A Brief Note On Nurses And Nurses ' Rights And Lobbies On Healthcare Related Matters

West, Ahern, Byrnes and Kwanten (2007) indicate that the new graduate nurses may have not worked full-time in the past; given that graduate nurses begin their career with a full-time job can lead to exhaustion. It was discovered that shift work leads to desynchronisation of physiologically determined circadian rhythms which has a major psychobiology effect and it is commonly perceived the effects of shift work contribute to graduate nurses attrition rate. The NGNs often have a high level of stress due to disturbed sleeping patterns, as they find to adaption to shift work or rotating work hours difficult. Eventually, it leads to feelings of lack of job satisfaction, exhaustion and spending of less time with their friends and family, which can eventually could lead to burnout (West et al., 2007).

Overtime is a growing issue that the healthcare system has been and is still dealing with for many decades. Multiple research articles from various timespan were studied to explore the outcomes of nurses working overtime. The research established that nurses working overtime not only had a negative impact on their physical and mental health but also on the rate of absenteeism. The economical analysis stated that working overtime has a negative impact on the healthcare facility’s finances. The analysis of political events affirmed that laws have been put in place to eradicate mandatory overtime in a few states in America but no action was taken against voluntary overtime, allowing nurses to keep up with the overtime hours. The historical aspect of nurses working overtime confirmed that 8-hour shifts was introduced in the nursing workforce stopping the practice of nurses living in the hospital and providing round the clock care. This created a shortage in nursing staff. Therefore, nurses worked double shifts to fill in the staffing gaps. This practice was evaluated as it had many negative effects and 12-hour shifts were introduced as a resolution. But working overtime was still widespread as a result of staff shortage. The presence of voluntary overtime, knowledge gap in nurses about the presence of mandatory overtime laws, shortage of nursing faculty members and nurses working double jobs are identified barriers in eradicating mandatory overtime.

Pamela F. Cipriano, President of American Nurses Association was in disbelief to see how she has tried to enforce the Nightingale pledge of keeping patients free from harm was failed because medical errors are the third leading cause of death in the United States. As of now ANA has conducted yearlong campaign named “Safety 360 It Starts with You” in order to reduce and take measurable advances to protect the welfare of nurses and workers. It is one of campaign that the ANA comes with that is in support to both the nurses and patients. However, in the real-world nurses are stress and fatigue due to patient ratio. In my workplace, which is a state hospital, they have full time nurses on call where nurses work more than 70 hours a week. The nurses

A fatigued nurse can lead to many errors and compromise the care given to a patient. Nurse fatigue has been found to increase depression. If a nurse has an altered mindset to begin with, they will not be able to take care of anyone else adequately. Nurse fatigue can also increase irritability. A nurse with increased irritability could lead the nurse to make irrational decisions. The nurse with sleep deprivation has an increased risk for error. A nurse is responsible for administering drugs. When a nurse is extremely tired, it could lead them to mess up the medications prescribed for the patient or to overlook reactions that the patient may experience from the medications. The nurse is also responsible for focusing on the care provided to the patient. A fatigued nurse could be too tired to notice crucial changes in the patient. The fatigued nurse will be affected in his or her performance. Nurse fatigue could also result in the nurses injuring themselves. Nurse fatigue could influence a nurse to make shortcuts and that can also endanger the nurse. For example, if a nurse has to lift a patient using a hoyer lift, but misjudges the situation because of lack of energy, the nurse could end up lifting the patient by herself and hurting her back. This is how nurse fatigue relates to the safety of the practicing nurse and patient

When nurses experience fatigue due to excessive overtime, effects that can occur are reduced decision making ability, reduced communication skills, increased forgetfulness, increased tendency of risk taking, reduced ability to handle stress on the job, decreased ability to do complex planning, and inability to recall details which can all danger patients wellbeing. Unfortunately even with all the

Does one ever think about the words “required” or “extended work shifts”? To countless nurses these terminologies or jargons mean mandatory overtime. In today’s healthcare, “required” overtime has sky rocketed, attributable to, the nursing shortages throughout the United States. Studies have revealed that working “extended work shifts or additional shifts” have a negative impact on both patient and nurse safety. The purpose of this paper is to inform and advocate for the Registered Nurse Safe Staffing Act. This author will discuss the key points, provide a critique of empirical evidence, and demonstrate the importance and impact of this Act to the nursing profession.

Within the recent years, hospitals and medical facilities have been experiencing nursing shortages that necessitate more nurses to be present to compensate for the care needed to be given. This requires nurses to be dealt with imperative extended work hours along with their normal shifts with no denial or excuse accepted. Working extra hours are accompanied with negative effects that have an impact on the nurse, coworkers, and patients. A major concern that occurs with overtime is that nurses become fatigued or burnout. Fatigue that is experienced is a result of sleep deprivation from working overtime that is associated with arduousness neurobehavioral functioning

Fatigue is defined as a feeling of tiredness or exhaustion or a need to rest because of lack of energy or strength. Fatigue in nurses directly affects the quality of care that the nurse gives to a patient. Nurse fatigue can be described as fatigue affecting the nurse population that may result from the following contributing factors: working long shifts in the healthcare workplace; obtaining insufficient sleep between scheduled shifts; a disturbance in circadian rhythms; and attempting to balance demanding personal, familial, and social obligations in addition to the work schedule. This article explains the implications of nursing fatigue.

This paper addresses how mandatory overtime shifts cause safety problems on the floor, and how these shifts impact nurses’ safety. Safety errors can happen in the blink of an eye, and happen more than most healthcare systems would like to admit. On-going issues with nursing shortages have led to an increase in the amount of hours worked overtime. Numerous studies show that mandatory overtime causes an increase in safety errors among nurses in the healthcare setting. According to the article based on the observational study titled, “Scheduling and shift work characteristics associated with risk for occupation injury in newly licensed registered nurses”, there is a direct association between overtime and night shifts and an increased risk for injury (Stimpfel, Brewer, & Kovner, 2015). The statistics from this study show the serious impact overtime can have on a nurses’ safety, with results stating that “nurses working weekly overtime were associated with a 32% increase in the risk of a needle stick” over those who did not work extended hours (Stimpfel, 2015).

A nurse’s typical day isn’t without stress; it is usually a lot of complex planning, critical thinking, time management, an abundance of communications with all departments of the hospital, and documenting events that have happened throughout the day on their entire patient assignment. “Nurses who are mandated following the completion of their regular shift are often ill-equipped to continue working. They have not planned for that situation with: proper advanced rest, arrangements for

Patients in a hospital and/or healthcare facilities have to be cared for all day and all night, everyday of the week by nurses. The usual way to fulfill this need is to divide up the day into three 8-hour shifts. Different shifts have been put into place to help improve nurse satisfaction, decrease the nursing shortage and save the hospital money. The 24-hour day is made up of two 12-hour shifts; 12 hours in the day and 12 hours at night. There has been quite an ongoing debate over the years regarding this issue of nurses working over 8 hours in a single day. Many people, such as hospital nursing administrators, have reason to believe that working long hour shifts causes more errors in

Patient care quality results incorporates patient outcomes along with the patients’ well- being and these tend to decrease with more mandatory overtime when nurses are fatigued (Mandatory, 2003). The best quality patient care comes as a result of patient security and contentment (Mandatory, 2003). Patients do not come to the nurses with their best, but as nurses, they are expected to be at their best, it can be hard to give their best when fatigued with mandatory overtime (Mandatory,

Stressful work environments, long work hours and inadequate sleep all contribute to an increase in physical and mental exhaustion amongst nurses. Typically, people choose nursing as a career to help others and to make a difference in their lives, without realizing the number of duties this career demands. Nurses may suffer in silence when they are experiencing stress. The effects can impact safe and reliable care by decreasing job satisfaction, decreasing productivity, causing poor personal health, and compromising patient care. Many facilities would benefit from implementing evidence-based strategies to address nurse fatigue and burnout.

The risks of making an error were significantly increased when work shifts were longer than twelve hours, when nurses worked overtime, or when they worked more than forty hours per week. (Trossman, 2009). Working longer hours in a high stress area will always increase the error rate. Designating an adequate number of RN positions to ensure nurses work an appropriate schedule without overtime and that their workload allows for breaks. Managerial staff must work to develop specific policies about the length of work times based on the setting, patient and provider needs. Those policies should limit nurses from working more than 12.5 consecutive hours. Provide education for all care providers on the hazards and causes of fatigue. Continue to document unsafe staffing conditions and work with others to change the current work culture so that it recognizes the effects of fatigue on patient safety, as well as the nurse. (Berger, et al. 2006)

The physical strain on the body that a nurse endures in a 12-hour shift is exhausting. Most nurses in a hospital setting typically work 12-hour shifts. During a shift you are required to be on your feet taking care of multiple patients at once. Because the doctor and patients rely on their nurse so much, they rarely take a much needed break. They must find time to take a bathroom break, or grab a sip of water, or eat a protein bar. The stress the body endures during a shift can strain the body. Nurses can become extremely fatigued, and also dehydrated. There is also potential to be injured on the job. Nurses have to do a lot of heavy lifting like moving a patient. Nurses are at risk for injuring their back or shoulder if a patient moves the wrong way or falls on them. All of these factors affect the nurses overall health and will eventually cause burnout.