Nurses are overworked

(Susan M. Turner is a local organizer for of the Campaign for Patient Safety, a project of SEIU Health Care Pennsylvania, a labor union for health care workers.)

One year ago, the Pa. House of Representatives passed legislation to ban mandatory overtime for nurses and other healthcare workers. The Senate has refused to even move the bill out of committee.

Meanwhile, Pennsylvania nurses are still being disciplined and even fired when they won't or can't work multiple shifts.

Mandatory overtime is unfair to nurses and dangerous for the patients they care for. It leaves health care workers exhausted, which can lead to many medical errors and patient deaths. Other states have banned the practice, and it is already prohibited in some Pennsylvania hospitals.

Banning mandatory overtime except in cases of real emergencies will also go a long way toward solving the nursing shortage.

Many nurses and other caregivers choose to leave their profession because they are unable to give patients high-quality care. Family pressures are also a factor, as many health care workers are unexpectedly required to work additional hours beyond their shift.

Sadly, nearly one in four RNs in Pennsylvania has already left nursing, the highest dropout rate of any state.

Front line health care workers today are working harder and longer, caring for patients who are sicker than ever (thanks to managed care hospital admission criteria).

Health care facilities spend tens of millions of dollars each year - much of which comes directly from taxpayers - on recruitment and training costs associated with high staff turnover.

There is not so much a shortage of nurses and other direct caregivers, as a shortage of caregivers willing to work under such dangerous working conditions.

Please urge the Senate to pass this legislation to improve patient care and nurse safety in our hospitals.