My mom was a nurse. So are two of my sisters. One starts every conversation with, "How are your bowels?" Obviously, they're nutz. But they care deeply about their chosen careers.Unfortunately, at a time when local hospitals are earning obscene profits, our nurses are inexplicably being forced to work overtime. And that's unhealthy.
As Congressman Pete Stark (D-CA) makes clear, "Mandatory overtime exhausts nurses mentally and physically, placing patients’ lives at risk and driving nurses out of the profession. We limit the time that truck drivers and pilots can work to protect public safety. Safe nursing is in the public interest as well." Legislation that restricts mandatory overtime has already been enacted in eleven states.
So how are things in the land of midnight payraises?
Pennsylvania's state house approved legislation in early May to prohibit excessive overtime in health care. Of the Lehigh Valley delegation, only Republicans Craig Dally and Doug Reichley opposed this bill. Currently, the bill languishes in a senate committee, dying a slow death, even though there are twenty-six sponsors.
Is this because the senate is controlled by the GOP? Perhaps it's because there's a growing nurse shortage, but no health care professional should be forced to work if he feels it might endanger patients.
28 comments:
I think it should be optional, to an extent.
ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN BLOGS.
Funny, we can force hardworking people into involuntary overtime, but if you try to get a welfare recipient to lift a finger, it's a federal case.
O_o
Anon 9:00, I'm not quite sure what mandatory OT for nurses has to do w/ welfare recipients. I'd be a little more concerned about the corporate welfare recipients. They get the big bucks.
What suggestion do you have, Benjamin?
In my world, there is no corporate welfare. Businesses either operated their businesses efficiently, or go under. To enforce no corporate welfare policy, we should prevent abusive work scheduling practices. Regardless of what they deem, "It's conditions of employment."
ll2
No one should be forced to work overtime, especially nurses. Someone needs to just ban that ignorant Republican party from existance already. They are just such assholes when it comes to workers rights.
Tom, we definitely should "ban" the Republican party! Forget free speech or the right to assembly. I don't like your view so you shouldn't exist, brilliant. It must have taken a long time to extract those sweeping generalizations from Common Sense or the Huffington Post. You know us Republican’s, we eat the poor and when there are no longer poor to eat....we’ll eat our own (if it makes us a buck or two of course).
No jokes about Bernie's Bowels? Come on people, let's focus.
Forget those damn bowels for now.
CJ, Your points are well taken. Here's my question - why would someone want to force an RN to work OT? If he or she feels the need for rest, dosen't it make sense to let them have it? I understand the nursing shortage argument, but this practice is bound to make that shortage get even worse.
I'd also point out that many Rs support this bill. Karen Beyer are Carl Mantz are two from the LV who supported its passage.
Bernie,
I do actually agree that their may need to be sensible legislative(I'll get past the chills of using that word) action regarding this issue. It is a public safety issue at the core. We have reasonable expectations that airline pilots are sober or that our food be free of deadly bacteria, why not expect our health professionals to practice with a well and focused mind?
I also agree that the Hospital Admin is very shortsighted in implementing this sort of scheduling practice. It will drive good nurses from the profession, much like doctors are driven away from the profession by out of control tort law and malpractice suits.
Many employers use the theory that that it is cheaper to pay overtime than to hire more employees. Something about it costs more to have to pay for benefits for new hires than it costs for overtime.
Some of the nursing shortage is the lack of programs to educate nurses. Some of that is because of a lack of hospital facilites to practice nursing skills for students in training. There is also a shortage of qualified nursing instructors.
Some of the nursing shortage is the fault of the nature of the profession itself. According to one human nurse in my vet-tech program, working conditions are terrible. Many nurses feel unappreciated by both their patients and their employers, that why she left, "burnout".
"Many employers use the theory that that it is cheaper to pay overtime than to hire more employees."
Excellent point. I believe this specific topic came up during my campaigning for County Council. This was focused on Northampton County Prison staff's current levels. I was often 'stuck' on back shifts, because mandatory overtime was part of my standing union agreement with my employer. I didn't like it, and I knew the solution was to get more staffing.
Wears out staff, promotes accidents, poor moral flourishes, just wrong, since it is preventable.
P.S. Mr. O'Hare's bowels should never be a topic of discussion. Eek...
Just noticed CJ's post. Unlike most Republican's I had to work today, not just sleep in and enjoy papa's trust fund. Republican's are generally crap, yes, when it comes to worker's rights. Anyone disagree? No idea where I said anything about the poor. CJ's gotta stop listening to Rush and the boys..Get a life!!
I'm an R (sleep til noon only since retired) and know, 1st hand, nurses quit with burn out all the time. I agree OT should not ever be mandatory for anybody.
Directed to Tom Foolery's comment:
1. I worked many swings into mids, even forced 'stuck', to pay for my wife's, and my, college education, when I worked as a rotating shift, power plant operator, IBEW 1289.
2. My wife is a college educated Licenced, Registered Nurse.
3. Sleeping late, early, or just sleeping is a luxury being a fully involved Dad(and a lone Dad when wifey is working here shift days half a week, every week), with a son, and a 3 month old daughter.
4. I also am self employed, so at any time I am on the clock and trying to work for a hard-arse boss.
5. Plus, I am a Republican.
IMHO, you spew very prejudice statements. I wish people would keep their negative stereotypes to themselves, we might have a better world to live in, or an easier time getting there.
Tom Foolery,
You are about as ignorant as Rush, who I never listen to by the way. Your assumptions are so incredibly off base that they hardly justify a response.
Why would a nurse be forced to work overtime? When it would put patients at risk. What determines that? The nurse to patient raito. How do I know? My wife is an RN.
So the next question, how could this happen? Well, we sometimes have blizzards or icy conditions. If people can't make it to work, nurses have to stay. They can't just leave until there are adequate replacements to maintain safe staffing levels.
The same could happen during a major trauma. If there is a large influx of patients - remember the Allentown gas explosion at the senior building? - no one goes home until things stabilize and there is adequate staffing.
Why ban mandatory OT? Because nursing unions have a special interest to force hospitals to routinely overstaff floors with nurses at all times instead of allowing ocassional OT during irregular crises. What would this due to medical costs?
BTW - there are severe rules in place that limit the amount of OT a nurse can do in any given period of time. Again, for patient safety.
Unfortunately, I don't see how you could legislate no overtime for nurses and ignore everyone else. How about emergency room doctors, XRay techs, police, firefighters, snowplow driver, and yes... factory workers. I was in a local factory for many years were if they needed someone, someone was forced to stay over. If a department was behind on orders, you were scheduled to work saturday too.. even if you already had 50 hours in for monday thru friday. If someone complained they were told "if you don't like it...quit". And yes we had a union there. Nurses and emergency room personell usually work 12 hour shifts. Someone mentioned truck drivers. Many of them drive with 2 sets of road logs. One for Penndot and another that shows there true hours on the road. Some people love OT, others hate it on any given day of the week. How on earth are you going to legislate that?
Topic doesn't seem to be 'unplanned' overtime, like an emergency. But mandatory overtime as a result of poor staffing levels due to refusal to hire, or train new nurses. So all nurses are required to work 40+ hours, regardless if they want to or not.
O_o
Who will legislate and enforce what is "poor staffing and refusal to hire" on any given day of the week in any given workplace????????? Too many gray areas. It is totally unenforcable even if it did pass in our anything for a buck state house. Just watch PCN and see them at work.
I realize this would be a nightmare to legislate, but the fact of the matter remains that especially the for-profit healthcare institutions are requiring mandatory OT all the time. What happens to the nurse who has to pick up her children at daycare after the shift? What happens to the nurse who is exhausted for whatever reason - they face either working the OT or get another job. Easton Hospital (aka CHS) is famous for doing this. I personally know of at least 5 RNs who quit Easton over this issue.
My husband works as a paramedic, but luckily his employer has integrity and does not mandate OT. Still, it happens sometimes in the event of a severe incident or if his relief does not show up on time. Those circumstances come with the healthcare territory. The ones being mentioned in this bill do not.
The local union SEIU has been working hard for this bill.
I am against this bill. I do not like mandatory overtime. My beef it that it only includes nurses. What about everyone else? Many tens of thousands of people in Pa have mandatory overtime. I was in a factory for 29 years that had mandatory overtime....what about us?
I like nurses but a bill just for them being pushed by a big union is just like the lobbying that everyone has been crying about for ever. Special intrests. I was driving the 7 miles home from work the one morning after a mandatory overtime and I fell asleep at the wheel and crashed into a telephone pole fracturing my skull. I honestly feel that the state will be violating the equal rights amendment by just protecting nurses from mandatory overtime and not everyone else. I am just trying to be fair to EVERYONE since it is clear that the nurses what this protection just for them and not everyone else. Equal Rights for everyone...lets not return to the days of lunch counters only for certain folks.
River,
First, you should read the bill. I linked to it. It does not apply exclusively to nurses, but covers other health care pros as well. So some of your arguments are factually flawed. Moreover, the PA bill does not eliminate madatory OT, but restricts it. Read the bill.
Second, there is a compelling state reason for treating health care workers a little differently than you. They are entrusted with people's lives, ansd should not be forced to work under conditions that could easily result in them killing someone. Your equal protection argument notwithstanding, this would pass constitutional muster.
Third, it's ridiculous that we would compel out truckers to stop working after so many hours for safety reasons, but would force health care professionals to endanger us.
All we are doing is increasing the number of nurses and other health care pros who burn out and leave the profession entirely. Why? So hospital administrators can claim bigger profits.
Some things are more important than money.
Bernie, how about the guy in a factory who is groggy after 3 12 hour shifts in a row and runs over people in a factory, or the guy that gets his hand caught in a machine because he wasn't alert, etc. or the person that has to pick up there children at school or from daycare but can't, just as windgapper said. I never mentioned money one time but that is your tag line. Everything I posted is my own opinion, just as your postings. However.. You do have a special interest in this matter since you clearly stated that your mom was a nurse and 2 or your sisters are nurses. Bernie, you are the one who brought up the topic... so don't be mad at someone just because you don't like the answers to your posts. I still don't think nurses are any better than anyone else. You should be blameing the insurance companies...they have been raking hospitals over the coals for years. WHY DO YOU THINK WARREN HOSPITAL HAS CLOSED THEIR MATURNATY WARD. I like your spunk Bernie but you are barking up the wrong tree. It is the Insurance companies controling the bucks.
River,
My objection to your opinion is that it is ill-informed. You make comments without even reading the legislation, and thus make several factual errors, which I then have to correct. On top of that, your "equal protection" argument would be rejected in every court. The legislature has a right to adopt legislation like this because there is a compelling state reason for it.
Bernie, your opinion claiming someone is "ill-informed " is still just that, an opinion. Your refusal to see that other people having jobs with mandatory overtime have rights too is also ill-informed on YOUR part
I'm pretty sure that particular nurse starts every conversation with that question, which makes it quite the adventure being her son.
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