Nurses seek right to refuse overtime

Long hours causing burnout, many say

PAUL QUEARY, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Originally published Tuesday, January 29, 2002

OLYMPIA -- Plagued by a chronic nursing shortage, hospitals are working nurses overtime to fill the gaps. Now nurses are seeking the right to refuse those extra shifts, arguing that forced overtime burns them out and endangers their patients.

Nurses jammed a Senate hearing on Monday to lobby for Senate Bill 6675, which would forbid mandatory overtime for health care workers who are paid by the hour, except in case of emergencies. The bill wouldn't apply to doctors.

Nurses told the Senate Labor and Commerce Committee that many of their colleagues are worked to exhaustion to fill scheduling holes left by the nursing shortage.

"Their health is compromised, their families are neglected and their patents get substandard care," said Dawn Morrell, a nurse at Good Samaritan Hospital in Puyallup.

The state bans mandatory overtime for only a handful of professions, such as truck drivers, to protect public safety. Nurses and representatives of nursing unions argued for a similar restriction, saying they represent the front line of critical medical care, monitoring patient conditions and administering drugs that can be fatal if given in the wrong dose or to the wrong patient.

"Is it legal for truck drivers to keep driving when they are too tired?" asked Annemarie Lionstone, a Port Angeles nurse. "We need laws to protect the public from the danger of nurses falling asleep at the wheel."

Diane Sosne, district president of the Service Employees International Union, which represents 10,000 nurses and health care employees in Washington, said studies have linked infection outbreaks in hospitals to overtime work.

Also, increased overtime is among several factors driving nurses away from full-time hospital work into lower-pressure jobs in clinics, Sosne said.

The nurses got a warm reception from the committee, which is chaired by a nurse, Sen. Margarita Prentice, D-Seattle. However, some of the members asked how hospitals could cope without either more nurses or mandatory overtime.

"The question seems to become: 'Do you have a tired medical worker or no medical worker?' " said Sen. Jim Honeyford, R-Sunnyside. "How do you deal with that?"

Lisa Thatcher of the Washington State Hospital Association said hospitals don't actively oppose the bill, but urged lawmakers to limit it to nurses and remember that hospitals must have nurses working around the clock.

"Hospitals are not factories pushing their workers to increase their output of widgets to increase the bottom line," Thatcher said. "Please appreciate the hours that we have to staff."

Washington hospitals currently have 2,200 open nursing jobs, according to the association, and increasingly turn to expensive nursing agencies to provide temporary workers.

The committee took no action on the bill.

The Olympian Copyright 2002

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