Most WA nurses report getting breaks — advocates are skeptical

Pamela Chandran, a director at the Washington State Nurses Association, agreed with Gjendem that employees underreport missed breaks, and that the “break buddy” system can undermine patient care and contradicts staffing plans.

“It also has the effect of causing nurses to either forgo breaks or take shorter breaks, because they don’t want to unduly burden their coworkers,” Chandran wrote in an email.