I started working in nursing in 1998 as a CNA in a local nursing home. The nursing home I worked in did not require mandatory overtime for nursing staff. Nurses and CNAs could volunteer to stay over and work if they wanted. If staffing could not be found, everyone just had to work short. This was not a very big issue at the time and we usually had enough staffing to cover the facility, but things have changed and most facilities are short nursing staff.
The last two facilities that I worked at mandated staff when they were short workers. As a charge nurse I often had to mandate staff to stay over, which was very stressful because a lot of staff members would get mad and yell and curse and refuse to stay. I often felt bad about making them …show more content…
Mandatory overtime, also called compulsory or forced overtime, occurs when employees are required to work more hours that are standard (generally 40 hours per week) or risk employer reprisals as a result of their refusal to do so” (Huston, 2014, p. 189).
“Some health care employers have suggested that nursing shortages are the cause of mandatory overtime in their facilities. Increasingly, however, nurses are reporting that overtime has become standard operating procedure instead of a last resort to short staffing. In fact, in some hospitals, mandatory overtime is routinely used in an effort to keep fewer people on the payroll, as well as to alleviate immediate shortage needs. A recent national survey found that nurses are working an average of 6.5 hours of overtime a week, or 8.5 weeks of overtime a year, with nurses in California working an additional 11 weeks of overtime on average per year” (Huston, 2014, p. …show more content…
As a short-term solution to this problem, they commonly have staff nurses work overtime. And many nurses are glad to do this occasionally, or even regularly, because it lets them earn more money.
But chronic use of overtime can jeopardize the quality and safety of patient care. Under pressure from chronic staffing shortages, hospital administrators may implement a policy of mandatory overtime. One study found that more than half of hospital staff nurses work more than 12 hours per day and 17% work mandatory overtime. Some hospitals go so far as to terminate nurses who refuse overtime work; others report them to the state licensing board for patient abandonment” (Faller, 2008).
“Chronic overtime can lead to a vicious cycle: Excessive work hours reduce staff morale, which in turn contributes to job burnout. Job burnout reduces staff retention and creates more nursing vacancies, forcing the remaining nurses to work more overtime. Thus, mandatory overtime increases nurse dissatisfaction and burnout, ultimately worsening the staffing
The last two facilities that I worked at mandated staff when they were short workers. As a charge nurse I often had to mandate staff to stay over, which was very stressful because a lot of staff members would get mad and yell and curse and refuse to stay. I often felt bad about making them …show more content…
Mandatory overtime, also called compulsory or forced overtime, occurs when employees are required to work more hours that are standard (generally 40 hours per week) or risk employer reprisals as a result of their refusal to do so” (Huston, 2014, p. 189).
“Some health care employers have suggested that nursing shortages are the cause of mandatory overtime in their facilities. Increasingly, however, nurses are reporting that overtime has become standard operating procedure instead of a last resort to short staffing. In fact, in some hospitals, mandatory overtime is routinely used in an effort to keep fewer people on the payroll, as well as to alleviate immediate shortage needs. A recent national survey found that nurses are working an average of 6.5 hours of overtime a week, or 8.5 weeks of overtime a year, with nurses in California working an additional 11 weeks of overtime on average per year” (Huston, 2014, p. …show more content…
As a short-term solution to this problem, they commonly have staff nurses work overtime. And many nurses are glad to do this occasionally, or even regularly, because it lets them earn more money.
But chronic use of overtime can jeopardize the quality and safety of patient care. Under pressure from chronic staffing shortages, hospital administrators may implement a policy of mandatory overtime. One study found that more than half of hospital staff nurses work more than 12 hours per day and 17% work mandatory overtime. Some hospitals go so far as to terminate nurses who refuse overtime work; others report them to the state licensing board for patient abandonment” (Faller, 2008).
“Chronic overtime can lead to a vicious cycle: Excessive work hours reduce staff morale, which in turn contributes to job burnout. Job burnout reduces staff retention and creates more nursing vacancies, forcing the remaining nurses to work more overtime. Thus, mandatory overtime increases nurse dissatisfaction and burnout, ultimately worsening the staffing