Are Pa nurse still being mandated?

Nurses General Nursing

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I have not worked in a hospital since 1/2000. I have done some LTC work since then but no hospital work. When I left the hospital enviroment they were still mandating double shifts at a killing pace. It is the main reason why I left. However, when I run into a friend that still works in the hospital I keep forgetting to ask them if this is still going on. I ask a lot of questions but I keep forgetting to ask that one. I can still remember the 11-7 when everyone on the units were mandated doubles from 3-11. The night supervisor was frantic because she had no one to mandate to daylight. If it was not so horrible it would be funny. I see post by people claiming in the state where they work it is illegal to mandate but I bet it is still legal in Pa.

It sure is! But not all facilities do it. I left one because someone was getting mandated every night. The facility I went to never mandated except for blizzards. But they didn't tell me they just left you dangerously short staffed. Six of one, half dozen of the other.

yes mandatory OT is alive and well in PA.

Originally posted by kaycee:

yes mandatory OT is alive and well in PA.

You should move because not all states have mandatory overtime.

Overtime is diffently a problem for nurses here in PA, as I am sure in other states as well. We have a major shortage of nurses here. The facility I work for is the lowest paying nursing home in our County....and they can't figure out why we can't keep nurses. There are working us to death, 12 - 16 hours everyday.

Specializes in ER.

At our hospital we agreed that as supervisors it is our responsibility to provide adequate staffing, so it would be our responsibility to stay if needed. We don't use mandatory OT, although sometimes nurses and sups volunteer to stay and help when they know the oncoming shift is walking into a landmine.

In te same vein, if we see that staffing is going down the tubes it is our responsibility to start limiting admissions so that the staff are given a manageable, safe assignment. By manageable I don't mean easy, but staff seems to work better knowing we are in this as a team, and that they will not be left high and dry with their licenses on the line.

Specializes in Hospice, Critical Care.

Pennsylvania, as you know, is an employment-at-will state (commonwealth, technically). Yes, we still have mandatory overtime. Our facility does use it and it hits the med-surg floors hard. I work in the ICU where we, as a unit, do our best to prevent it. Usually this means we take on an at least 3:1 patient assignment in short staffing situations. 4:1 has been known to happen (in ICU!).

We need more nurses . . . but who wants to walk into these situations? Its a double-edged sword.

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