About my Research on the question:
“How do I evaluate the effects of Mandatory overtime for nurses and how will it affect my nursing career?”
What I Need to Know
Mandatory Overtime is a problem that faces many nurses in my mentorship. One day they were chatting about how they all work many overtime hours and don’t get compensated the correct amount or at all. With insufficient staffing in my office due to taking on more patients with a move into a new doctor's office, all the nurses have been "required" to take on longer hours to finish what needs to be done. This made me wonder about the regulations for overtime and ask myself, "Will mandatory overtime plague me being a nurse?" So I need to know, “How do I evaluate the effects of Mandatory overtime for nurses and how will it affect my nursing career?” I needed to see how many institutions actually require overtime. This will eventually affect me in my career so finding information was imperative. I feel like this question is a question that needs to be answered for me because I wanted to know more about what the rules are and what is actually required overtime. I will need to know about mandatory overtime in the future because I do not want to be taken advantage of in the future. I needed to know more about this topic so I can understand what I will be agreeing to in the future.
What I Assumed
I assume that mandatory overtime is frequently used in hospitals and clinics all over the country. I also assumed that mandatory overtime is thoroughly discussed and explicitly stated in contracts when workers take a job. I know that many healthcare institutions are understaffed and nurse must work long hours without breaks. Nurses at Guilford Immediate Care work 12 hour shifts with overtime occasionally and nurses that work in hospitals also have to work extremely long shifts of 12 hours. I assume that mandatory overtime is a strategy that many workplaces use to supplement the lack of employees. But I did not know the regulations that are associated with overtime.
The Story of My Search
For the major part of my research I used articles I drew from annotated bibliographies I wrote. I found great resources and article that helped me discover the ins and outs of overtime and its use in the workplace. I also obtained a direct account of how mandatory overtime usually occurs.In an interview with RN Jennifer Ball, I learned that most of the overtime that nurses acquired in the hospital setting is due to under-staffing. She often picked up extra shifts in her early years, that caused extreme fatigue. The articles I read explained the cause of the growth in mandatory overtime hours and why the option of overtime has become so complicated. In the article, “Broken Laws, Unprotected Workers,” Annette Bernhardt describes the flaws in overtime in our society. Many workers, not only in the nursing field, are currently dealing with the negative effects of overtime regulation violations. The article explains that companies are doing things to get out of paying their workers what they deserve to get payed. As described by Bernhardt of a study of 4,387 workers, “76% [of workers] were not paid the legally required overtime” (Bernhardt 1). The mistreatment of workers is at a peak and the regulations in place for overtime are insufficient to keep workers safe. Another study by Bernhardt concluded that they "estimate that every week, about 1.1 million workers in Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City experience a minimum-wage, overtime, or other pay violation, resulting in more than $56.4 million in wage theft.” (Bernhardt 1). Workers across the United States are being harmed by the deficiencies in close monitoring of mandatory overtime and the pay they recieve. Another drawback and major problem with mandatory overtime for nurses is the efects it can have on job performance. In "Presence of Nurse Mandatory Overtime Regulations and Nurse and Patient Outcomes," Sung-Heui Bae describes a study of nurse fatigue and its correlation to patient injuries. It also talks about the amount of hours nurses work and the effects of mandatory overtime on nurses. It is asserted that “the results indicate working mandatory overtime and on-call increased the odds of nurse injuries” (Bae 64). Fatigue that comes with working mandatory overtime is likely to cause potentially deadly effects because when focus declines, mistakes are bound to occur. As reported in the study, “the risk of making medical errors was three times higher when RNs worked shifts lasting 12.5 hours or more” (Bae 60). This statistic demonstrates the hazardous nature of forcing nurses to take on mandatory overtime. All of my research has led me to gain the answer to my research question and has helped me understand overtime in general.
My Discoveries
I have discovered that mandatory overtime ethics has become an epidemic for working-class America. Mandatory overtime is happening and employers aren't following regulations about mandatory overtime pay. Employers are cheating the pay system and action needs to be taken. Policy makers have even taken notice to the unethical procedures that are taking place regarding overtime. New Department of Labor legislation came out in 2016 tightening the rules in order to eliminate the negative effects overtime can have on an individuals career. I have learned that overtime can and will affect me in my future career as a nurse and that the most helpful thing in combating being taken advantage of by employers is to know your rights and the regulations that are involved in contracts containing mandatory overtime.
Mandatory Overtime is a problem that faces many nurses in my mentorship. One day they were chatting about how they all work many overtime hours and don’t get compensated the correct amount or at all. With insufficient staffing in my office due to taking on more patients with a move into a new doctor's office, all the nurses have been "required" to take on longer hours to finish what needs to be done. This made me wonder about the regulations for overtime and ask myself, "Will mandatory overtime plague me being a nurse?" So I need to know, “How do I evaluate the effects of Mandatory overtime for nurses and how will it affect my nursing career?” I needed to see how many institutions actually require overtime. This will eventually affect me in my career so finding information was imperative. I feel like this question is a question that needs to be answered for me because I wanted to know more about what the rules are and what is actually required overtime. I will need to know about mandatory overtime in the future because I do not want to be taken advantage of in the future. I needed to know more about this topic so I can understand what I will be agreeing to in the future.
What I Assumed
I assume that mandatory overtime is frequently used in hospitals and clinics all over the country. I also assumed that mandatory overtime is thoroughly discussed and explicitly stated in contracts when workers take a job. I know that many healthcare institutions are understaffed and nurse must work long hours without breaks. Nurses at Guilford Immediate Care work 12 hour shifts with overtime occasionally and nurses that work in hospitals also have to work extremely long shifts of 12 hours. I assume that mandatory overtime is a strategy that many workplaces use to supplement the lack of employees. But I did not know the regulations that are associated with overtime.
The Story of My Search
For the major part of my research I used articles I drew from annotated bibliographies I wrote. I found great resources and article that helped me discover the ins and outs of overtime and its use in the workplace. I also obtained a direct account of how mandatory overtime usually occurs.In an interview with RN Jennifer Ball, I learned that most of the overtime that nurses acquired in the hospital setting is due to under-staffing. She often picked up extra shifts in her early years, that caused extreme fatigue. The articles I read explained the cause of the growth in mandatory overtime hours and why the option of overtime has become so complicated. In the article, “Broken Laws, Unprotected Workers,” Annette Bernhardt describes the flaws in overtime in our society. Many workers, not only in the nursing field, are currently dealing with the negative effects of overtime regulation violations. The article explains that companies are doing things to get out of paying their workers what they deserve to get payed. As described by Bernhardt of a study of 4,387 workers, “76% [of workers] were not paid the legally required overtime” (Bernhardt 1). The mistreatment of workers is at a peak and the regulations in place for overtime are insufficient to keep workers safe. Another study by Bernhardt concluded that they "estimate that every week, about 1.1 million workers in Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City experience a minimum-wage, overtime, or other pay violation, resulting in more than $56.4 million in wage theft.” (Bernhardt 1). Workers across the United States are being harmed by the deficiencies in close monitoring of mandatory overtime and the pay they recieve. Another drawback and major problem with mandatory overtime for nurses is the efects it can have on job performance. In "Presence of Nurse Mandatory Overtime Regulations and Nurse and Patient Outcomes," Sung-Heui Bae describes a study of nurse fatigue and its correlation to patient injuries. It also talks about the amount of hours nurses work and the effects of mandatory overtime on nurses. It is asserted that “the results indicate working mandatory overtime and on-call increased the odds of nurse injuries” (Bae 64). Fatigue that comes with working mandatory overtime is likely to cause potentially deadly effects because when focus declines, mistakes are bound to occur. As reported in the study, “the risk of making medical errors was three times higher when RNs worked shifts lasting 12.5 hours or more” (Bae 60). This statistic demonstrates the hazardous nature of forcing nurses to take on mandatory overtime. All of my research has led me to gain the answer to my research question and has helped me understand overtime in general.
My Discoveries
I have discovered that mandatory overtime ethics has become an epidemic for working-class America. Mandatory overtime is happening and employers aren't following regulations about mandatory overtime pay. Employers are cheating the pay system and action needs to be taken. Policy makers have even taken notice to the unethical procedures that are taking place regarding overtime. New Department of Labor legislation came out in 2016 tightening the rules in order to eliminate the negative effects overtime can have on an individuals career. I have learned that overtime can and will affect me in my future career as a nurse and that the most helpful thing in combating being taken advantage of by employers is to know your rights and the regulations that are involved in contracts containing mandatory overtime.