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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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CONTACT: Michael
J. Herzing |
State Rep. Dan Surra |
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House sends Surra bill banning mandatory overtime
for nurses to state Senate
HARRISBURG, May 21 – The state House of Representatives today passed legislation that would prohibit hospitals and other health-care facilities from requiring nurses and other patient-care workers to work beyond their regularly agreed-to shifts.
State Rep. Dan Surra, D-Elk/Clearfield, who introduced the legislation, said it is important worker-safety and patient-safety legislation.
“This legislation takes the staffing needs of our hospitals and other health-care facilities into account, but also recognizes that patient care suffers, and our state’s nurses suffer, when mandatory overtime is used as a routine staffing strategy,” Surra said. “We don’t allow airlines and trucking companies to mandate 16-hour shifts or double shifts without rest – we should not allow hospitals to do it, either.”
Surra’s bill would provide exceptions in the case of emergencies and when health-care workers are required to stay beyond their regular shift to complete a patient procedure. It also would allow nurses to continue to volunteer for overtime.
But prohibiting mandatory overtime as a routine staffing strategy would reduce the number of nurses who leave the profession because of burnout, and reduce the number of patient-care errors that drive up the cost of health care, he said.
“We have to balance the needs of our health-care facilities with the needs of their workers and their patients,” he said. “Routine 60- to 80-hour work weeks and mandated overtime night after night with little or no notice does not serve anyone’s interest in the long run.
“Forced overtime may be a way to save personnel costs in the short-term, but it’s also a recipe for compromised care, the loss of dedicated health-care professionals and increased health-care costs for everyone.”
The House passed the legislation (H.B. 834) 166-31. The bill now goes to the Senate for consideration.
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