Mandatory overtime

And the bill passes and your relief doesn't show up. You gonna leave your patients and go home?

And the bill passes and your relief doesn't show up. You gonna leave your patients and go home?

I let the supervisor or manager know that I am too fatigued to provide safe patient care after working a 12 hour night. I will care for my patients to the best of my ability until unable to stay awake. then will have to sleep in the hospital or in my car until safe to drive home.

I also write it twice with the date and time. One copy to management and one to me.

Actually I haven't been asked for years. The break relief nurse takes report and cares for my patients until another nurse arrives.

Usually with written documantation of a potentially unsafe condition a nurse is "found" after they said, "No one is available."

I think an emergent situation like that is a little different that the unfortunate way mandatory overtime is usually used, when adequate staffing was never provided, there WASN'T any relief scheduled, and you are just expected to stay. I believe this was the original intention of mandatory overtime legislation.

Usually with written documantation of a potentially unsafe condition a nurse is "found" after they said, "No one is available."

Oh, how I agree with that!

Interesting. Thanks for the insight, spacenurse.

My last facility was really understaffed, as is my new one. One was lousy to employees, this one is super, but there just aren't enough nurses and aides available.

I think mandatory OT tends to feed the nursing shortage by "burning out" employees. Fatigue decreases human performance. I know of 2 nurses where I work who routinely put in 20-40 hours of OT per week. Line staff cannot work more than 24 hours of 32 by work rule but our RNs can work BTB OT for days on end???? Excessive OT is a real danger to pt safety IMO.