneydream06]

Another night of work without a break.

I have cover break for 4 nurses which will last from 2 am until 6 am.

That means I either take a break from 6-7 and not do my morning work, or I do my morning and work and get a half hour of overtime.

I am guessing the skipping of morning work would not fly to well.

Comments

Give me a break----

[thirteenrocks.livejournal.com]

*jumping on soap box*

This is SUCH an issue, which isn't helped at all that the General Care Floors, ICU's, and PCA's, all have different "policies" regarding this issue. Recently our floor took it on, and although not much has changed, it has gotten somewhat better. Regardless, I think its a bunch of shit either which way. Most of my opinons is based on the night shift. Just for clarification.

Issues that we had include but not limited to:
1) Certian staff taking a break, and others don't. Which lead to other staff talking about each other behind his or her back. Breaks including "sleeping."
2) Older staff not supporting the unit council decision.
3) Lack of appropriate staff on the night shift to allow "breaks" to occur
4) Staff unclear about the appropriate time alloated
5) Float Staff being able to take up to an hour off the unit, where other staff were unable to take a "break".

The Bottom line: IT is REQUIRED by MINNESOTA LAW that an employee is allowed at LEAST 20 minutes away from the work area to have a meal, during a 8 hour shift. Fifteen minutes paid for every 4 hour worked. Therefore in a 12 hour shift...it comes to be about an hour, depending on how you add up the time. THAT's for 12 hours.

Yes, there is downtime during the night shift. However that "down" time isn't/shouldn't be concidered break, because if something happens, i.e. a call light, one has to respond.

Now hospital policy states that of course breaks are dependent on patient needs ect. Sometimes it is unsafe to leave 1 nurse for 8 patients. Totally unsafe. But whatever. Oh, and sleeping on the job, is totally against policy, but I so degress---

I don't give a shit what the reason, I deserve and by MN Law Require a break, according to the amount of time I work. If for some reason this isn't able to occure, I get paid for it. Bottom line. AND although it would be so micro-managed, management should at least have a handle on it.

ooooh and I'd love to see the day, MN labor force comes down to check it out, and realises that just isn't happening. Oh, and I bet those in management, ALWAYS get a decent amount of time for lunch.

and don't get me started on the food in the cafeteria at 0200 a.m. either.

*bows off the soap box*

p.s. one of the reasons I smoke, at least I know I'll get about a total of 30 minutes off of the floor, to at least have a smoke. But really, how healthy is that.

Re: Give me a break----

[thespian15.livejournal.com]

All very well stated. :)
About 10 minutes into my last break coverage the charge nurse comes up to me and asks when I was going on break. I told her I wasn't. So right away she was I can watch him you go on break.
My question is, why didn't you think about that when you assigned me 4 breaks to cover? So I did end up getting my break. Although I did come back early to get my morning work done.
We really need to find you a healthier reason for break. :)
Is there really a policy about sleeping at work? That would be an eye opener for a lot of the nurses on my station. LOL......
HUGS........

Sometimes you have to be a bitch---

[thirteenrocks.livejournal.com]

Our OLD nurse manager made a comment that our bathroom breaks should count as breaks. But I degress once again---

I'd have to look it up, but I am pretty sure sleeping on the job, or on your lunch hour, is not cool. Although obviously ICU's are immune to that.

Sometimes, one has to be proactive, (which I am horrible at doing), and just put your foot down and say: FUCK YOU, I'm going at this time, and you can kiss my ass. Easier said than done, but sometimes one has to be the bitch.

Re: Sometimes you have to be a bitch---

[thespian15.livejournal.com]

Well, good thing she's your old nurse manager. :o
I am a lot like you in not being good about being proactive for myself. :(

[ellierachael.livejournal.com]

yikes!

[thespian15.livejournal.com]

I finally got one when the charge nurse asked me when I was taking mine and I told I wasn't getting one. She quickly took over the patient I was watching for another nurse to take her break. UGH...
What did she think was going to happen when she assigned me to cover 4 nurses to take their breaks? :o

[classical-wolf.livejournal.com]

*lots of hugs*

[thespian15.livejournal.com]

Thank you. :)
I finally did get a break. About 10 minutes into covering the last nurse's break that I was assigned to, the charge nurse asked me when I was taking break. I told I wasn't, and she quickly said she would watch the patient so I could go on break. Why didn't she think about that when she assigned me 4 nurses to cover breaks for in the first place. Ugh...

[owlstorm_9]

They don't expect much, do they????

[thespian15.livejournal.com]

Well, hopefully being one of the sitters it won't be such a problem tonight. LOL......

[twinner.livejournal.com]

I don't quite understand what you're complaining about. Are the breaks 1 hour each or 1/2 hour; if they're an hour each, I understand your frustration, but if they're 1/2 hr, that's four hours to cover two hours of breaks. Did the charge nurse ask you to be the cover nurse for the others at the beginning of your shift or just throw it at you later? If you knew a few hours before hand, couldn't you have taken your break before covering all the others? Just wondering...

[thespian15.livejournal.com]

Yeah, they are one hour breaks.
I would have had to have taken my break at 1 am which is only after 2 hours of work. Way too early for a break, at least for me.
I actually give up quite a few breaks so that I have time to do my morning work, but the nurses on this station are a little obscessive about taking breaks. For me, work comes first. I don't mind giving up breaks when it's my choice, but I don't like not getting them because of somebody else. There have been a few times where I am sitting with a patient on my shift and forgotten about when it comes to break. So I just put it down on my time card. :p
Some times your solitary bakery work sounds better. :p

[twinner.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry for what you're going through; doesn't sound as if the charge nurse "is in charge" all that much. Shouldn't the break situation be her problem & not yours?

[thespian15.livejournal.com]

It's kind of sad that we have two charge nurses(there are two "pods" to the station) and quite often an ancillary(sp?) nurse, but they try their best some nights to get out of covering as many as they can. Last night I was assigned 4 and I think the aide on the other pod was also assigned 4. That's a third of our station when full, and we had at least 3 empty beds. Some charge nurses are worse then others though.
Thank you for your concern. I do feel a bit guilty, when measured against the drama you are going through. :o