Should there be a limit on all hours worked by healthcare workers?

“I have some reserve regarding mandating restrictions on voluntary overtime. In an ideal world, if staffing is adequate and a nurse chooses to work overtime hours in a well-staffed environment, then I would hate to take that choice away through legislation. Unfortunately, pressure can be placed on nurses to “volunteer” to work in situations that are unsafe and in those cases legislation could be advantageous!”

“Constant overtime results in errors and burnout.”

“This is a dilemma that calls for careful consideration. Would there be a limit on the total amount of hours nurses can work, in and out of their own facility? What effect would it have on those nurses who depend on the extra income (single parents, etc.)? Would the ban include “mandatory” breaks and meal periods for prevention of fatigue during approved work hours? How would this be enforced? And would it also apply to agency nurses? I think the issue of medical errors is coming back to fall on the nurses, as usual, instead of looking at the multiple layers and systems issues involved in healthcare today.”

“I wholeheartedly agree with banning mandatory overtime. When it comes to voluntary overtime, I believe it is a personal choice. When I was in my 20s, I could do a double shift and be sharp all the way through. More than 30 years later, I’m quite ready for the workday to end at eight hours. Many nurses pick up some overtime to give them a boost in their paychecks. If they can’t make the supplemental money that they are used to in nursing, they’ll be looking to pick up those extra hours elsewhere. If we were to consider a limit on voluntary overtime, the limit would have to be liberal enough to allow for the occasional voluntary double shift.”

“A lot of nurses count on overtime. My concern is inadequate staffing. [Hospitals] don’t schedule enough staff and if we have call outs, it makes matters worse. We need to enforce safe staffing. I see more errors when we’re understaffed and having to rush or get distracted because of insuffi-cient staff to meet the needs of the patient. I don’t agree that the number of hours [contributes to errors], but workload has an impact on errors. Nurses make errors without doing overtime.”

“Healthcare workers should only work so many hours, similar to firefighters.”

“Fatigue on the job is a management issue. We have nurses who are on volunteer rescue squads and are out all night at car accidents and then come to work a 12 hour shift. If they are not able to do their work, it is a performance issue because they had a choice of whether to go to the accident before work, come to work tired or call in sick.”