WASHINGTON, D.C. -- (The Kennedy-Kerry/Stark-LaTourette bill -- to be re-introduced on Feb. 12 -- places limits on a healthcare facility’s ability to require nurses to work mandatory overtime. It would prohibit hospitals and other healthcare providers from forcing nurses to work beyond their scheduled shift, or more than 12 hours in a 24-hour period, or beyond 80 hours in a consecutive 14-day period.)

It’s bad medicine to force a nurse to work overtime. Hospitals are misusing mandatory overtime as a cure for the nurse shortage, yet it is a prescription that could kill patients. Mandatory overtime forces exhausted nurses to care for patients, increases medical errors, and drives nurses out of the profession. Patients should never have to worry about the care they receive from a fatigued nurse working an extra shift against his or her will.

The solution to the nurse shortage is to address working conditions, such as eliminating mandatory overtime, improving staffing levels, and raising salaries so that nursing becomes a highly sought-after profession. Because every member of Congress probably has been, or will be, a patient, there should be strong bipartisan support for this sensible bill that addresses a healthcare emergency.