Mandatory Overtime in Nursing Research Paper

Purpose of the paper

This paper is geared towards understanding the underlying issue of mandatory overtime in the nursing profession. Therefore, the triggering factors for the development of the problem would be assessed. This aspect infers to issues like adequacy of nurses, increased rates of patients, emergencies, and scheduled practices. Moreover, the relation of the policy in nursing and its implications for both the needs of the clients and the providers would also be essential for the paper. This part would focus on the efficiency of the nurses and the delivery of quality services to patients regardless of the overtime pressure. Furthermore, the compatibility of the organizational policy regarding other related policies in the nursing industry would be covered to elucidate the elements of legislation on the matter. In this respect, the laws in various states in the US since 2001 would be considered. Therefore, the basis of the paper would be on the key underlying issues for the trend concerning the policies that ensure quality service provision in the nursing profession.

The development of the paper would consider the background elements of the issue of mandatory overtime as experienced in healthcare organizations. The contextual aspects of the current issue depict that nurses and patient outcomes have been undermined due to the understaffing inefficiencies that trigger mandatory overtime in the nursing practice. The American Nursing Association (2015) holds that mandatory overtime has resulted in inefficiencies in the nursing practice over the past decade. Therefore, mandatory overtime is regarded as an unsustainable solution to the problem of understaffing in nursing organizations.

The implications of mandatory overtime on nursing policy

Policies regarding staffing and client satisfaction in the nursing sector are directly or indirectly subject to the rising cases of mandatory overtime in various organizations. For this reason, the issue has been an increasing challenge for nurses in hospitals due to the direct and indirect implications of patient care standards and nursing job satisfaction. The US laws recognize 12-hour working shifts between 0900 hours and 1700 hours. In the case that the nursing staff members are engaged in more than 12 hours of work in a day they experience inadequate rest and sleep. Sleep deprivation due to overtime work schedules evokes fatigue, which leads to difficulties in neurobehavioral operations such as impaired attentiveness and vigilance, decision-making ability, and reduced reaction time. Lengthy working schedules without adequate rest have subjected both patients and nurses to incompatible implications and practices with the nursing policy provisions (American Association of Critical Care Nurses, 2015).

The issue of overtime infringes the stipulations established by the American Nursing Association Policy and Provisions of Health Reform Law. The American Nurses Association (2010) requires all patients to be provided with standard packages of essential health services. Poor quality parent care undermines the efficiency of this provision, thus affecting the policy directly. Besides, the body requires effective, patient-centered, timely, and efficient nursing services to all patients with an equal approach. The mandatory overtime impositions by various hospitals compromise the provisions of the American Nurses Association thus affecting the nursing profession.

Relationship between mandatory overtime and nursing

In almost all the sectors of a particular economy, issues of overtime have been a common trend whereby employees are required to extend their services past the regular working hours. In the recent past, the field of nursing has witnessed concerns over the implications of mandatory overtime resulting in proposals for banning the practice in hospitals. However, the issues of understaffing and the continued patients’ needs that transcend the average working hours have led to increased cases of mandatory overtime among nurses (Bae, 2013).

The American Nursing Association (2015) position statement on the overtime issue requires nurses to work past the regular working hours. In times of disasters, nurses are allowed to be released as sections of organized medical teams that endeavor in healthcare services in such cases. However, the autonomy of the nurses should be considered in response to such calls for duty during disasters.

Nursing professionals are required to consider their level of fatigue before accepting to work overtime. Mandatory overtime from the management violates the professionals’ rights, thus leading to the tendency of erratic procedures (Huston, 2013). Therefore, the issue of mandatory overtime violates the rights of nurses sin