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Federal Mandatory Overtime Bill Will Improve Patient Care, Prevent Medical Errors   

Exhausted, Overworked Nurses Can't Give Quality Patient Care.

A bipartisan bill introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate in November to limit mandatory overtime for nurses will help prevent medical errors and improve the quality of care that patients receive in U.S. hospitals.

The SEIU Nurse Alliance is hailing The Safe Nursing and Patient Care Act (H.R. 3238/S. 1686), sponsored by Reps. Pete Stark (D-Calif.) and Steven LaTourette (R-Ohio) in the House and Sens. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) and John Kerry (D-Mass.) in the Senate, as a major breakthrough for improving patient care. Get the bill text.

"Patients need quality time with an alert, well-rested nurse, not overtime from a nurse who's been on her feet for 15 hours," said Diane Sosne, RN, co-chair of the SEIU Nurse Alliance. "Exhausted nurses working back-to-back shifts just can't give the quality care that their patients deserve."

Nurses are increasingly required to work back-to-back 8-hour shifts, or an additional 4 hours on top of a 12-hour shift, because understaffed hospitals are using mandatory overtime as a regular way to staff their facilities.

A recent national survey indicated that nurses work an average of 6.5 hours of overtime a week, or 8.5 weeks of overtime a year. In California, nurses work an additional 11 weeks of overtime on average per year. (Source for info is a poll of registered nurses conducted for SEIU by The Feldman Group, an independent polling firm.)

Mandatory overtime has led many nurses to leave hospital jobs because they are unable to give patients high quality care, contributing to a growing shortage of nurses. Family pressures are also a factor, as many nurses who care for children or aging parents at home are unexpectedly required to work additional hours beyond their shift.

The Safe Nursing and Patient Care Act prohibits hospitals from requiring a nurse to work in excess of the scheduled work shift or duty period, 12 hours in a 24-hour period, or 80 hours in a consecutive 14 day period. Mandatory overtime limitations would be lifted during a formally declared emergency or disaster. In California, the Legislature is considering SB 1027 (Romero), a bill which would limit mandatory overtime for nurses.

SEIU is also calling on Congress to establish safe staffing standards that every hospital in America must meet.