Mandatory overtime is an increasing problem for nurses working in hospitals. Nursing groups and unions define mandatory overtime as a time when nurses are made to work extra shifts under the threat of being fired or disciplined in some way if they refuse (Lovern, 2001). Nurse managers are demanding nurses work extra shifts, sometimes even four, eight, or sixteen overtime hours. This puts extra strain on the nurses after a tiring shift. This outrages many nurses across the country, and they are taking action against it. Hospital employers are blaming the nursing shortage for the mandatory overtime. Nurses have arguments with the hospitals about whether their reasoning for overtime shifts is valid or not. The national and state governments are taking action and siding with the nurses in many states. They are passing laws and bills demanding that the hospitals stop forcing their employees into mandatory shifts. Nurses believe that the care they give patients is jeopardized when working long shifts. There are some benefits to nurses working overtime but the disadvantages outweigh them. Hospital administrators are constantly stressing the need for mandatory overtime despite what staff nurses believe.
"Forcing nurses to work overtime about their regularly scheduled shift is not safe for patients," Louise Kaplan, PhD, ARNP, president of Washington State Nurses Association, said of the bill that passed in Washington State on March 8, 2002 (Anonymous, 2002). This is the view that many nurses have on the mandatory overtime issue. Sixty-seven percent of nurses who responded to an American Nurses Association online survey reported that they had worked some form of mandatory or unplanned overtime every month (Duclos-Miller, 2002). That is more than half of the nurses who responded to the survey, which raises the question of how many more nurses are out there who can report the same. Of those nurses, the dissatisfaction in the work place is also at a high percentage.