Background: Nursing shortages have been an issue for decades; however, shortages have been on the rise in recent years. The COVID-19 pandemic only exacerbated the issue and brought to light many of the challenges that nurses are facing in the workforce. A common theme has been overworked nurses that are now experiencing burnout, which is causing them to take a break from nursing or leave the field permanently.

Objective: The aim of this research study is to understand if a lack of adequate breaks is causing a decrease in job satisfaction among nurses.

Methods: A quality improvement research study was conducted over 8 weeks and included 17 registered nurses. A 10-question survey was distributed via SurveyMonkey.

Data Analysis: Microsoft Excel Data Analysis program and SurveyMonkey Analysis program were used for data analysis to quantify responses.

Results: Over 50% of the nurses surveyed do not have mandatory breaks during their 12-hour shifts. 94% of nurses are feeling some degree of burn out at their current jobs, with 76% of those nurses either contemplating leaving or undecided if they will leave.

Conclusion: The survey was able to identify that most nurses working 12-hour shifts in an acute care setting do not get adequate breaks. The cause of the lack of breaks was not studied; however, it showed that almost all the nurses surveyed were feeling burned out and a little more than half are contemplating leaving their jobs. There was a significant amount that said receiving mandatory breaks during their shift would improve the burn out they are facing.