No more mandatory overtime.....

Nurses General Nursing

Published

well, July 1st is when the no more mandatory overtime law comes into effect at our hospital (New York) our nursing administration hasn't made any kind of plan to deal with it!

anyone else in this boat? Its going to be like watching an accident....you don't want to look, but you have to! even those nurses that want to eat up the overtime, will be saying *no* just to see what management will do.

it aint' gunna be pretty!

I work in LTC and "doing a med cart" is passing the meds according to the medex. For some reason, the RN's can't do it. You take the med cart and go room to room doling out the meds to the residents. I say it is about time to orient the RN's to a med cart. It is basically reading and popping pills. I am not saying they will be quick at it but they should be able to do it in a pinch. Metfan

i am an RN and have "done a med cart" 100's if not thousands of times.....and i am not too damn "precious" to clean poop either!....that is just nonsense.....there was a thread about a nurse who called child protective services and had them call her boss.....she went home to her children!.....

0 Votes

I asked my nursing supervisor if she had heard anything about how our facility was going to deal with the new mandation law. Got a ear full of how even with the mandation law if we leave, we can be charged with abandoment. I tried to point out that the residents would not be without someone to care for them, they just will be short. She also stated that she has heard nothing about new plans to comply with the law on July 1st. Oh well.

0 Votes
Wow! I'll have to follow this thread and see what the results of this law are. I don't particularly like mandatory OT, but I understand that when push comes to shove somebody has to be there to provide patient care. What will happen if nobody can be mandated, nobody volunteers to stay and nobody comes in to cover? If facilities actually abide by this law, I see a LOT of chaos in the near future.

There are other states that already have mandation laws. You don't need to wait to see the results. ;) Not sure how it is working for them. Maybe someone that already has the law in effect in their state can jump in and let us know how it is working.

Info on which states have this law and when it was enacted:

http://www.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/ANAPoliticalPower/State/StateLegislativeAgenda/MandatoryOvertime.aspx

0 Votes
I work in LTC and "doing a med cart" is passing the meds according to the medex. For some reason, the RN's can't do it. You take the med cart and go room to room doling out the meds to the residents. I say it is about time to orient the RN's to a med cart. It is basically reading and popping pills. I am not saying they will be quick at it but they should be able to do it in a pinch. Metfan

Okay. I'm an RN in LTC, and I've never heard the term "doing a med cart." We call it... passing meds. I know what a med pass is and how it's done. Every nurse does it, and I've never known it any other way anywhere I've worked be it long term, acute, home care, etc. So why don't RNs do it at your facility?

Besides that, and here's the gist of my first response to you, when your shift is over get the hell out of there and home to your kids before something happens that gets you into deep crap. Your employer will be fine without you. Your kids won't.

0 Votes
Specializes in LTC?Skilled and dialysis.

Our facility is (to put it mildly) screwed. We dont have enough staff to take care of the residents safely and I have been working anywhere from one to two 16 hour shifts a week in addition to my 12s which is burning me out rapidly. They supposedly hired 4 more LPNs but none of them have even started orientation yet. I work 6am to 6 pm or til 1030 pm and when I leave have a 40 minute drive home at to which at that point I am exhausted. It isnt safe...the facility is trying to get the nurses to sign a waiver that they can continue to mandate us willingly and dont have to give us 8 hours between shifts..uhh can you say illegal? Needless to say as much as I like my res and what I do I am currently in search of a new job.....thanks for letting me vent...SIGH

0 Votes
Our facility is (to put it mildly) screwed. We dont have enough staff to take care of the residents safely and I have been working anywhere from one to two 16 hour shifts a week in addition to my 12s which is burning me out rapidly. They supposedly hired 4 more LPNs but none of them have even started orientation yet. I work 6am to 6 pm or til 1030 pm and when I leave have a 40 minute drive home at to which at that point I am exhausted. It isnt safe...the facility is trying to get the nurses to sign a waiver that they can continue to mandate us willingly and dont have to give us 8 hours between shifts..uhh can you say illegal? Needless to say as much as I like my res and what I do I am currently in search of a new job.....thanks for letting me vent...SIGH

Illegal...heck yeah. I would bring this to the attention of your BON. In NYS:

Nurses, who voluntarily work beyond their normally scheduled hours in a situation which is not a declared emergency, must be able to demonstrate that they are competent to perform their professional responsibilities. Voluntarily working beyond 16 hours in a 24 hour time period will be considered by the New York State Board for Nursing as a factor in determining the willful disregard of patient safety by nurses and will be subject to a potential charge of unprofessional conduct.

0 Votes
+ Add a Comment