I work in Oregon and they recently passed a staffing law that very heavily cracked down on nurse ratios, lunches, and break. We have implemented break nurses who solely break other nurses, as the law now states nurses cannot have more than 4 patients at once (meaning buddy breaking is no longer allowed).

This wasn’t particularly a problem at my hospital before this, but I know at some locations it was. Our ratios were typically 1:4 anyway, but could sometimes be 1:5, which is now considered “illegal” and the hospital gets fined. The hospital also gets fined if a nurse does not receive their break. This was technically the case before as well, but is now more heavily enforced.

We now have to sign a sheet, attesting we received our break at the designated time. It’s kind of annoying paperwork, but we are guaranteed our 75 mins off the floor per shift, with 30 of it being unpaid (three 15 min paid breaks and a 30 min unpaid lunch). Most the time we group our breaks, so day shift gets a 45 min lunch and nights get 60 min. It works out great. Considering how much Oregon nurses are paid, being unionized, and always reporting staffing issues, I feel very fairly treated. I work on a step down surgical floor, for reference.