Mandatory Overtime for Nurses in Illinois Essay.

Posted: January 11th, 2023

Mandatory Overtime for Nurses in Illinois Essay.

Moving Forward Paper (Part 3)

INSTRUCTIONS

In this paper give an account of your practicum objectives, and the activities completed to achieve the objectives. Discuss how you are and/or can be a change agent in your work setting. A proposal including recommendations regarding the issue you research is required. Support your proposal with in-depth research information and reasoning. This proposal can be submitted to agency leaders, if so, please include the process of submission and any results or response received.Mandatory Overtime for Nurses in Illinois Essay.

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This is to be written in a 6 – 10 pages APA formatted paper including title page and reference.

Criteria

Introduction (overview, purpose, and plan for paper). 3.0 pts.

Describe chosen topic, reason behind choosing the topic, agency or agencies utilized during the paper. 10.0 pts.

List your objectives and the activities completed to meet the objectives. If any objectives were not met, describe reason why. 20.0 pts.

Proposal for your plan for change. Include recommendations to leaders. Support with depth of reasoning. 25.0 pts.

Describe how you can be a change agent in the proposal. 20.0 pts.

Summary (explain how you have met the purpose of this paper). 2.0 pts.

Appropriate spelling and grammar used throughout paper. 5.0 pts.

Follows APA (6^th ed.) format throughout paper (title page, citations, references). Length 6 – 10 pages including title page and reference page (s). 10.0 pts.Mandatory Overtime for Nurses in Illinois Essay.

References (within past 5 years) that are relevant enough and current. At least 5 scholarly sources expected beyond textbook. Wikipedia is not an acceptable scholarly source. Dictionaries can be used, but not as one of the five references. 5.0 pts. Total points: 100.0

Mandatory Overtime is legal in some states in the United States. Due to nursing staff shortages some hospitals implement Mandatory Overtime. Nurses are the backbone of a hospital and a shortage in staffing, patient care will be affected. In the hospital setting, a nursing staff shortage could be due to a surge of inpatient admissions, an emergency, shortage of nursing staff due to vacations, call offs, or due to hiring of insufficient number of nurses. Mandatory overtime for nurses requires that nurses work beyond the stipulated 12-hour shift (Bae & Yoon, 2014). Nursing overtime in the US is prevalent, with survey data indicating that 60% of nurses have worked at least one type of overtime (Wheatley, 2017). Nurses that work overtime may not provide the best possible care due to physical and mental exhaustion, thus compromising the patient’s safety.Mandatory Overtime for Nurses in Illinois Essay.

The purpose of the paper is to determine if it’s feasible to work mandatory overtime or have extensive nursing staffing plans in place. The issue of mandatory overtime and nursing staffing must be addressed by creating comprehensive staffing plan, that provide a long-term solution.

Plan for the paper are to research the need for a comprehensive staffing plan, the need to include assistive personnel, what training skills will they need, financial and legal reasoning for assistive personnel. Research will be completed to determine why there is a need for mandatory overtime.

Summary of Mandatory Overtime Topic

Some states require mandatory overtime for their nurses. Some nurses don’t mind working over their normal 40-hour shift, while others don’t like the idea at all. Requiring nurses to work mandatory overtime can lead to nursing staff burnout, low morale, and an increase risk of medical errors which compromise patient safety. Pros of working overtime is the ability to make extra cash, allow the nurse to stay caught up on work assignments, allowing the nurse to prove self as a team player, also increase work productivity for the employer. Cons are burnout of the nurse, increased stress, and time away from family. Financially employers are required to pay time and half for overtime hours (Baum, 2015). This topic was chosen to investigate if there is a need for mandatory overtime. According to the laws in place, Section 250.1110 of the Hospital Licensing Requirements, in the state of Illinois mandatory overtime is prohibited except “in the case of unforeseen emergent circumstance when overtime is required only as a last resort” (Section 10.9(b) of the Act). This exemption allows nurses to work a mandatory overtime that is limited to 4 hours past one’s working shift (Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, 2019). These outstanding circumstances are emergencies at the national, state, or municipal level following a disaster or catastrophic incidents. Nursing shortages due to inefficient staff are not included in these unforeseen circumstances. The nurse to patient ratio should be outlined in the strategic plan to ensure that if an emergency occurs patients will receive the best quality care.Mandatory Overtime for Nurses in Illinois Essay.

This writer’s opinion has strengthened with additional research and interviewing 2 BSN Registered Nurses who work on the Med Surgical units at the hospital. Research further states that although the state of Illinois prohibits mandatory overtime for nurses, there is enough overtime for nurses that want to work, without being forced to workMandatory Overtime for Nurses in Illinois Essay.

Values Influencing Decision-Making for Mandatory Overtime

Many values influence one’s decision to work overtime or mandatory overtime. Personal values such as: family, questions about contributions to employer, health issues, dependability, honesty, honor, and responsibility. These values will determine if the nurse will be able to work efficiently. Another value is workplace values, which are important because they drive the attitudes and behaviors that reflect a good team player. Possessing a positive work ethic determines if the nurse will want to work over. Respecting fellow nurses, keeping promises, and showing personal responsibility. These are attributes that are needed to have a successful team. The team must have organizational values that guide beliefs, and principles that influence the work behavior. This value helps the organization, to achieve its core-mission. This writer’s beliefs that values are important because they become the basic determinants of perceptions, opinions and attitudes. For nurses to pick up overtime, besides financial gain, they must have commitment to the patients’ overall care and well-being.Mandatory Overtime for Nurses in Illinois Essay.

Research completed

Research from the Benner Library has been completed. The article retrieved from Benner Library entitled Critical care nurses’ perceptions of the outcomes of working overtime in Canada, (2016). There was collection and analysis of data from 28 full and part-time registered nurses. Interviews were conducted using semi-structured, audio-recorded tapings. Results were dependent on physical effects, patient centered care, family and work balances, financial impacts, and safety regarding patients and nurses. Many factors contribute to the need for overtime: staff shortages, nurse to patient ratio, patient acuity needs, and freeze in hiring. Research proved that outcomes for nurses working overtime include a decrease in satisfaction from patients and patient care was poor. In addition, survey results stated patients were unhappy with services rendered at the hospital, and there was a lack of communication between nurses and their patients (Lobo, Ploeg, Fisher, Peachey, and Akhtar-Danesh, 2016). Conclusion of the article is that nurses value the opportunity to work overtime because they received financial gain.Mandatory Overtime for Nurses in Illinois Essay.

Two additional interviews were conducted with BSN Registered Nurses from the Med Surgical unit at the hospital, first shift and second shift. The interviews allowed this writer to gather the opinions of nurses who are faced with the dilemma on whether to work mandatory overtime.

Summary of Objectives and Activities

The following are the objectives and activities on improving mandatory overtime:

Adding two assistive personnel (Certified Nursing Assistants – CNA) to assist each RN on staff during mandatory overtime.

Assistive personnel will be trained on non-licensed duties to help the RN work smoothly through the entire shift. Financially it is less expensive to hire these staff members and pay per hour is less than licensed personnel. Legally if the CNA is properly trained to complete their assigned duties there are few legal ramifications. However, they must be direct supervision from licensed personnel. There must be constant feedback involving both parties (Burke, 2019).

Why is there a need for mandatory overtime?

Research shows there can be a need for mandatory overtime if there is a nursing shortage. Many healthcare facilities are understaffed due to the generation that is becoming of age to retire. This has a major impact of the current work force. Therefore, many positions are open. Rather than figuring ways to keep good nurses working, nursing homes and hospitals encourage excessive and long work hours. This leads to nursing staff burnout. Nursing staff burnout influences staff retention and low morale. Census peaks, nurse’s shortages due to call offs, vacations, and possible leave of absences from the workplace. Objectives have been met by completing research, conducting interviews with floor nurses. Methods to complete the interviews were face-to-face contact; over the phone interview. Agencies used were Homewood Nursing Home and South Suburban Hospital Med Surgical nurses.Mandatory Overtime for Nurses in Illinois Essay.

Plans for next 2 weeks

Over the next 2 weeks, this writer will conduct additional interviews from upper management of a medical institution to further retrieve opinions regarding mandatory overtime. Additional research will be completed using Benner Library to retrieve articles regarding overtime and mandatory overtime. The internet will be used too.

Summary

Mandatory overtime exploits nurses. It causes harm to patients’ safety. It raises the risk of errors and unforeseen medical events. The purpose of this paper was met by reviewing current state laws, researching the major implication positive and negative of enforcing mandatory overtime, and interviewing nurses for their opinions on the topic. Results indicate that existing literature prove that mandatory overtime can lead to jeopardizing the delivery of nursing care and that comprehensive nursing staff plans should be in place to meet the needs of patients.Mandatory Overtime for Nurses in Illinois Essay.