The State of Rest Break Practices Among 12-Hour Shift Hospital Nurses in the United States

Abstract

OBJECTIVE This cross-sectional study aimed to explore the characteristics, content, and context of rest breaks taken by hospital nurses. BACKGROUND Nurses often miss, skip, or take interrupted breaks. To improve the quality of breaks and promote within-shift recovery, it is important to understand current rest break practices including break activities and contextual challenges around them. METHODS Survey data from 806 nurses were collected between October and November 2021. RESULTS Most nurses did not take regular breaks. Rest breaks were often interrupted, spent being worried about work, and rarely resulted in a relaxed state. Common break activities were having a meal or a snack, and browsing the Internet. Regardless of workload, nurses considered patient acuity, staffing, and unfinished nursing tasks when deciding to take breaks. CONCLUSION Rest break practices are of poor quality. Nurses mainly consider workload-related factors when taking breaks, which warrants the attention of nursing administration.