New op-ed: The OT threat to our health
The OT threat to our health
by Ben Waxman
Philadelphia Daily News, 11/15/07Thousands 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 benwaxman@gmail.com.
Re: long hours for doctors + nurses
I never understood why it was considered too much to ask people to work, for instance, building cars for more than 8 hours a shift, but perfectly acceptable to ask doctors + nurses to work 24 hour shifts fixing humans.
-Z
Ben, Thanks for writing this op-ed
Ben,
Thanks for writing this op-ed. I became aware of this problem because so many of my CCP students come into class apologizing for being too tired to participate in class discussions because they just got off 12 hour, sometimes 16 hour shifts as LPN’s or home health care aides. I am in awe of their ability to go to school despite a crushing work load and am so impressed by their determination to get the educational credentials which will allow other options.
When I asked students about their experiences at the polls the day after election, one student told me that she was working a 12 hour shift at U. of P. hospital and rushed back to Northwest on her lunch break to vote in her neighborhood. I am not sure if I would have made that kind of sacrifice to vote if I had been working a 12 hour shift as an LPN. (Several people on this blog have suggested that people should be allowed to vote in locations near their workplace. There are all kinds of difficulties with this—e.g. different ballots for state rep, district council etc. in different neighborhoods--but if there was the will, a solution could probably be found.)
Ben, I made a copy of your article and brought it to my Community Involvement class today. Students were very interested. Some said they want the option of working these long hours because sometimes they need the money, but no one wants to be forced to do this.
What suggestions do you have for getting this bill passed? I assume all our Philly senators are in favor.
It passed the Pa. House,
It passed the Pa. House, which is controlled by the Democrats, with bipartisan support. Now it needs to pass the Senate, which is run by the GOP. The sponsors will need to woo moderate Republicans, most of whom are from the Philadelphia suburbs.
I don't know which Senators need to be pressured. What I do know is that this bill would have never seen the light of day if John Perzel was still in charge. And it would have already passed a Senate controlled by Democrats.
The best way to make sure that bills like this one pass is to figure out a way to send more Democrats to Harrisburg.
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