["Take a break - Time-out for me": A practice project to promote a healthy rest break]

"Take a break - Time-out for me": A practice project to promote a healthy rest break Abstract. Background: Breaks are essential for physical and mental health. In health care professions breaks are often cancelled or interrupted. Nursing staff should be enabled to take breaks regularly and without any interruptions. They should be given alternative options to organize their breaks. Methods: A pre-post survey was carried out with one group by means of questionnaires. The two break models "Feel good manager" and "I'm away" were tested by the nursing staff, followed by a debriefing meeting. Results: Before this project none of the nurses had rated his/her satisfaction regarding the breaks as "very good" or "good". This changed during the project to 45,5% (t₁) and 22,2% (t₂). None of the nurses felt "very well" or "well" recovered before the project. An increase to 54,6% (t₁) respectively 33,3% could be asserted. Only 7,1% (t₀) indicated to take their breaks "always" or "usually" in "full-length". With the break model "Feel good manager" it changed to 100% and with the model "I am away" to 33,3%. The amount of interruptions could be reduced from 4 (t₀) to 2 (t₁) and 0 (t₂). Discussion: These break models are not applicable arbitrarily by other wards at will. Instead, individual situation analysis should be carried out with according adjustments. These models cannot be tested in case of lack of break areas or absence of personnel. Conclusion: The described project procedure can be transferred to other wards.