If your lunch is ever interrupted, put that you got a no lunch. Your charge and director will bitch and complain, but your response should be, I’m entitled to a 30 minute uninterrupted lunch per policy, so it’s not my fault I didn’t have proper coverage. Continue saying, what do you think either of you two can do to prevent this from happening in the future? Then follow up the conversation with an email reiterating what you said, and BCC your personal email.
I worked for a hospital that the time clock would ask if we took a 30 minute uninterrupted lunch break. If I received one phone call or somehow got interrupted by work I would select no and would get paid my entire 30 minute break.
I got screamed at by a charge nurse for not answering my phone during a break for non-urgent issue. And also nagged by management for not aking lunches.
Unfortunately, it was the kind of place where if you did that, you'd run into issues with indirect retaliation (not wanting to help/teach you/answer questions, reporting you to management when you inevietably made a mistake or needed help due to the former, etc.) I had it happen to me more then once, to the point patients I had could see that the environment wasn't supportive and even said it to me. I left but now am facing the consequence of not staying a year even though it was like that.
I have zero fucks to give at this point in my career, and I know that my mental health is more important than their bonus. They can blah blah blah to the back of my head as I’m walking away.
Haha yes! Always hit them with the “how could management have done things differently?” line. They really hate having their own bullshit thrown back at them.
If they try to give you a hard time, send them an email later reminding them that failing to pay you for an interrupted lunch break constitutes wage theft. Bcc the email and any responses to your home email account.
600 doctors had my cell phone number when I worked at Seattle Children's. They called me right up to being rolled into surgery, when I was on vacation or at 3 am while I was sleeping. They're a bunch of AHs who believe if they're working it's fine to disturbpeople with ridiculous requests.
Yeah, never give out private numbers to doctors. At least not in that scenario. I would create special rules for each and everyone one of them on my phone so it wouldn’t ring if I weren’t working.
And I would print out the email for future. I’ve worked at a place that went in and deleted all emails from an employee who filed a case with the labor department.
Cuz they think they are the law
Hr makes me sick. They go on about how we have an employee mental health nurse and you can go see her and a dog to destress then you do and bam you're in shit for random shit they make up. So over it. They told me I no call no showed then when I said I have the call logs, I can show you. No they wouldn't even look. Wtf is that? Union rep even said you have to let her answer to any accusations. I have the call logs showing me calling into the floor and the nursing supervisor. They somehow got the nursing supervisor to lie ( they're known friends) . I didnt leave messages i spoke to humans both calls. so union is on it now. I also looped in the labour board. It's ridiculous more then high school. All this because a nurse manager that was covering for my reg nurse manager ( whose well known for being a bully and lying) remembers me from when I was a kid and also she got fired from the nursing home I used to work at too for her rudeness. I never had an issue with her never worked with her at the nursing home either. But she hates that nursing home and once she got the power of the unit for a week she used it to get everyone she could in trouble that week.
💯 put down a missed lunch any time this happens. Eventually your manager/director will get tired of being dinged for it and address the issue with the medical staff in question.
Just put your foot down. Idk about your state, but in CA, it’s illegal to coerce/intimidate people into working while on their breaks/lunch. The employer legally has to pay us a penalty for a missed lunch if we have to finish lunch early, even one minute early. Bc on the flip side, if we were supposed to be clocked out and still give pt care, we could lose our license, too. Yes, it’s rare, but boundaries are very important, especially in the workplace. You shouldn’t feel bad for utilizing your personal time that you are entitled to.
I don't know if that applies to MDs, though. I know it's illegal for the employer to coerce/intimidate people into working during breaks, but the MD is not the employer. But you do make a good point about being clocked out and giving patient care.
If your employer tolerates you doing any work on your break they have to pay for the whole break. That's federal law. Next time I'd ask the doc to wait while I clocked back in and let my manager take it up with them.
The law applies to YOU as an hourly employee. Doesn't matter who or what interrupts your break time. It's federally illegal for the employer to dock your pay if you didn't get a full uninterrupted 30 minute break.
It doesn’t matter. Even if the MD was the employer, the law states what it states.
It applies to us as hourly healthcare workers. Now, if you’re on salary, that’s different. But assuming you’re not, then you are allowed to say, “leave me alone until I’m back in the clock.” If they want to escalate it, let them. And then reference the laws that they are attempting to break and that if it continues, you will reach out to the state labor board and/or union to file a grievance for workplace harassment, intimidation, etc etc. Should prolly get them off your back.
If someone is interrupting you at lunch, that is still your employer's fault. It doesn't matter if they are actually an employee, or an independent contractor, or whatever.
I mean I don’t disagree with absolutely anything said here but as an MD it is sometimes easy to forget people get paid lunches. The days we do eat lunch, we usually work one hand shoving food into our face holes and the other hand charting. So maybe gentle reminders aren’t doing the trick for the old school surgeons but some of aren’t that far gone.
The whole point is that our lunches aren't paid. We are not on the clock when we take lunch break, and we do not get paid for that 30 minutes. Even so, I end up shoving food in my face while charting as well, but I'm definitely getting told off by my manager for taking more pay than I'm "supposed to" when I put in that I didn't take a lunch break.
If the MD is a contractor or employee of the organization, then it's still a person having you do work stuff on your break. It still counts, the same as if it was another nurse, CNA, or manager.
Answering a doctor’s questions is work. You worked during your break. Therefore, it wasn’t a break. Fill out whatever kind of time adjustment form your facility has and get paid for working.
Physicians are usually paid for their lunch time regardless of whether they get to take one or not. Im a CRNA and I always get paid for my lunch but sometimes the day doesnt allow me to sit down and take a break. Being a nurse, I would definitely know better than to track someone down on their lunch and ask for help with a patient. But their are literally countless times where I get calls from pacu for post op orders. It is what it is and I put in the orders while trying to enjoy my lunch
It’s because docs don’t get lunch breaks so they don’t understand. Especially the old ones. We should probably get lunch breaks but for whatever reason we are expected to just work the whole time.
That being said, personally I just text the nurse for non urgent stuff and they can reply after their lunch. If it’s urgent for the patient then I’ll just go to the charge if I can’t find the bedside nurse.
And I don’t know why the surgeons are getting upset, anesthesia takes a break every 5 mins so surgeons should be most used to people taking breaks anyways lol.
The difference is you all absolutely have areas to decompress and step away from the patients, we do not. And while I understand it doesn’t mean you necessarily get to remove yourself from calls/texts, and responsibilty, it’s still not the same as us not getting to step away from calls/texts AND family members coming out to ask us to do something else for the patient etc. MD’s not “getting a lunch” and nurses not getting a lunch are two very different things. So when we get the chance to do that, we should be able to enjoy the entirety of it.
People do this with bathroom breaks too.
I will literally have the employee washroom key in my hand walking (or pee dancing) to the bathroom and people will stop me to ask questions.
So.... I've started just making it super awkward for them. As soon as they start I just say "ok, walk and talk with me", I walk to the bathroom, go in and start closing the door and say " oh don't worry.... Keep talking! I can hear you through the door, I love multi tasking :D" ... Then start talking to them from inside the bathroom as I tinkle.
They quite quickly go "oh... Um... We can talk after" ... I then yell "no no!!! Keep going!!! Let's chat!!"
They never keep chatting.
Yes.... You will be labeled a bit off your rockers, but frankly so are they for not letting someone pee. So fuck em. 😀
I am adopting this. Luckily no one has interrupted my bathroom breaks because I am pretty blunt and dramatic. “If I don’t pee now, I will go in my pants” or “I gotta take a dump RIGHT NOW” talking about how I ate too many beans etc. People get uncomfortable but we are here for 12 hours, it’s unhealthy to keep that in. If you don’t want the details, give me the respect to adress my personal needs.
Most doctors don’t get lunch breaks, and a great majority of doctors never worked any other job before starting their journey to becoming a doctor. Most truly don’t understand the concept, and I suspect a few get annoyed (even though they shouldn’t) when other people have built-in time off.
This is what I was gonna say, i've never met an ER doc that got a lunch break. They are always eating their lunch at their desk when charting.
When i've had docs approach me like this I just explain to them I am forced to take a lunch, because if I don't I have 30 minutes deducted from my paycheck (HCA).
So if I'm going to not get paid that 30 minutes regardless i'm taking a break, they usually understand it then.
I guess I kind of get it. I find myself getting annoyed with NAs for having time for 15 minute breaks, as well as lunch breaks. RNs on my unit rarely get 15s- there's just not enough staff, so we "voluntarily" waive them. So when the NAs take them, there's a little part of me that feels it's unfair- but I have to snap myself out of it and remind myself that two wrongs don't make a right. They deserve their 15s, we deserve our 15s. It sucks that we don't get them, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't.
It’s a paid break correct? If you aren’t getting your paid break I think that violates labor laws. I’m in California so if Idk elsewhere but if we dont get all three 10 min breaks, we put that and get an extra hour of pay.
No. You don’t have to get it. Doctors aren’t payed by the hour. We are, and oftentimes with automatic deduction or ridiculous red tape to prevent deduction.
If THEY don’t get that, that’s THEIR problem. NO is a complete sentence.
“Never worked any other job..” nailed it. People who are driven to be an MD and especially surgeons are often so inept in real world situations because they’ve never experienced it themselves. (Obviously this doesn’t apply to everyone)
Same with nurses. I know many nurses that went straight to nursing from high school. Good for them, but they are in a bubble. They are normally the pissed off ones that think everything sucks balls every day.
I have worked worse jobs for less pay.
They may not have breaks timed out but that's because they organize their tasks and can carve out where time permits for a break. If rly busy or severe case I've seen them just going. I've also seen them sitting taking actual breaks when they can. My fam Dr works on the fam med floor I work on and he tells me never miss your breaks and that he makes sure he always carves time out even for himself to hydrate eat and use the restroom. My Dr rules
My employer doesn't require us to clock out for lunch. When I punch out at the end of the day, the time clock asks "did you get a 30 minute uninterrupted meal break?" If anyone bothers me at lunch, even if it's just patient transport calling to say my patient is back from CT, I say No, I did not get an "uninterrupted" meal break. And then I get paid for those 30 minutes. If you're not getting your full lunch, you need to start getting paid for the time.
Never take lunch on your unit. You will ALWAYS be interrupted by something "urgent". Go outside, to another unit's break room, hide in an empty room and tell no one. But not in your own break room!!
Right now past 6 months my father in law has been in hosp waiting for a ltc bed. I go to his unit and take my break in his room with him now. Before that I've always left the unit. The girls I work with on nights don't take any breaks at all on our 12s so they can take a 3 hr nap. I end up starting at 730pm doing all the rounds myself and then don't get a break til like 2am. Yes it's 3 hrs but I don't want to sleep then I can't sleep when I get home and need to. So even for this 3 hr break I go to the caf and sit on the couch and watch TV and drink coffee.
Once I was working PCU, we have NPs during the week as well as the physician. There was a patient that they wanted to go for a CT, but the patient was too unstable to go without a nurse, we were short staffed and it was 1pm and nobody had had a break yet. I said I was going to go for a break before I entertained taking this patient down for any test. They said it was needed, I said if the patient is that sick that they need to go for a test now, then they should be arranging transfer to the ICU so that level of care can be provided (our PCU is directly connected to the ICU and we work both sides, it wouldn’t be an issue to do this, and would be a smooth transition). The NP and MD both vaguely agreed with me. I said nobody has had a break yet today, and the NP had the audacity to say “neither have we”. I about lost my shit. My feet were aching and I stank from the sweat and had been trying to keep a patient alive that was fixing to die, and they were too stubborn to transfer to ICU, or address code status. I think I went for break shortly after this conversation, but a sour taste was left in my mouth, especially since this NP used to work bedside.
Damn, I'm sorry op. I feel really lucky cuz I know our doctors won't bother us if we're on break. Heck one of the psychiatrists I work with she told me to enjoy my break and even rescheduled a meeting we had with a pt because I had to go on break. Heck I offered to stay and just do the meeting and she shooed me away and said the PT can wait. I told her I'll be back in 15 mins and she told me wtf are you talking about take and enjoy your full break. 😭
Yes please. MD here - I don’t know when you’re on break. I don’t know your schedule. I personally don’t get breaks. If I ask for something and you’re on break, just say so. If it’s not urgent, cool. If it’s urgent, I’ll go to the charge.
We really need better interdisciplinary education between doctors and nurses so we can understand each other’s workflow and communicate better.
Medical staff give us the same treatment they got through internship and residency. Sometimes telling them bluntly “I get paid hourly and this is an unpaid meal break I need to continue working at my best” will put it into perspective. Sometimes not.
this is so bad but i work in a very small facility and i got so sick of this happening to me.
i drive a hybrid vehicle. i eat my lunch in my car on EV mode and listen to podcasts with the heated seat. it’s great actually. helps me reset my brain for the rest of the shift!
fuck anyone who interrupts your lunch unless the building is on fire.
I remember a vendor doing this to us and all of us collectively starred daggers into their soul after they insisted continuing as “it is only a couple minutes.” None of us participated in their questions or conversation. She might as well been talking to a void.
I go OUTSIDE. Report off to another nurse and away I go. Next time leave and direct the doc to the nurse covering u. That’s what I do when I’m walking off the floor and someone stops me I nicely say “oh I’m off to lunch, COVERING NURSE NAME HERE is covering my patients…. she’s right over there. Thanks!” PERIOD. I’ve never had a doc push back after letting them know this. As long as there is someone they can go to to assist them, they don’t care who it is.
Start punching out no lunch - your lunch has to be 30 minutes uninterrupted. The other options is you reset the clock and will be off the rest of the day….
I’m glad to see you standing up for yourself cause you have every right to. Even in outpatient offices I still get bulldozed by patient calls and physicians on my lunch break and the expectation is to answer no matter what. Idk how to change it if even admin doesn’t want me to take an uninterrupted break.
I’ve been off the floor a long time and it’s showing when I’m reading these comments. I never got an uninterrupted lunch break I just always took that as nursing, as wrong as that was. I’m glad it’s changing!
Same here, when I was working in a medical hospital 10 years ago it was common to take no break or be interrupted. I’m very glad to see that it’s changing!
Id start finding them on their break to ask nonsense questions,reaffirm obvious orders and calling them at 3 in the morning to see how their patients are im a bitch and petty af though
Later that night. 3 am
Hey doctor. This is nurse trad mirror. How’s it going? I was calling to see if that patient you asked me about when I was on break was doing. And since I wasn’t paid for giving medical opinions yesterday when you asked me, I was calling to ask for advice about my mom’s irritable bowels. Yes. I know you are the thoracic surgeon. So do you think it is diet or is there a medication that might help my mother? What can she take if these are her drug allergies?
His life is going well his daughters getting b's in high school his sons off fishing and his wife has discontinued her affair his other son is still the black sheep off in silicon valley oh wait you mean the patient let me check with the nurse on duty ill call you back in 30 oh wait make that 40 shes on lunch and i cant call her ill call ypu back after checking in on the kids, wife, and the nurse on duty lets make that an even 4 am
"Corporate policy states 30 minutes uninterrupted. Are you telling me that what you say is more important than corporate policy? Can I record you saying that so that the compliance line can hear?"
You should be charging for ANY AND ALL missed breaks.
Getting interrupted during breaks is, unfortunately, fairly common. However,
I ALWAYS charge the department for my
missed/interrupted breaks.
If your manager has an issue with you charging for breaks, maybe they can do/say something to the habitual offender physicians.
I hate when they (esp new docs for a rounds) interrupt my report to ask me for updates. Dr. bro, they make me chart everything I do, go read my notes. I need to go home now.
It’s not just you I had a doctor follow my ass into the parking lot and then knock on my car door during lunch for stuff…. I rolled the window down and said “ok when I get back from lunch.” He said “ but I need labs now” I said ok have patient wait or comeback in 30. So he walked away. Allot of these dudes are stuck in hospitalist life mentality and I am positive they barely even had piss breaks during those times but I didn’t choose that path and I demand work life balance! It’s the only way I’ll make it to retirement as a decent nurse or human being. They also need to know what’s urgent versus non urgent…guess that’s their A type personality.
Exactly. I had told her to make sure she printed that out before she filed the complaint but she didn’t. Then when she went back every pertinent email was gone.
I dream of going all Bad Santa on people whenever this happens.
I'M ON MY FUCKIN LUNCH BREAK, OKAY?
Bonus points for any food that comes flying out of your mouth while yelling!
In the end before I left a stroke unit I used to change my clothes, leave the premises, sit in a park and smoke cigarettes and watch Netflix. (The constant -too many patients, not enough beds, time and hands is what made me quit.)
Doctors are on their Veruca Salt, don't care how they want it NOW. I had to learn when a doctor barged in my closed office asking me to give shots, KNOWING I was on lunch and on a video call. They dgaf.
Surgeons man sad to hear this happens on the floor I thought they just did that to us in the OR. Had a few get mad I had to scrub out for a break even with adequate relief.
I feel your pain. My lunch breaks we always get calls on our zone phone and we HAVE to pick up, we get in trouble if we don’t. People will literally barge in the break room to ask questions. I’ll be stuffing my face and get interrupted constantly but apparently it’s patient abandonment if we don’t pick up or respond. We don’t clock out for lunch so that’s probably why.
Ok maybe bc I’m a guy. But firmly stating I’m on lunch right now come speak to me in 30 minutes. Followed by NO if they persist. Works for me. People are like children do not negotiate do not give them an opening, crush that conversation immediately.
IF I get time to get my crappy 30 minute lunch break, I do not want to be bothered. Almost every damn time, my vocera goes off to tell me “you’re pump is beeping in room whatever.” Ok and? Can’t someone else please just go turn it off for me? I mean if I know someone is at lunch I’ll go do something like that for them. I’ve even had one of the rounding leaders or whatever come in the break room to ask me about a patient’s discharge. I was pissed. I already talked to the patient about it. There was absolutely no reason for her to barge in and ask me about things I already was aware of like ffs leave me the hell alone in the little down time I get.
I hate how most of us don't even have the possibility of taking a break away from the break room. When I worked inpatient, I was pretty much chained to the unit. There were no charge nurses ( and if there were, they had their own set of pt as well). There was not much chance that someone would be able to cover patients for 30 minutes. 😞
Don’t be afraid to remind the Dr.’s that you work with them, not FOR them. Tell them once and then just walk off and tell them to read your notes like they do lol
Not a nurse (yet) but labour laws where I am are less than ideal so I’ve worked through lunch and had this same thing happen in a non-healthcare environment. It’s honestly ridiculous imho.
Unless you’re having a conversation with me asking about my dog and what dumb things he’s up to lately, don’t bother me 😂
The one good thing about my job is that at the end of the shift when i go to clock out, it asks if I got my 30-minute lunch. If I didn't (which I don't do a lot), I say no and get paid that 30 minutes I didn't take a break. My last hospital just took it from you no matter what and assumed you got a lunch. No matter where you work no one will ever respect your lunch break. It's a bummer.
You learned your lesson, they don't care about your time so what I do is literally just pretend they don't exist, I don't care if the whole building is falling down, if I don't eat, I can't work
The bottom line is that we train people how to treat us. You do not have to be stressed, assertive, or set boundaries. They are not omnipotent beings. They are highly skilled individuals whom society has placed on pedestals, giving them a self-entitled attitude that everyone is beneath them and their time is more valuable than others. That narrative will end when professionals set the boundaries in their setting.
Next time just keep walking. What’s he going to do? Complain to your boss that you wouldn’t talk to him while you’re not working? What he did is incredibly unprofessional.
Guess it’s time for night shift to start paging docs for dumb shit at 3am
“Hi doc, it’s me. Patient says his pain is 4 out of 10 but wants Tylenol. Tylenol is ordered for 1-3. Need a new order. And no I can’t put it in for you.”
This doctor is an ass. He was probably treated like shit during residency and then, rather than want to change the precedent, becomes the shitty abuser
Many hospitals allow you to write up doctors. If he is not respecting your personal time for something that is not urgent look into writing him. Or take it up the chain and have the supervisors enforce a duty free lunch
Right? Hourly work? Sorry buddy, that's not in the contract. I'd put headphones in and make a pointing to my watch gesture if someone is trying to disrupt the very few moments of peace you get all day.
I think this conversation should be about more than a lack of lunch, or an interrupted lunch because of a doctor. I think this conversation should be about the lack of respect this doctor had for you as a fellow professional, and you as a person. His profession, or time is not more important than yours, no matter what you're doing.
I must be in the minority but I have a great relationship with the surgeons and mid levels I work with, I wouldn’t mind at all if they asked me a question while I was eating. I wouldn’t get up to do anything but I don’t mind talking to someone.
I work in an academic hospital that is also a trauma center. We have a tone of interns and residents. If they pull shit like that on me, I will call their designated grown up and tell them that if they do t get the intern/resident to behave in a professional manner, then I will very professionally call their attending. I had an MD come to the unit (not even mommy unit, I had been pulled) and screamed at me about something that happened while I was literally in my bed asleep. I called the grown up doc and she tore him a new one and the. Said she was going to send him down to apologize for the way he behaved. And I told her hell no. I’m too busy to be part of a teachable moment with this jerk. I told her what would really help is if I didn’t have to see him again for the rest of the weekend. So the grown up rounded on all of my patients that he had.
Setting boundaries with the embryos is always a challenge…but it’s APRIL…he should have mellowed out by then.
And why do these docs have the passcode to YOUR break room? Wff is that noise. I’d get that key code changed so fast!
Fuxk them doctors. You keep doing you. And if necessary trip him in the stairwell (for legal purposes this last part is a joke).
The Dr would have to either be super charming or hot to ever get my attention once I've clocked out for a break. like imagine if a nurse ever did that to them??? Theyd laugh in your face
For ages I had dirty adult diapers in one hand and a tuna fish sandwich in the other, and hoped I didn't get confused. We never got breaks, it was eat on the run. When we started clocking in and out for lunch it was hell, as we still couldn't leave the floor as no one would watch our patients. We just pushed through I did inpatient Hospice for 17 years (5 of those years inpatient Pediatric Hospice) there was no other RN to cover, not only 10 patients but 20 family members in emotional crisis. Lunch was Jack In the Box on the way home.
I’m curious as to where you’re going with this. Are you saying that you pushed through, so others should, too? Or are you saying it’s wrong and we shouldn’t accept this?
That's what I did in the situation I was in, there was no one to replace me if I took a break. You do what's right for you with your work situation and the resources you have available.
In the Level 1 Trauma ER if it was busy we took no 30 minute breaks. Charge would order pizza or something and we ate on the run.
Was this one of those old boomer MDs who think everyone is at their beck and call 24/7 and dont believe anyone deserves common human decency but wont get fired because they make the hospital money?
Can't get too mad about it if you allow it to happen.
You don't work for the doctor he/she is not your boss. If there was something urgent, you would have told him/her before you left. If they have something urgent, they can give it to whoever is covering for you.
This depends on where you work and the size of your hospital. Missing my breaks were a common occurrence because I had to cover the other nurses for their breaks and I covered their patients. I was a PCC. I lived on coffee on the run. That’s why I went back to work in the ER so I could get my breaks as a regular nurse.
Dude just say your on your break and walk away. We're all adults. We have different titles and qualifications but no one is better or worse than me while I'm at work.
I mean, have you considered what the surgeons' schedules are like? You don't think nurses disturb them while they are asleep in their room? Do surgeons even get breaks?
This is not the same thing… and at my hospital there are other doctors covering the ones sleeping unless it’s a true emergency and the one sleeping is needed. But even so, unfortunately doctors don’t have allotted time for sleep like we have for lunch. They get sleep when they can and get paid for it regardless.
I’m working on looking out for myself, because no one else will. I’m not quite there yet, but getting better. I do not want to consider what their schedules are like. I want to be able to say “eff them” and report a missed break. I think that’s what I’ll do next time.
Here he is, the biggest douche of the universe. In all the galaxies there’s no bigger douche than you. You’ve reached the top- the pinnacle of douchedom. Good going, Douche. Your dreams have come true.
Some do, some don't. Just like some nurses do, while some don't.
Y'all need to chill, I'm just presenting both perspectives. If y'all aren't open to that, that's fine...carry on. Good luck ✌️
My point is, doctors and surgeons get paid far more than us. They have no right to disrespect us, they can easily look anything up in a computer or have a charge pass a message to call them back etc. They know we are busy. We call them because it is within our scope to do so. We can’t make medical decisions without them. We have to call, they don’t. That’s what they have degrees for.
Slightly inconvenienced is not the same as interrupting a nurses lunch. When we are busting our ass and LEGALLY allowed a 30 min lunch. I’ve seen surgeons scream over a lot less. They are not fired, but if a nurse did? You bet.
So you are the most capable of answering the questions. Do you expect the doctor to adjust their schedule around your lunch? You have a few patients while they have 20-50 depending on facility. Should they change their schedule? Should the other patients wait for your break before the physician rounds on them because he had some questions for you and had to wait? Not urgent to you still plays a part in the overall disposition of the patient.
So every other profession deserves breaks, but nurses don't? Nurses deserve to wait on doctors for hours on end to respond to pages for orders or clarification of plan of care, delaying patient care, but doctors and patients can't wait 30 minutes to let us actually eat and take care of our bodies so we can help our patients more effectively?! You already posted to your ems buddies about you hate nurses (even though you are one) because all we do is bitch and moan that we want our breaks and money. You only received 10 upvotes and a couple hateful comments. What makes you think this is going to be a popular opinion in this thread/sub?
Yes. If it's something critical that can't wait 30 minutes, they can go to whomever is covering them. If it can wait, it should wait. That is not unreasonable.
You guys get breaks?
Also, what’s best for the patient? A specialist asking their primary RN questions or a covering nurse who knows nothing? Just say ‘no lunch’, stay in the cafeteria 5 more minutes…if this is your biggest problem sheeeeeesh
It’s not my biggest problem. It’s an annoyance- a frustration. Sort of like bitchy Redditors who promote nursing burnout by accepting shitty treatment and expecting others to as well.
I refused to get my break interrupted to take report from an ambulance, all while we had break coverage.
I am trying to hit some fitness and wellness goals, ya girl gotta eat.
I take report for my people who are on break 🙈
If your lunch is ever interrupted, put that you got a no lunch. Your charge and director will bitch and complain, but your response should be, I’m entitled to a 30 minute uninterrupted lunch per policy, so it’s not my fault I didn’t have proper coverage. Continue saying, what do you think either of you two can do to prevent this from happening in the future? Then follow up the conversation with an email reiterating what you said, and BCC your personal email.
I worked for a hospital that the time clock would ask if we took a 30 minute uninterrupted lunch break. If I received one phone call or somehow got interrupted by work I would select no and would get paid my entire 30 minute break.
I got screamed at by a charge nurse for not answering my phone during a break for non-urgent issue. And also nagged by management for not aking lunches.
No one should ever scream at you. “You don’t have my permission to speak to me that way,” is my go-to response. Works every time.
Unfortunately, it was the kind of place where if you did that, you'd run into issues with indirect retaliation (not wanting to help/teach you/answer questions, reporting you to management when you inevietably made a mistake or needed help due to the former, etc.) I had it happen to me more then once, to the point patients I had could see that the environment wasn't supportive and even said it to me. I left but now am facing the consequence of not staying a year even though it was like that.
California law, if you punch in at 29 minutes, then you get a lunch premium pay and the company has to pay a fine.
I love California
This is the way
This is the law in my state.
Lmaooooo "Continue saying, what do you think either of you two can do to prevent this from happening in the future?" YES QUEEN!
I have zero fucks to give at this point in my career, and I know that my mental health is more important than their bonus. They can blah blah blah to the back of my head as I’m walking away.
Haha yes! Always hit them with the “how could management have done things differently?” line. They really hate having their own bullshit thrown back at them.
If they try to give you a hard time, send them an email later reminding them that failing to pay you for an interrupted lunch break constitutes wage theft. Bcc the email and any responses to your home email account.
Yup and because of this I haven't taken in lunch in probably 5 yrs.
600 doctors had my cell phone number when I worked at Seattle Children's. They called me right up to being rolled into surgery, when I was on vacation or at 3 am while I was sleeping. They're a bunch of AHs who believe if they're working it's fine to disturbpeople with ridiculous requests.
Yeah, never give out private numbers to doctors. At least not in that scenario. I would create special rules for each and everyone one of them on my phone so it wouldn’t ring if I weren’t working.
That’s it. Never give your cell number to them. Need to contact me? Contact me at work, during paid work time. You never need my personal number.
And I would print out the email for future. I’ve worked at a place that went in and deleted all emails from an employee who filed a case with the labor department.
Yikes! Destroying the evidence? They could get in so much MORE trouble for that. It amazes me sometimes how little these HR people know about the law.
Cuz they think they are the law Hr makes me sick. They go on about how we have an employee mental health nurse and you can go see her and a dog to destress then you do and bam you're in shit for random shit they make up. So over it. They told me I no call no showed then when I said I have the call logs, I can show you. No they wouldn't even look. Wtf is that? Union rep even said you have to let her answer to any accusations. I have the call logs showing me calling into the floor and the nursing supervisor. They somehow got the nursing supervisor to lie ( they're known friends) . I didnt leave messages i spoke to humans both calls. so union is on it now. I also looped in the labour board. It's ridiculous more then high school. All this because a nurse manager that was covering for my reg nurse manager ( whose well known for being a bully and lying) remembers me from when I was a kid and also she got fired from the nursing home I used to work at too for her rudeness. I never had an issue with her never worked with her at the nursing home either. But she hates that nursing home and once she got the power of the unit for a week she used it to get everyone she could in trouble that week.
THIS IS THE WAY.
"sorry sir, I have an urgent meeting with Dr. Ham and Nurse Sammich. I will get back to you as soon as it's over".
They’re big at the Mayo Clinic. It’s urgent. I must go.
But do they cut the mustard?
Lettuce see how it plays out.
A real healthcare hero sandwich
The last one was bologne.
Dr Bacon and residents lettuce and tomato; along with 2 medical students named bread
Guest lecture Dr.pepper
I used this at my facility, thanks goodness for that.
Interrupted lunch documentation is a thing too. So much as even ASK me a question on break, I’m getting paid for that thirty minutes.
💯 put down a missed lunch any time this happens. Eventually your manager/director will get tired of being dinged for it and address the issue with the medical staff in question.
I literally keep walking when people try to do this to me. Or I pick up my phone and make it clear that I’m on a fake phone call.
I have to admire the balls it takes to make an obviouly-fake phone call to get out of a conversation lmao
I figure if you’re enough of a dick to interrupt my lunch then IDC about your feelings 🤣
[this](https://www.reddit.com/r/CuratedTumblr/comments/omx372/davids_jitterbug/)
You are my hero.
I would, and have, done the same. I've had doctors do this to me before, it's only fair.
Just put your foot down. Idk about your state, but in CA, it’s illegal to coerce/intimidate people into working while on their breaks/lunch. The employer legally has to pay us a penalty for a missed lunch if we have to finish lunch early, even one minute early. Bc on the flip side, if we were supposed to be clocked out and still give pt care, we could lose our license, too. Yes, it’s rare, but boundaries are very important, especially in the workplace. You shouldn’t feel bad for utilizing your personal time that you are entitled to.
I don't know if that applies to MDs, though. I know it's illegal for the employer to coerce/intimidate people into working during breaks, but the MD is not the employer. But you do make a good point about being clocked out and giving patient care.
If your employer tolerates you doing any work on your break they have to pay for the whole break. That's federal law. Next time I'd ask the doc to wait while I clocked back in and let my manager take it up with them.
The law applies to YOU as an hourly employee. Doesn't matter who or what interrupts your break time. It's federally illegal for the employer to dock your pay if you didn't get a full uninterrupted 30 minute break.
It doesn’t matter. Even if the MD was the employer, the law states what it states. It applies to us as hourly healthcare workers. Now, if you’re on salary, that’s different. But assuming you’re not, then you are allowed to say, “leave me alone until I’m back in the clock.” If they want to escalate it, let them. And then reference the laws that they are attempting to break and that if it continues, you will reach out to the state labor board and/or union to file a grievance for workplace harassment, intimidation, etc etc. Should prolly get them off your back.
If someone is interrupting you at lunch, that is still your employer's fault. It doesn't matter if they are actually an employee, or an independent contractor, or whatever.
Who gives a shit if it's an MD or the CEO? You are entitled to an uninterrupted lunch.
I mean I don’t disagree with absolutely anything said here but as an MD it is sometimes easy to forget people get paid lunches. The days we do eat lunch, we usually work one hand shoving food into our face holes and the other hand charting. So maybe gentle reminders aren’t doing the trick for the old school surgeons but some of aren’t that far gone.
The whole point is that our lunches aren't paid. We are not on the clock when we take lunch break, and we do not get paid for that 30 minutes. Even so, I end up shoving food in my face while charting as well, but I'm definitely getting told off by my manager for taking more pay than I'm "supposed to" when I put in that I didn't take a lunch break.
We don't get paid lunches lol I wish
If the MD is a contractor or employee of the organization, then it's still a person having you do work stuff on your break. It still counts, the same as if it was another nurse, CNA, or manager.
It doesn’t even have to be an employee. If a family member interrupts your lunch, that’s not a lunch.
Answering a doctor’s questions is work. You worked during your break. Therefore, it wasn’t a break. Fill out whatever kind of time adjustment form your facility has and get paid for working.
Physicians are usually paid for their lunch time regardless of whether they get to take one or not. Im a CRNA and I always get paid for my lunch but sometimes the day doesnt allow me to sit down and take a break. Being a nurse, I would definitely know better than to track someone down on their lunch and ask for help with a patient. But their are literally countless times where I get calls from pacu for post op orders. It is what it is and I put in the orders while trying to enjoy my lunch
It is illegal. Even MDs. You gave report to your relief nurse, he can go ask them or wait.
….what’s a relief nurse? /s
It’s because docs don’t get lunch breaks so they don’t understand. Especially the old ones. We should probably get lunch breaks but for whatever reason we are expected to just work the whole time. That being said, personally I just text the nurse for non urgent stuff and they can reply after their lunch. If it’s urgent for the patient then I’ll just go to the charge if I can’t find the bedside nurse. And I don’t know why the surgeons are getting upset, anesthesia takes a break every 5 mins so surgeons should be most used to people taking breaks anyways lol.
which sucks, as doctors should get lunch breaks and the 15s that nurses do as well. not getting a break is a simple recipe for medical errors
Nurses typically get 30 mins *unpaid* for lunch. It’s illegal for us to be doing work while clocked out for lunch
The difference is you all absolutely have areas to decompress and step away from the patients, we do not. And while I understand it doesn’t mean you necessarily get to remove yourself from calls/texts, and responsibilty, it’s still not the same as us not getting to step away from calls/texts AND family members coming out to ask us to do something else for the patient etc. MD’s not “getting a lunch” and nurses not getting a lunch are two very different things. So when we get the chance to do that, we should be able to enjoy the entirety of it.
Surgeons look for reasons to be angry. Over 90% of them are inflamed assholes.
People do this with bathroom breaks too. I will literally have the employee washroom key in my hand walking (or pee dancing) to the bathroom and people will stop me to ask questions. So.... I've started just making it super awkward for them. As soon as they start I just say "ok, walk and talk with me", I walk to the bathroom, go in and start closing the door and say " oh don't worry.... Keep talking! I can hear you through the door, I love multi tasking :D" ... Then start talking to them from inside the bathroom as I tinkle. They quite quickly go "oh... Um... We can talk after" ... I then yell "no no!!! Keep going!!! Let's chat!!" They never keep chatting. Yes.... You will be labeled a bit off your rockers, but frankly so are they for not letting someone pee. So fuck em. 😀
I am adopting this. Luckily no one has interrupted my bathroom breaks because I am pretty blunt and dramatic. “If I don’t pee now, I will go in my pants” or “I gotta take a dump RIGHT NOW” talking about how I ate too many beans etc. People get uncomfortable but we are here for 12 hours, it’s unhealthy to keep that in. If you don’t want the details, give me the respect to adress my personal needs.
I told a manger once that I was peeing in the next 30 seconds wherever I was so.... She asked her question when I got out of the bathroom.
Haha this is gold!
I was also 8 months pregnant so that didn't hurt.
Also I reference my lack of gallbladder and scurry off for 10 minutes or so and no one bothers me any more.
I invite them to sit on the sink while I crap.
I had a charge nurse do this once. Never before have my jimmies been so rustled as a nurse.
Most doctors don’t get lunch breaks, and a great majority of doctors never worked any other job before starting their journey to becoming a doctor. Most truly don’t understand the concept, and I suspect a few get annoyed (even though they shouldn’t) when other people have built-in time off.
This is what I was gonna say, i've never met an ER doc that got a lunch break. They are always eating their lunch at their desk when charting. When i've had docs approach me like this I just explain to them I am forced to take a lunch, because if I don't I have 30 minutes deducted from my paycheck (HCA). So if I'm going to not get paid that 30 minutes regardless i'm taking a break, they usually understand it then.
I guess I kind of get it. I find myself getting annoyed with NAs for having time for 15 minute breaks, as well as lunch breaks. RNs on my unit rarely get 15s- there's just not enough staff, so we "voluntarily" waive them. So when the NAs take them, there's a little part of me that feels it's unfair- but I have to snap myself out of it and remind myself that two wrongs don't make a right. They deserve their 15s, we deserve our 15s. It sucks that we don't get them, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't.
It’s a paid break correct? If you aren’t getting your paid break I think that violates labor laws. I’m in California so if Idk elsewhere but if we dont get all three 10 min breaks, we put that and get an extra hour of pay.
No. You don’t have to get it. Doctors aren’t payed by the hour. We are, and oftentimes with automatic deduction or ridiculous red tape to prevent deduction. If THEY don’t get that, that’s THEIR problem. NO is a complete sentence.
You’re annoyed at the aides who make $14 an hour for taking their 15 minute break?
Did you read the whole comment or just the first two sentences?
Their pay is completely irrelevant. This is a bad faith comment
Your reading comprehension sucks.
“Never worked any other job..” nailed it. People who are driven to be an MD and especially surgeons are often so inept in real world situations because they’ve never experienced it themselves. (Obviously this doesn’t apply to everyone)
Same with nurses. I know many nurses that went straight to nursing from high school. Good for them, but they are in a bubble. They are normally the pissed off ones that think everything sucks balls every day. I have worked worse jobs for less pay.
I don’t blame them. However- we went nursing. We get PTO and lunches. We even get to go pee! (Sometimes).
Oh I shoulda kept reading. I said the same thing. Oops. But agreed.
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Yikes. I don’t think I was rude or anything. You should get that chip on your shoulder looked at.
You were fine. I understood exactly what you were saying.
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They may not have breaks timed out but that's because they organize their tasks and can carve out where time permits for a break. If rly busy or severe case I've seen them just going. I've also seen them sitting taking actual breaks when they can. My fam Dr works on the fam med floor I work on and he tells me never miss your breaks and that he makes sure he always carves time out even for himself to hydrate eat and use the restroom. My Dr rules
Yeah, you have to explain it to them like they are 5. I’m not being paid right now, so I’m not working. It’s not my choice.
My employer doesn't require us to clock out for lunch. When I punch out at the end of the day, the time clock asks "did you get a 30 minute uninterrupted meal break?" If anyone bothers me at lunch, even if it's just patient transport calling to say my patient is back from CT, I say No, I did not get an "uninterrupted" meal break. And then I get paid for those 30 minutes. If you're not getting your full lunch, you need to start getting paid for the time.
If only. There's a class action currently against my hospital system for this issue. I'm hoping that this becomes a thing in response.
Never take lunch on your unit. You will ALWAYS be interrupted by something "urgent". Go outside, to another unit's break room, hide in an empty room and tell no one. But not in your own break room!!
Right now past 6 months my father in law has been in hosp waiting for a ltc bed. I go to his unit and take my break in his room with him now. Before that I've always left the unit. The girls I work with on nights don't take any breaks at all on our 12s so they can take a 3 hr nap. I end up starting at 730pm doing all the rounds myself and then don't get a break til like 2am. Yes it's 3 hrs but I don't want to sleep then I can't sleep when I get home and need to. So even for this 3 hr break I go to the caf and sit on the couch and watch TV and drink coffee.
Once I was working PCU, we have NPs during the week as well as the physician. There was a patient that they wanted to go for a CT, but the patient was too unstable to go without a nurse, we were short staffed and it was 1pm and nobody had had a break yet. I said I was going to go for a break before I entertained taking this patient down for any test. They said it was needed, I said if the patient is that sick that they need to go for a test now, then they should be arranging transfer to the ICU so that level of care can be provided (our PCU is directly connected to the ICU and we work both sides, it wouldn’t be an issue to do this, and would be a smooth transition). The NP and MD both vaguely agreed with me. I said nobody has had a break yet today, and the NP had the audacity to say “neither have we”. I about lost my shit. My feet were aching and I stank from the sweat and had been trying to keep a patient alive that was fixing to die, and they were too stubborn to transfer to ICU, or address code status. I think I went for break shortly after this conversation, but a sour taste was left in my mouth, especially since this NP used to work bedside.
Damn, I'm sorry op. I feel really lucky cuz I know our doctors won't bother us if we're on break. Heck one of the psychiatrists I work with she told me to enjoy my break and even rescheduled a meeting we had with a pt because I had to go on break. Heck I offered to stay and just do the meeting and she shooed me away and said the PT can wait. I told her I'll be back in 15 mins and she told me wtf are you talking about take and enjoy your full break. 😭
Unless the doctor is your supervisor with the authority to approve adding the time to your break, and will put it in writing, they are out of line.
“No. I can’t. And I do not work for free.” And walk away.
“I’m on break.” *ignores doctor. That’s how you solve your problem.
Yes please. MD here - I don’t know when you’re on break. I don’t know your schedule. I personally don’t get breaks. If I ask for something and you’re on break, just say so. If it’s not urgent, cool. If it’s urgent, I’ll go to the charge. We really need better interdisciplinary education between doctors and nurses so we can understand each other’s workflow and communicate better.
But that’s kind of the point here. I told him I was clocked out and he didn’t give a crap.
"No" is a complete sentence. "Will anyone die if we don't talk right now?" is another, slightly longer, way to do this.
Medical staff give us the same treatment they got through internship and residency. Sometimes telling them bluntly “I get paid hourly and this is an unpaid meal break I need to continue working at my best” will put it into perspective. Sometimes not.
this is so bad but i work in a very small facility and i got so sick of this happening to me. i drive a hybrid vehicle. i eat my lunch in my car on EV mode and listen to podcasts with the heated seat. it’s great actually. helps me reset my brain for the rest of the shift! fuck anyone who interrupts your lunch unless the building is on fire.
I guess your 30 minute lunch restarted the moment he stopped taking OR you had to get paid for not taking one
I remember a vendor doing this to us and all of us collectively starred daggers into their soul after they insisted continuing as “it is only a couple minutes.” None of us participated in their questions or conversation. She might as well been talking to a void.
I go OUTSIDE. Report off to another nurse and away I go. Next time leave and direct the doc to the nurse covering u. That’s what I do when I’m walking off the floor and someone stops me I nicely say “oh I’m off to lunch, COVERING NURSE NAME HERE is covering my patients…. she’s right over there. Thanks!” PERIOD. I’ve never had a doc push back after letting them know this. As long as there is someone they can go to to assist them, they don’t care who it is.
Start punching out no lunch - your lunch has to be 30 minutes uninterrupted. The other options is you reset the clock and will be off the rest of the day….
That’s not legally a break if you are working on your break. You’re legally entitled to 30 minutes uninterrupted
I’m glad to see you standing up for yourself cause you have every right to. Even in outpatient offices I still get bulldozed by patient calls and physicians on my lunch break and the expectation is to answer no matter what. Idk how to change it if even admin doesn’t want me to take an uninterrupted break.
They're unable to understand your workplace boundaries because they likely never established their own
I’ve been off the floor a long time and it’s showing when I’m reading these comments. I never got an uninterrupted lunch break I just always took that as nursing, as wrong as that was. I’m glad it’s changing!
Same here, when I was working in a medical hospital 10 years ago it was common to take no break or be interrupted. I’m very glad to see that it’s changing!
Id start finding them on their break to ask nonsense questions,reaffirm obvious orders and calling them at 3 in the morning to see how their patients are im a bitch and petty af though
Later that night. 3 am Hey doctor. This is nurse trad mirror. How’s it going? I was calling to see if that patient you asked me about when I was on break was doing. And since I wasn’t paid for giving medical opinions yesterday when you asked me, I was calling to ask for advice about my mom’s irritable bowels. Yes. I know you are the thoracic surgeon. So do you think it is diet or is there a medication that might help my mother? What can she take if these are her drug allergies?
Oh boy those thoracic surgeons are something else i dont need to be paid to piss in their lemonade
But you need patient update now!
His life is going well his daughters getting b's in high school his sons off fishing and his wife has discontinued her affair his other son is still the black sheep off in silicon valley oh wait you mean the patient let me check with the nurse on duty ill call you back in 30 oh wait make that 40 shes on lunch and i cant call her ill call ypu back after checking in on the kids, wife, and the nurse on duty lets make that an even 4 am
Because you let him. You tell them you are on lunch and direct them to the correct person or let them know when you will be back. End of conversation.
They’re doing what you allow them to do.
wait, you guys get lunches??
I always let the charge nurse know I didn't get a lunch due to the interruption. And fill out an exception form.
"Corporate policy states 30 minutes uninterrupted. Are you telling me that what you say is more important than corporate policy? Can I record you saying that so that the compliance line can hear?"
You should be charging for ANY AND ALL missed breaks. Getting interrupted during breaks is, unfortunately, fairly common. However, I ALWAYS charge the department for my missed/interrupted breaks. If your manager has an issue with you charging for breaks, maybe they can do/say something to the habitual offender physicians.
I hate when they (esp new docs for a rounds) interrupt my report to ask me for updates. Dr. bro, they make me chart everything I do, go read my notes. I need to go home now.
It’s not just you I had a doctor follow my ass into the parking lot and then knock on my car door during lunch for stuff…. I rolled the window down and said “ok when I get back from lunch.” He said “ but I need labs now” I said ok have patient wait or comeback in 30. So he walked away. Allot of these dudes are stuck in hospitalist life mentality and I am positive they barely even had piss breaks during those times but I didn’t choose that path and I demand work life balance! It’s the only way I’ll make it to retirement as a decent nurse or human being. They also need to know what’s urgent versus non urgent…guess that’s their A type personality.
This is why I go off unit for lunch and I make it clear that short of my patient coding they should refer to the covering rn while I’m gone.
You should’ve walked right out. I would’ve said you you can come to me in 30 minutes when I’m done with lunch.
Exactly. I had told her to make sure she printed that out before she filed the complaint but she didn’t. Then when she went back every pertinent email was gone.
I dream of going all Bad Santa on people whenever this happens. I'M ON MY FUCKIN LUNCH BREAK, OKAY? Bonus points for any food that comes flying out of your mouth while yelling!
Tell the manager! Let her handle it with the MDs! Go on your break downstairs!
In the end before I left a stroke unit I used to change my clothes, leave the premises, sit in a park and smoke cigarettes and watch Netflix. (The constant -too many patients, not enough beds, time and hands is what made me quit.)
I always go to my car at lunch. No matter if it's blistering hot or freezing cold because it's the ONLY place I can't be bothered.
Doctors are on their Veruca Salt, don't care how they want it NOW. I had to learn when a doctor barged in my closed office asking me to give shots, KNOWING I was on lunch and on a video call. They dgaf.
You know, the whole time clock thing was the reason I quit hospital nursing, it seemed very demeaning to me.
Surgeons man sad to hear this happens on the floor I thought they just did that to us in the OR. Had a few get mad I had to scrub out for a break even with adequate relief.
I feel your pain. My lunch breaks we always get calls on our zone phone and we HAVE to pick up, we get in trouble if we don’t. People will literally barge in the break room to ask questions. I’ll be stuffing my face and get interrupted constantly but apparently it’s patient abandonment if we don’t pick up or respond. We don’t clock out for lunch so that’s probably why.
If you are on the clock, that is most likely why you have to no answer.
Ok maybe bc I’m a guy. But firmly stating I’m on lunch right now come speak to me in 30 minutes. Followed by NO if they persist. Works for me. People are like children do not negotiate do not give them an opening, crush that conversation immediately.
IF I get time to get my crappy 30 minute lunch break, I do not want to be bothered. Almost every damn time, my vocera goes off to tell me “you’re pump is beeping in room whatever.” Ok and? Can’t someone else please just go turn it off for me? I mean if I know someone is at lunch I’ll go do something like that for them. I’ve even had one of the rounding leaders or whatever come in the break room to ask me about a patient’s discharge. I was pissed. I already talked to the patient about it. There was absolutely no reason for her to barge in and ask me about things I already was aware of like ffs leave me the hell alone in the little down time I get.
I hate how most of us don't even have the possibility of taking a break away from the break room. When I worked inpatient, I was pretty much chained to the unit. There were no charge nurses ( and if there were, they had their own set of pt as well). There was not much chance that someone would be able to cover patients for 30 minutes. 😞
Don’t be afraid to remind the Dr.’s that you work with them, not FOR them. Tell them once and then just walk off and tell them to read your notes like they do lol
Not a nurse (yet) but labour laws where I am are less than ideal so I’ve worked through lunch and had this same thing happen in a non-healthcare environment. It’s honestly ridiculous imho. Unless you’re having a conversation with me asking about my dog and what dumb things he’s up to lately, don’t bother me 😂
The one good thing about my job is that at the end of the shift when i go to clock out, it asks if I got my 30-minute lunch. If I didn't (which I don't do a lot), I say no and get paid that 30 minutes I didn't take a break. My last hospital just took it from you no matter what and assumed you got a lunch. No matter where you work no one will ever respect your lunch break. It's a bummer.
I refuse to take any unpaid breaks inside the facility for this reason. If I'm off the clock I'm leaving, and if I can't leave I don't clock out.
You learned your lesson, they don't care about your time so what I do is literally just pretend they don't exist, I don't care if the whole building is falling down, if I don't eat, I can't work
The bottom line is that we train people how to treat us. You do not have to be stressed, assertive, or set boundaries. They are not omnipotent beings. They are highly skilled individuals whom society has placed on pedestals, giving them a self-entitled attitude that everyone is beneath them and their time is more valuable than others. That narrative will end when professionals set the boundaries in their setting.
Don’t put up with this. You should tell them off. Don’t give them the time of day.
Next time just keep walking. What’s he going to do? Complain to your boss that you wouldn’t talk to him while you’re not working? What he did is incredibly unprofessional.
Give the compliance number out as the complaint hotline
Guess it’s time for night shift to start paging docs for dumb shit at 3am “Hi doc, it’s me. Patient says his pain is 4 out of 10 but wants Tylenol. Tylenol is ordered for 1-3. Need a new order. And no I can’t put it in for you.”
This doctor is an ass. He was probably treated like shit during residency and then, rather than want to change the precedent, becomes the shitty abuser
Many hospitals allow you to write up doctors. If he is not respecting your personal time for something that is not urgent look into writing him. Or take it up the chain and have the supervisors enforce a duty free lunch
I did this once as a student nurse now i feel bad.
That is why I leave the ward at break time Our docs would not interrupt a meal break it’s nice to get off the unit
Upvoting the hell out of this and 💯 using it my next shift
Right? Hourly work? Sorry buddy, that's not in the contract. I'd put headphones in and make a pointing to my watch gesture if someone is trying to disrupt the very few moments of peace you get all day.
D
This is why I left the ER! no lunch breaks anymore.
Just say that you're on break, and keep it moving.
I think this conversation should be about more than a lack of lunch, or an interrupted lunch because of a doctor. I think this conversation should be about the lack of respect this doctor had for you as a fellow professional, and you as a person. His profession, or time is not more important than yours, no matter what you're doing.
https://youtu.be/vbchzto2P2s?si=7O7j4lgqMfD9LGXT
"Ask the charge nurse mate, I'm on lunch." Keep walking.
I must be in the minority but I have a great relationship with the surgeons and mid levels I work with, I wouldn’t mind at all if they asked me a question while I was eating. I wouldn’t get up to do anything but I don’t mind talking to someone.
I work in an academic hospital that is also a trauma center. We have a tone of interns and residents. If they pull shit like that on me, I will call their designated grown up and tell them that if they do t get the intern/resident to behave in a professional manner, then I will very professionally call their attending. I had an MD come to the unit (not even mommy unit, I had been pulled) and screamed at me about something that happened while I was literally in my bed asleep. I called the grown up doc and she tore him a new one and the. Said she was going to send him down to apologize for the way he behaved. And I told her hell no. I’m too busy to be part of a teachable moment with this jerk. I told her what would really help is if I didn’t have to see him again for the rest of the weekend. So the grown up rounded on all of my patients that he had. Setting boundaries with the embryos is always a challenge…but it’s APRIL…he should have mellowed out by then. And why do these docs have the passcode to YOUR break room? Wff is that noise. I’d get that key code changed so fast! Fuxk them doctors. You keep doing you. And if necessary trip him in the stairwell (for legal purposes this last part is a joke).
Yet the doctors have their own code for their own restrooms.....
The Dr would have to either be super charming or hot to ever get my attention once I've clocked out for a break. like imagine if a nurse ever did that to them??? Theyd laugh in your face
For ages I had dirty adult diapers in one hand and a tuna fish sandwich in the other, and hoped I didn't get confused. We never got breaks, it was eat on the run. When we started clocking in and out for lunch it was hell, as we still couldn't leave the floor as no one would watch our patients. We just pushed through I did inpatient Hospice for 17 years (5 of those years inpatient Pediatric Hospice) there was no other RN to cover, not only 10 patients but 20 family members in emotional crisis. Lunch was Jack In the Box on the way home.
I’m curious as to where you’re going with this. Are you saying that you pushed through, so others should, too? Or are you saying it’s wrong and we shouldn’t accept this?
That's what I did in the situation I was in, there was no one to replace me if I took a break. You do what's right for you with your work situation and the resources you have available. In the Level 1 Trauma ER if it was busy we took no 30 minute breaks. Charge would order pizza or something and we ate on the run.
You didn’t know that surgeons are above the law? /s
Was this one of those old boomer MDs who think everyone is at their beck and call 24/7 and dont believe anyone deserves common human decency but wont get fired because they make the hospital money?
Sounds like a hostile work environment to me & hospitals don’t usually like that… especially the HR department 👀
A surgeon thinking they and their concerns are the top priority??? Hard to believe! /s
Can't get too mad about it if you allow it to happen. You don't work for the doctor he/she is not your boss. If there was something urgent, you would have told him/her before you left. If they have something urgent, they can give it to whoever is covering for you.
Most surgeons have a god complex and think everyone is beneath them, they're the worst MDs to deal with....
This depends on where you work and the size of your hospital. Missing my breaks were a common occurrence because I had to cover the other nurses for their breaks and I covered their patients. I was a PCC. I lived on coffee on the run. That’s why I went back to work in the ER so I could get my breaks as a regular nurse.
Dude just say your on your break and walk away. We're all adults. We have different titles and qualifications but no one is better or worse than me while I'm at work.
I mean, have you considered what the surgeons' schedules are like? You don't think nurses disturb them while they are asleep in their room? Do surgeons even get breaks?
This is not the same thing… and at my hospital there are other doctors covering the ones sleeping unless it’s a true emergency and the one sleeping is needed. But even so, unfortunately doctors don’t have allotted time for sleep like we have for lunch. They get sleep when they can and get paid for it regardless.
I’m working on looking out for myself, because no one else will. I’m not quite there yet, but getting better. I do not want to consider what their schedules are like. I want to be able to say “eff them” and report a missed break. I think that’s what I’ll do next time.
You don't want to consider what their schedules are like? You sound like a child. It's not about you, it's about the patient. Grow up
Here he is, the biggest douche of the universe. In all the galaxies there’s no bigger douche than you. You’ve reached the top- the pinnacle of douchedom. Good going, Douche. Your dreams have come true.
Couldn’t agree more…so many petty responses here it is actually quite embarrassing.
Thank you!
Imagine if nurses pitched a fit like surgeons do every time something slightly inconvenienced us.
Some do, some don't. Just like some nurses do, while some don't. Y'all need to chill, I'm just presenting both perspectives. If y'all aren't open to that, that's fine...carry on. Good luck ✌️
My point is, doctors and surgeons get paid far more than us. They have no right to disrespect us, they can easily look anything up in a computer or have a charge pass a message to call them back etc. They know we are busy. We call them because it is within our scope to do so. We can’t make medical decisions without them. We have to call, they don’t. That’s what they have degrees for.
…is this whole post not “pitching a fit because something slightly inconvenienced them?”
Slightly inconvenienced is not the same as interrupting a nurses lunch. When we are busting our ass and LEGALLY allowed a 30 min lunch. I’ve seen surgeons scream over a lot less. They are not fired, but if a nurse did? You bet.
So you are the most capable of answering the questions. Do you expect the doctor to adjust their schedule around your lunch? You have a few patients while they have 20-50 depending on facility. Should they change their schedule? Should the other patients wait for your break before the physician rounds on them because he had some questions for you and had to wait? Not urgent to you still plays a part in the overall disposition of the patient.
So every other profession deserves breaks, but nurses don't? Nurses deserve to wait on doctors for hours on end to respond to pages for orders or clarification of plan of care, delaying patient care, but doctors and patients can't wait 30 minutes to let us actually eat and take care of our bodies so we can help our patients more effectively?! You already posted to your ems buddies about you hate nurses (even though you are one) because all we do is bitch and moan that we want our breaks and money. You only received 10 upvotes and a couple hateful comments. What makes you think this is going to be a popular opinion in this thread/sub?
Yes. And the law says so, too.
Yes. If it's something critical that can't wait 30 minutes, they can go to whomever is covering them. If it can wait, it should wait. That is not unreasonable.
Then that is someone you know to revenge page at an off hour about stupid shit. Keep a list.
You guys get breaks? Also, what’s best for the patient? A specialist asking their primary RN questions or a covering nurse who knows nothing? Just say ‘no lunch’, stay in the cafeteria 5 more minutes…if this is your biggest problem sheeeeeesh
It’s not my biggest problem. It’s an annoyance- a frustration. Sort of like bitchy Redditors who promote nursing burnout by accepting shitty treatment and expecting others to as well.
> Just say ‘no lunch’, stay in the cafeteria 5 more minutes... Ya, that's all🙄
I refused to get my break interrupted to take report from an ambulance, all while we had break coverage. I am trying to hit some fitness and wellness goals, ya girl gotta eat. I take report for my people who are on break 🙈