 Hi guys and welcome back to my life's video today I wanted to answer the question of do nurses get lunch breaks because this is actually quite a common question I think it's really an awesome subject to discuss because I Asked this on my Instagram How many of you guys like actually take your lunches and like what's the reason that you don't take your lunch if you Don't get one and I had a very overwhelming response. So I thought I'd talk a little bit about my experience with this so I think that all nurses should get lunch breaks every shift. You should get a lunch break every shift But that doesn't always happen. So to answer the question do nurses get lunches? Yes, they do But there are many situations where I have not gotten a lunch or I personally chosen not to take a real lunch So I'll kind of talk a little bit about that. So That's what I worked meant surge. I took a lunch every single shift I don't think I had one shift where I didn't get to at least go back and eat something Because that was just the type of job. I had we had good coverage for our You know letting one nurse go take a quick break and you know another nurse would cover you and it worked out I don't think I missed a lunch break. Maybe once I don't know but obviously wasn't significant enough for me to remember But now that I work I see you my kind of opinion on lunches have really changed. So I Still think that nurses should always take a lunch break. You should get that Opportunity and if you don't it's very unfortunate. I've heard a lot of you guys say that you don't get lunch breaks You do to staffing issues high acuity just you don't have the ability to take a lunch break because your Job or work may not see it as a priority now that I work in the ICU. I actually rarely take a lunch I always Get food and we'll eat something but I don't take my like 30 minutes where I sit in the back and get an under an uninterrupted lunch break, which whatever that is And that's just personal choice Now that I take care of really sick patients, you know, my first couple months in the ICU I did take a lunch break and then I had an instance where something happened on my lunch break to one of my patients And it wasn't the nurse's coverings fault. It just happened because You're having one nurse take care for ICU patients for that 30 minutes And you may get stuck in one room for 30 minutes and you can't really be listening out super well And it just happens so it wasn't this nurse's fault the patient ended up being fine But it really like I just got to this point where I was like, you know what I Can just sit at my desk and eat lunch as long as I eat I'm fine And I know a lot of you guys are gonna be like you're crazy and you take a lunch break You're gonna get burnt out yada yada It's just my personal choice many many nurses in the ICU do this because they have had similar situations where things have happened to their patients when they left the unit or gone on lunch, so I do occasionally will take like a full 30 minute lunch break where I sit in the back if I if my patients are like Super stable or maybe they're walkie-talkies or maybe I just have one So it's not so difficult for the nurse next to me to watch them but it really depends like on What's going on on the unit if four patients are coding at one time? I'm not gonna go take my lunch break That's it's silly with that being said, you know I really do think that nurses should get lunches and it would be nice if they're always uninterrupted lunch breaks, but There's just something in us that like, you know, if you're on your lunch and a doctor is there and you need to ask them questions You've been waiting. I'll shift to talk to them about these questions then and you're on your lunch You're still gonna go out and talk to them because you Want to get those questions answered for your patients That's just something in us that like we're just we're advocates for our patients. We care. We want to you know Get our answers and we don't want to have to call a doctor back, you know, 30 minutes later when they were just there so That's just kind of a culture, but if you think about it, you know, there's many jobs that your lunch breaks aren't, you know fully You know uninterrupted teachers you know Other healthcare providers if you're like working in an office if you're a business person like there's many times where your lunches aren't Fully uninterrupted and it's just kind of the culture in part of being a nurse and if you're one that wants your 30-minute lunch break every single shift then You may be able to get it and you may have to be flexible if there's a day where you just can't because you're you're busy and I Feel like this video is very rambly, so I'm sorry But let me know in the comments below kind of your opinions on this topic to sum it up I think every nurse should get a lunch absolutely hands down if you know There's someone else needs to cover you your manager needs to step in whatever needs to happen has to happen But for me personally I there's instances where I just I don't because I have a patient or two that are just too Sick and it's not safe to leave them because I know someone is not going to be able to Watch them and for me. It's like I'd rather leave on time than stay 30 minutes later Because I had to take a 30-minute lunch break That's just me personally, but let me know your thoughts and What you've seen where you're at and what works for you or what doesn't work for you and why you get a lunch And why you don't get a lunch and all those things so thanks for watching this video. I'll see you guys in my next one Bye