Mandatory Overtime

ShayRN · Oct 13, 2008

I don't believe in mandatory overtime. I think it is harmful to moral and dangerous for the patients. (sorry for those that have "heard" this story before) I had one time only that I was "mandated" and I told them nope, not staying. They got very angry and said they would report me, I was abandoning my patients blah, blah, blah. I told them I had two children at home and my husband was going to work at his expected time. If I stayed they would be home alone and then I would lose my children. Far better to lose my job than my child. They kept persisting and I finally said, Ok, lets put it this way. The only way I am staying over my shift is if you hog tie me to the unit. Understand this, I am leaving tonight. I never heard another word about it.:icon_roll The problem is the hospital doesn't want to "over hire" or to pay agency nurses. So the nurses that are there are bullied and made to feel guilty about not coming in or not staying. Its a tiring cycle, one call off and a nurse is mandated. Therefore SHE calls off her next shift so another nurse gets mandated and on and on. Before you know it, staff is burned out and resentful and turn over happens.

I work over-time all the time, but it will be on MY terms. IMHO, staffing is administrations problem, not mine. They should have policies in place in case of call offs. If they don't then they can work. :lol2:

jessi1106, BSN, RN · Oct 13, 2008

Well I work the evening shift 3pm-1130pm and I just got mandated last night. (for 4 hours over)

The last time I was mandated was in May.

I look at it as part of my job. Yes I could refuse, but then someone else would have to stay.

In this particular situation it would have been UNSAFE for patients if I had not stayed. Our unit needed another nurse. There is NO way patients could be cared for appropriately without another nurse.

Had I felt that I was too tired, or unsafe I would have refused.

IMO mandation is part of the job.

We all take turns doing manditory overtime if/when needed (not too often). Yes, I would have rather been at home in bed with DH and kids. Still, I have a commitment to my patients and coworkers. My 8 hour shift became a 12 hour.

To answer your questions, no I do not feel pt care was compromised, on the contrary it was improved.

I also feel our commitment to eachother and our pts improves morale for the unit (we can count on one another for support).

I stayed 4 hours over (til 330 am) and a day nusre ANSWERED her phone when called and came in at 330am (instead of 7am) to cover the rest of the night shift. All was well.

No mandation this eve.

BEST of luck to you!

christvs, DNP, RN, NP · Oct 13, 2008

I was mandated to stay once when I worked 3-11 PM, for 4 more hours until 3 AM.

I was very upset because I was already exhausted, and also had to get up 6 AM to go to school! They still made me stay, and I didn't want to leave me pts alone, so that is why I stayed...but I really hate mandatory overtime. It should be "optional" overtime. If you can stay longer when you are needed, then great. If you don't have kids waiting for you and don't have to leave your kids by themselves, then that is great if you can stay longer. But if you have family/others depending on you to be home at a certain time and/or you are just too tired to safely function, then THAT is when I have a problem with mandatory overtime.

smcabee · Oct 13, 2008

Do your units not have managers? If we are short we pull from another unit, close beds or the manager works. I do not ever believe in mandatory OT. The day my hospital tells me I have have to stay will be the last day I work for them.

Scrubby · Oct 13, 2008

I work in the OR, elective surgery and if I scrub for a case I realise that it may go longer and I have to stay until it finishes. That's fine. It's when the surgical list runs late and they don't cancel the last patient when I will refuse to do the overtime. Why should I bring a patient in to have a two hour procedure when I'm due of in an hours time and they tell me I can't get relieved?

**canoehead, BSN, RN** · Oct 13, 2008

I also won't stay if mandated, and I've been very clear about that to my boss. Sure, in the current environment patients suffer if a nurse doesn't stay over, but that means we need to change the environment, not have surprise 16-18 hour shifts. If the hospital saves money on borderline staffing then they have enough money to pay someone to be oncall, or offer incentive bonuses for people to come in.

GadgetRN71, ASN, RN · Oct 13, 2008

Fortunately, there are states that have been passing laws against mandatory overtime. I run the board on evenings and I still am for this law. Like Scrubby said, so many times, cases run over not due to emergency etc but to p*ss poor planning by surgeons and managers. Administration like to get by with as few staff as possible.

In my state, you cannot mandate a nurse, CNA, or tech to stay overtime. If it is a statewide emergency or disaster, that's one thing. But if someone is mandated for low staffing etc, then the hospital has to pay a $500 fine per occurence. We have a form that we fill out and give to the union.

Funny, when the state was considering this law, the hospitals whined and complained that this was going to cause hardship and compromise pt care. But, the world didn't come to an end and I think pt care is better for this law being passed. Less errors for one thing...I would not want an exhausted nurse taking care of me. That's begging for a med error to happen.