Mandatory Overtime for Nurses

Paper Summary:

A discussion of the recent problem of mandatory overtime, the legislation and its effects on the worker. The essay is a two-article complementary critique on eliminating the unsafe working practice of mandatory overtime.

From the Paper:

"Nurses are becoming tired and overworked! As an Emergency Room RN , I can sympathize with the emerging nursing shortage. Mandatory overtime is becoming commonplace, and it is unsafe. In Mandatory Overtime-when enough is enough, M. O'Leary looks at why the nursing profession is not treated like other jobs that deal with the responsibility of human lives. "When pilots fly, they do not have to work unsafe overtime because lives are in their hands. Semi- truck drivers also do not have to work unsafe overtime because lives are in their hands." (O'Leary, 2000) Now, the mandatory overtime discussed is not the type when a nurse needs to stay later and catch up on charting. We all know it gets busy. This overtime is the type that employers require one to stay for a set number of hours after their regular hours have already been worked. "As a result we must take additional actions in order to protect nurses from being forced into unsafe staffing environments by the growing risk of unsafe overtime." (O'Leary, 2000)"

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