Chew and digest

Sometimes, if I get a free moment, I actually enjoy my lunch. The other day I saw this article at the New York Times website about nurses and their lunch hours. I loved this quote:

"Workers cannot just drop patient care when the lunch hour arrives. We are not like an assembly line, which can shut down at lunchtime, or a bank, where people work 9 to 5.”

This is the understatement of the year. Some days, my lunch hours are a mess, especially on the day shift. So many things are crammed into the day shift for the convenience of outside groups, that nursing inevitably is one group that often bears the brunt of the cramming. Take services for example. In our outpost hospital, all of the services, you'd expect to have 24/7 (i.e. radiology, lab, pharmacy, etc.) are not 24/7. No, these groups have daytime hours at Madison, and when it's time for them to go home, they go home and the main hospital, Washington, picks up the slack on certain things, like lab and pharmacy. Emergent stuff has to be sent to an ER that's often on diversion, so most of the time we know that Saint Suburban down the street will get our people.

Interruptions are also key. For some strange reason, no one wants to watch anyone else's people while we're at lunch. Sure the boss assigns lunch times, but he/she still hasn't figured out that if you have a person to feed at noon and dietary doesn't bring anything until then, you will not get your lunch at noon.

My resolution: I eat whenever I have a break, or I take my lunch early when all my work is done. I enjoy having lunch in a lunch room that is quieter, since the lazy folks, usually don't start their AM work until after 9.  By that time, even with complex patients, I'm nearly halfway (or more) done. I have problems smelling and feeding someone food when I'm hungry because I have 1) a huge desire to eat whatever's on their plate, 2) a huge desire to pass out as I feel my blood sugar dropping and 3) a desire to run right to the fridge and devour my own lunch.

I have a strategy for what I eat, too. I try not to bring anything that needs a microwave. It limits what I can eat, but makes things a bit easier. I mix it up, so all I have to do is unpack and eat. I try to eat lots of fruit, nuts, vegetables and grains, which I don't feel like doing. Having a quiet lunch room also helps when enjoying a fresh cup of coffee.

Our lunch room may be spartan, and not much of an oasis, but any little bit of free time, along with a good lunch can make the day go by quickly.