it is not easy. i normally have to locate someone to cover for me, for a short, to go pee, at least. but normally, i only get 30 mins an 8 - 12 hour shift.
and wow, are we all tired when we clock out. i sometimes forget to clock out cuz i am so tired.
just goes with the territory.
giving of myself for the benefit of others. A life of service.
my break time comes ....off the clock. and that can be a rare occasion.
rascal

Only places I've ever been able to count on a break was when I worked in the clinics, and they would close the clinic for one hour.

BTW, I don't agree with rascal's view that this is somehow acceptable because we "serve others". You can't be an effective caregiver unless you take of yourself, and burning yourself out by not getting a break IS NOT OKAY. Even when I worked a busy high-risk L&D unit, we still covered each other for breaks. The pace was just too fast to go a full 12 hours without some sort of break. If you are working on a unit that isn't supportive of this concept, then LEAVE.

Hey,
I understand where you are coming from saying you might get a few minutes to go to bathroom. I work 12 hour shifts in a very busy area. I work days. Sometimes it is around 3 or 4 pm before I realize I have not had time to go to the bathroom. Lunch is a fast grab and swallow a few bites and run again. I am like you and I am guessing I am much older than you but by the end of that 12 hour shift I can't even feel if I have a body. When I get home and sit down, I can't get back up. I thing I just jell in the shape I am sitting, don't know. I am meaning that to sound silly to add a little humor for all of us runners, but it really is not funny and it should not be this way. We work with a shortage of nurses. We have some fill in but it is so darn hard they don't come back. Can't we give good patient care that way? Only if you are fast and dog gone good at your job.

Bless all your tired bones and bodies at the end of a shift. Just remember there are thousands of us out here feeling the same way. Scary right.