The OT threat to our health
THOUSANDS of nurses and other health-care workers across Pennsylvania being are overworked by a practice called mandatory overtime. This policy is bad for the employees, their families and the public. The state House has passed a bill banning it - and the Senate should do the same.
THOUSANDS of nurses and other health-care workers across Pennsylvania being are overworked by a practice called mandatory overtime.
This policy is bad for the employees, their families and the public. The state House has passed a bill banning it - and the Senate should do the same.
Anyone who has watched "ER" or even "Scrubs" knows that health-care workers have exhausting schedules. That's the nature of a 24-hour industry.
But many people may not know that some workers are forced by supervisors to work past their regular shifts. Nurses and other caregivers are sometimes required to keep working for several more hours - sometimes even an entire shift. If nurses refuse to stay, they can be disciplined, fired, even lose their licenses.
A poll conducted by the Pennsylvania Department of Health in 2005 found that 13.6 percent of nurses in the state were subjected to mandatory overtime in the two-week period studied. The study surveyed 82 percent of the nurses in the state, so it's an accurate reflection of the conditions that these workers face.
One of the most troubling things about mandatory overtime is how arbitrary it is. A worker may have little or no warning that she'll be required to work later than expected. This is particularly burdensome on those with children, including single parents. Workers should be able to have some control over their schedules.
Mandatory overtime is also a health and safety issue.
According to a report from SEIU Healthcare PA, the union that represents nurses and other health workers, 51 percent of all mandatory overtime occurs in state-run hospitals, including prisons and mental-health facilities. Mandatory overtime causes exhaustion and increases the risk for workers in these potentially dangerous workplaces.
Mandatory overtime also contributes to the growing shortage of nurses in the state. The same survey from the Department of Health also found a 10 percent increase in job dissatisfaction among nurses required to perform mandatory overtime when compared to workers who aren't. The poll found that nearly 25 percent of nurses who left the field did so because of job dissatisfaction.
PERHAPS THE most worrisome effect of mandatory overtime is on patients.
A 1992 study in the American Journal of Public Health
found that nurses who worked erratic schedules, including mandatory overtime, were more likely to make a medical mistake.
Mandatory overtime causes errors and accidents, contributing to the high cost of care.
States across the country identified mandatory overtime as an unfair practice that hurts both workers and the general public. Legislation to restrict or ban mandatory overtime has passed in 11 states.
The state House, controlled by the Democrats, already passed a bill with bipartisan support in October 2006.
Sen. Christine Tartaglione has introduced similar legislation in the Republican-controlled Senate. More than half the Senate has signed on as co-sponsors.
It's time for Pennsylvania to do the right thing and pass Sen. Tartaglione's bill. *
Ben Waxman is a regular contributor.
He can be reached at