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Science Forum Index » Medicine - Nursing Forum » Mandatory Overtime for Nursing Staff
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| Author |
Message |
| Joe |
 Posted: Tue May 29, 2007 9:18 pm |
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Guest
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I received a call today from someone asking me what my opinion is
about proposed legislation that would make it illegal to mandate
overtime by nurses. The caller was anticipating that as a director of
nursing I would be against the proposal, and actually I am against
it-- but not for the reason you would expect. I am not against the
proposal for taking away from me a strategy for meeting the staffing
needs of my facility, as I am against mandatory overtime and never use
it! All mandatory overtime does is move the problem from one shift to
the next (when the mandated nurse was supposed to work but now has to
be given the shift off), and create bad will with staff. In my
experience, staffing problems can be anticipated and proactively dealt
with. Staff can be offered various incentives to volunteer for the
overtime such that both the needs of the facility and the needs of the
nurse can be met. The reason I am against the legislation is more
philosophical, as I do not feel the government should be legislating
business decisions.
What I do think should be considered, if anything, are legislative
protections against staff working too many hours similar to how
pilots, drivers, and other professionals with life-and-death
responsibilities are regulated. Since the popularity of twelve-hour
shifts emerged, nurses have been working increasing numbers of
overtime hours on a voluntary basis. Efforts by employers to keep
overtime to a "safe" and reasonable limit are undermined by the nurse
doing extra shifts for other employers or staffing agencies. It is
this area of excessive voluntary overtime that I feel presents a more
significant safety issue for patient care. |
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