Mandatory Overtime???

RNforLongTime · Apr 5, 2001

The hospital at which I am currently employed has mandatory overtime. Last night I had to stay until 3 am. luckily one of the regular night shift Rn's agreed to come in at 3 pm so I didn't have to stay for a doublr shift but if no one volunteered then I'd have been stuck at work until 7 am and expected to be back at work at 3 pm. Last month I was mandated till 7 am saturday morning then returned at 3pm. Saturday evening I was OK then Sunday night I was mandated AGAIN and stayed all of night shift till 7 am Monday morning. So I worked 40 hour in 3 days. Luckily I had Monday off but slept till 5pm so it wasn't s day "off" after all.

Brownms46 · Apr 5, 2001

Originally posted by kaknurse:
The hospital at which I am currently employed has mandatory overtime. Last night I had to stay until 3 am. luckily one of the regular night shift Rn's agreed to come in at 3 pm so I didn't have to stay for a doublr shift but if no one volunteered then I'd have been stuck at work until 7 am and expected to be back at work at 3 pm. Last month I was mandated till 7 am saturday morning then returned at 3pm. Saturday evening I was OK then Sunday night I was mandated AGAIN and stayed all of night shift till 7 am Monday morning. So I worked 40 hour in 3 days. Luckily I had Monday off but slept till 5pm so it wasn't s day "off" after all.

And you stay there because??

ANnot4me · Apr 5, 2001

As an RN you also have the right and the responsibility to your patients to say "I am sorry, but I am tired and my clinical judgement is impaired and I have to go home." Do you think that if you make a fatal mistake during a mandated shift that the hospital will defend you by saying "She was exhausted because we mandated her to stay for 16 hours 2 days in a row."

Please, Please, Please! If you must be a martyr do it for more than the lowsy salary of a nurse. Take on child abuse, the environment, racism or the sexism that has driven nursing into the dirt.

OC_An Khe · Apr 6, 2001

Originally posted by kaknurse:
The hospital at which I am currently employed has mandatory overtime. Last night I had to stay until 3 am. luckily one of the regular night shift Rn's agreed to come in at 3 pm so I didn't have to stay for a doublr shift but if no one volunteered then I'd have been stuck at work until 7 am and expected to be back at work at 3 pm. Last month I was mandated till 7 am saturday morning then returned at 3pm. Saturday evening I was OK then Sunday night I was mandated AGAIN and stayed all of night shift till 7 am Monday morning. So I worked 40 hour in 3 days. Luckily I had Monday off but slept till 5pm so it wasn't s day "off" after all.

This is an example of how insidious MOT can be. It endangers the patients and the Nurse.

One truly wonders why any nusre would continue to work under these conditions. Kakanurse why don't you forward this story to Representative Lantos so that your expirence can educate people on what is happening in our hospitals and snfs.

Ellen in Ont · Apr 8, 2001

In our hospital they have a different twist on the same theme. If they can't staff a unit for the next shift, they have "manditory call-in". If no one wants to work the shift, they start at the bottom of the seniority list and the first nurse who answers the phone has to go to work under threat of being fired. The only excuses to let her (or him) off the hook are inability to find a baby-sitter, intoxicated (which only works if it is a last minute call) or illness. This has resulted in the whole staff being afraid to answer their phones, having to screen all their calls, or getting family to lie and say they are not home. I know an instance where a nurse was on vacation, had her car packed ready to leave town, the whole family on the way out to the car and she made the mistake of answering the phone. She had to go work and the family did not take it well (can you blame them). We are just starting to fight back and some staff are now starting to refuse rather than lie. So far there have been no repercussions. Our union is presently looking into the whole issue.

Originally posted by Susy K:
From what I understand, patient abandonment is grounds for termination - hence the upheaval about MANDATORY overtime.

What your administration appears to be doing is playing semantics.....how sad.

Brownms46 · Apr 8, 2001

Originally posted by Ellen in Ont:
In our hospital they have a different twist on the same theme. If they can't staff a unit for the next shift, they have "manditory call-in". If no one wants to work the shift, they start at the bottom of the seniority list and the first nurse who answers the phone has to go to work under threat of being fired. The only excuses to let her (or him) off the hook are inability to find a baby-sitter, intoxicated (which only works if it is a last minute call) or illness. This has resulted in the whole staff being afraid to answer their phones, having to screen all their calls, or getting family to lie and say they are not home. I know an instance where a nurse was on vacation, had her car packed ready to leave town, the whole family on the way out to the car and she made the mistake of answering the phone. She had to go work and the family did not take it well (can you blame them). We are just starting to fight back and some staff are now starting to refuse rather than lie. So far there have been no repercussions. Our union is presently looking into the whole issue.

Good! I'm glad to see that you have all stood up, and said NO! I'm very sad for the poor nurse who allowed them to haul her in from her vacation. But if that is what it took for everyone to take a stand, maybe it was for the best! Everyone has to decide when enough is enough! It is sad when a nurse, can't even have freedom, and peace in their own homes!

Brownie

nurs4kids · Apr 8, 2001

EXACTLY, chigap!

Originally posted by chigap:
As an RN you also have the right and the responsibility to your patients to say "I am sorry, but I am tired and my clinical judgement is impaired and I have to go home." Do you think that if you make a fatal mistake during a mandated shift that the hospital will defend you by saying "She was exhausted because we mandated her to stay for 16 hours 2 days in a row."

Please, Please, Please! If you must be a martyr do it for more than the lowsy salary of a nurse. Take on child abuse, the environment, racism or the sexism that has driven nursing into the dirt.

nurs4kids · Apr 8, 2001

CALLER ID=a nurses best friend

Originally posted by Brownms46:
Good! I'm glad to see that you have all stood up, and said NO! I'm very sad for the poor nurse who allowed them to haul her in from her vacation. But if that is what it took for everyone to take a stand, maybe it was for the best! Everyone has to decide when enough is enough! It is sad when a nurse, can't even have freedom, and peace in their own homes!

Brownie

MQ Edna · Apr 9, 2001

Nanablue2 the hospital where I worked forced us to work overtime too. The full time nurses were forced to stay and the part time nurses weren't required, so gues what? Many of the nurse quit and went part time. I went agency and now work less making just as much money.

RNforLongTime · Apr 9, 2001

To brownms46-

The reason I stay working at this hospital is because(believe it or not) they are much better staffed that at the previous hospital I worked at. There, I was always working short staffed. My last day there we had 21 patients on our general med-surg floor and only 3 RN's!! No nursing assistant or anything! One of the patients was a fresh surgical patient another pateint was having bleeding from one end and another was bleeding from a different orifice than the first. The same RN had all three of these patients and 4 others! My nurse manager and Director of Nursing and the house nursing supervisor knew of our staffing situation! Her reply was "I can order pizza for your floor,"!! I had to bite my tongue not to tell her what I was thinking.

The only drawback to working at the place I am currently employed is the mandatory overtime. I was mandated again this past Thursday night until 7am Friday morning. It really upset me because I had plans for Friday and had to cancel them. I work 5 days a week evening shift so it's hard to schedule things ahead of time. I told my husband though that if this mandation thing keeps up then I'm going to look for another job because I won't be able to live my life like that.

Hopefully though, our union contract expires in October of this year and one of the hot topics will be the mandatory overtime issue. Hospital administration knows that the RN's are fed up. So I'll probably stick it out until then and if they dont eliminate mandatory ot then I'll start to look for another place to work.

There is legislation pending in the Ohio State legislature that would make mandatory ot illegal. Oh, how I hope that it gets through!

Brownms46 · Apr 9, 2001

Originally posted by kaknurse:
To brownms46-
The reason I stay working at this hospital is because(believe it or not) they are much better staffed that at the previous hospital I worked at. There, I was always working short staffed. My last day there we had 21 patients on our general med-surg floor and only 3 RN's!! No nursing assistant or anything! One of the patients was a fresh surgical patient another pateint was having bleeding from one end and another was bleeding from a different orifice than the first. The same RN had all three of these patients and 4 others! My nurse manager and Director of Nursing and the house nursing supervisor knew of our staffing situation! Her reply was "I can order pizza for your floor,"!! I had to bite my tongue not to tell her what I was thinking.
The only drawback to working at the place I am currently employed is the mandatory overtime. I was mandated again this past Thursday night until 7am Friday morning. It really upset me because I had plans for Friday and had to cancel them. I work 5 days a week evening shift so it's hard to schedule things ahead of time. I told my husband though that if this mandation thing keeps up then I'm going to look for another job because I won't be able to live my life like that.
Hopefully though, our union contract expires in October of this year and one of the hot topics will be the mandatory overtime issue. Hospital administration knows that the RN's are fed up. So I'll probably stick it out until then and if they dont eliminate mandatory ot then I'll start to look for another place to work.
There is legislation pending in the Ohio State legislature that would make mandatory ot illegal. Oh, how I hope that it gets through!

Kaknurse...I'm continually amazed at how so many nurses out there are able to keep it together, while trying to do the impossible! My heart goes out to you, and others, who still hang in there, trying the make bad situations workable! Thank you for your reply..:-).

I know I couldn't deal with the kind of patient load, the nurse you referred to had. Maybe in the past, but I just can't deal with that kind of stress any longer.

I commend you for being able to hold your tongue in the face of your supervisor's totally insensitive, and seemingly total disregard for your plight on that floor. Pizza...Lord she needs to take a reality check, and definitely a pulse check to see if she still has a heart!

I sincerely hope you find relief in the new contract, and if not, definitely a new job.

Please forgive my previous curt response to a problem you probably have been wrestling with for a while now. I know everyone has to make the move best for them, and in their own time. It's not easy to make a change, and can be very stressful, and requires much thought, and soul searching, before one makes the leap, which might take them from the frying pan to the fire!

Best wishes to you, and others, in finding postions, that will allow you to have a life, and still give you the satifaction in the care you are able to provide

Brownie

Jenny P · Apr 9, 2001

Wow, some of these stories of your experiences of mandatory overtime are really scarey! How do you guys do it? You are endangering your licenses, your lives (how DO you make it home after 16 or more hours on duty?), and also your patients lives! All for the facilities'

"bottom line" budgeting! I had a patients husband tell me recently about a nurse being on duty for 22 hours caring for his sister in another hospital! This is why there is a shortage! We are enabling facilities to do this to us when we accept a mandated shift! Physically, I cannot do a mandated shift for health reasons. I have worked voluntary overtime when I am able to do it physically, but when I have doubled; I refuse to come in the next day because of health reasons again. I don't know how anyone can do this type of work and function while working the number of hours they are mandating you to do.