[Md_RN]

[font=Times New Roman]Text[/f] Manditory Overtime what are the rights of the Nurse? I feel powerless and burned-out ! Please Help !

[cassioo]

What do the policies say where you are at? Those will be the guidelines for you. If you don't like it go someplace else. Sometimes if you tell management you're going someplace else because xyz they'll change it to keep you. I did that in my facility many moons ago. On my unit we didn't have 12 hour shifts and when my boss said we won't have them on this unit I said ok I have to move on then and set up the interview for another dept...I never made it to the interview the dept changed to some 12 hour shifts...now they whole unit I was on is 12 hr shifts and they like it. I have moved on though since then.

[nursinghumor]

You can find more information on Mandatory overtime at these websites:

Stop Mandatory Overtime, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. AFSCME:"After a decade of cost cutting, merger mania, and privatization, health care employers have created terrible working conditions that are driving nurses and other health care workers out of the health care industry. Those who remain are working in conditions of chronic understaffing, frequent forced overtime, no days off and lack of supervisory support. Airline crews have limits on their work hours to protect the public's safety, as do truckers. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), AFL-CIO, is aggressively working to bring similar protections to both patients and the workers who care for them."
AFSCME Department of Research and Collective Bargaining Services
(202) 429-1215, e-mail at una@afscme.org
http://www.afscme.org/una/stopmo.htm
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Mandatory Overtime, American Federation of Teachers:"Stories about the shortage of nurses and other healthcare professionals are everywhere. But in reality, there are two shortages--one caused by a declining number of new workers, the other caused by thousands of current workers who are leaving their chosen field. Surveys have shown that the exodus of registered nurses, therapists, technologists, technicians and service and maintenance workers is directly attributable to difficult working conditions, including inadequate staffing, mandatory overtime and insufficient compensation."
American Federation of Teachers
555 New Jersey Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20001
202/879-4400
http://www.aft.org/topics/mandatory-overtime/
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Opposition to Mandatory Overtime, Position Statements, American Nursing Association:"Summary: Shortages of available or experienced nurses have added another dimension to inadequate staffing brought about through purposeful restructuring, downsizing and substitution of unlicensed assistive personnel (UAP) for registered nurse staff in hospitals. The use of mandatory overtime as a solution to nurse staffing shortages is rampant today, and is pushing nurses beyond their capacity to work safely and to provide appropriate, quality care to patients. Nearly half of the respondents to a recent ANA staffing survey reported mandatory overtime being used to cover staffing shortages (ANA Staffing Survey, 2001). In addition, inadequate staffing is a source of nurses' job dissatisfaction, further contributing to the problem of recruitment and retention of nurses, and with the attraction of new talent to the profession."
American Nurses Association, American Nurses Foundation
8515 Georgia Avenue Suite 400 Silver Spring, MD 20910
301-628-5000 301-628-5001 (fax) 1-800-274-4ANA (4262)
http://www.nursingworld.org/readroom...ac/revmot2.htm
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More Like This, http://www.4nursing.com/mandatory

Andrew Lopez, RN
http://www.nursinghumor.com