Topic: Current Issues in Nursing Practice; Level: Undergraduate; Style: APA; Sources: 5; Spacing: Double; Pages: 4

3. Running head: MANDATORY OVERTIME IN NURSING !1
Instructions
Topic: Current Issues in Nursing Practice
Level: Undergraduate
Style: APA
Sources: 5
Description: Consider mandatory overtime as a current issue that affects the field of nursing
and carry out assessment of the problem. Further, focus on the implications of the
issue on nursing practice policies by identifying some of the provisions it
undermines. Additionally, identify the link between mandatory overtime and
nursing before evaluating its implications on the future of nursing practice.
Spacing: Double
Pages: 4
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4. MANDATORY OVERTIME IN NURSING !2
Mandatory Overtime in Nursing as Current Issue in the Profession
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Introduction
The problematic issue of mandatory overtime in the nursing profession has elicited mixed
reactions from the chief stakeholders that influence the healthcare sector. Axiomatically, the issue
of mandatory overtime has been accounted for the significant exit of nurses from the healthcare
workforce thereby posing a threat to the quality of the services delivered to the public.
Specifically, Nelson and Kennedy (2008) associate mandatory overtime with situations where
employees are required to work past the recommended hours in a bid to complete certain tasks.
In this concern, the predetermined and regularly developed work schedules, contract provisions,
policies experience alterations thereby, interfere with the human resource aspect. Consequently,
some nursing professionals have viewed the mandatory overtime as a hurdle to their satisfaction
and efficacy while other have perceived it as a method of earning extra income with regards to
the overtime rewards thus, depicting the divergent reactions among the nursing professionals
(Bae, 2013). Therefore, this paper will center on the problem of mandatory overtime in the
nursing fraternity as a current issue, its influence on the practice of nursing and clients’
satisfaction before delving into the related policies and the implications of the problem
concerning the future nursing practice.
Effects of mandatory overtime on nursing policy
Policies on staffing and customer fulfillment in the nursing fraternity have been
straightforwardly or in a roundabout way influenced by the rising instances of compulsory
additional time in different healthcare organizations. Hence, the issue has been an expanding test
for nursing practitioners in healthcare provision because of the immediate and indirect

6. MANDATORY OVERTIME IN NURSING !4
ramifications of patient consideration standards and nursing occupation satisfaction. The U.S
laws uphold 12-hour working shifts that run between 0900 hours and 1700 hours. For the
situation that nursing staff are occupied with over 12 hours of work on a particular day along
these lines experience lacking sleep and fatigue. Sleep deprived nurses because of compulsory
overtime work routines bring out the weakness that considerably prompts challenges in
neurobehavioral operations that include lack of attentiveness and carefulness, choice-making
capacity, and lessened response time. (Nelson & Kennedy, 2008). The consequence of the
extensive working schedules without satisfactory rest have subjected both the patients and
medical attendants to advocate for proposals against practices that do not comply with the
nursing policy stipulations.
Further, the issue encroaches the stipulations built up by the ANA Policy and Provisions
of Health Reform Law. The ANA (2010), requires that all patients are given standard bundles of
key well-being services. Low-quality patient care undermines the effectiveness of this
procurement accordingly affecting the policy requirements in a negative way. In addition, the
body requires successful, patient-focused, convenient, and proficient nursing services to all
patients with a uniformity approach. The obligatory overtime burdens induced by several
healthcare providers’ trade off the policy stipulations of ANA (2010) along these lines
influencing the nursing profession.
The association between mandatory overtime and nursing
In every one of the sectors in a specific economy, the problem of mandatory overtime has
been a typical pattern whereby workers are required to prolong their endeavors on healthcare

7. MANDATORY OVERTIME IN NURSING !5
administrations past the regular working hours (Olds & Clarke, 2010). In the later past, the field
of nursing has evidenced worries over the ramifications of compulsory additional time bringing
about recommendations for banning the practice in healing facilities. In any case, the issue of
understaffing and the patients' needs that rise above the normal working hours have driven
expanded instances of required extra minutes among medical caretakers. Therefore, the aspect of
understaffing ought to be considered for the purpose of mitigating the problem.
The ANA (2010) position articulation on the subject of overtime underscores that medical
caretakers can associate themselves in nursing practice past the normal working hours. In times
of calamities, attendants are permitted to be discharged as sets of organized medicinal groups
that assist in such cases occasions for intervention purposes. Nonetheless, the autonomy of the
medical attendants ought to be considered in light of such calls of obligation amid calamity
circumstances.
Moreover, healthcare experts ought to consider their level of fatigue before voluntarily
accepting to engage in overtime work. Coercive overtime situations induced by the management
usually creates the violation of nurses rights thereby triggering erratic processes in healthcare
services provision. In such a manner, Olds and Clarke (2010) argue that the mandatory overtime
issue damages the privileges of medical caretakers since they are typically issued the notification
an hour prior to the augmentation of the working timetable following 12 hours of working.
The effects of mandatory overtime on future nursing practice
Several short- and long-term implications of compulsory overtime influence the future of
nursing as a profession. The depiction of this through the continued efforts of policy makers with

8. MANDATORY OVERTIME IN NURSING !6
the aim of encouraging nurses to voluntarily engage in either free or paid overtime to curb the
adverse outcomes that affect both the patient and the healthcare expert (Bae, 2013). In this
respect, the legislation would not only undermine the exploitation of nurses by the management
but also enhance the quality of services offered by the professionals. Besides, the executed
implications would bolster adherence to policy provisions regarding working conditions in the
healthcare sector.
Additionally, stopping the vicious cycle that propels the mandatory overtime in nursing is
crucial for securing the future of the profession since it holds great significance in the healthcare
sector. The burnout that is usually induced by overtime working could render the nursing sector
ineffective if the problem of mandatory overtime is not addressed by breaking the links that favor
the vicious cycle. In this way, breaking the endless loop of obligatory additional time in nursing
ought not just look to sanction laws to check the issue but additionally focus on plans to
guarantee sufficient nursing experts.
Currently, in the U.S., the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules accommodates a
policy that focuses on the prohibition of compulsory overtime in the field of nursing American
(Association of Critical Care Nurses, 2015). The policy upholds that no nurse should be relied
upon to work extra time not unless it is in the situation of unexpected circumstances that would
render the overtime as a last resort. Furthermore, the ANA (2010), created a strategy to shield the
nursing society from compulsory occasions with the aim of upgrading effectiveness. The
approach centers on securing the interests of the healthcare clients and the nursing experts by
undermining the practice of obligatory overtime. Therefore, such approaches would foster an

9. MANDATORY OVERTIME IN NURSING !7
improvement of the nursing sector by freeing it from mandatory overtime and thus, develop the
standard of the delivery of services to those who need them most.
Conclusion
The efficacy of the healthcare sector is crucial since it is an essential aspect of any given
society with concern to the status of the public’s health. In this light, the management of health
care organizations ought to regard not only the satisfaction of the clients but also that of the
clinicians. Thus, issues like the subjection of nurses to mandatory overtime require to be
addressed since it could trigger substandard delivery of healthcare services as errors may occur
due to fatigue. Nursing agencies that include the American Nurses Association have considerably
addressed the problem through the ANA Policy and Provisions of Health Reform Law that seeks
the prohibition of mandatory overtime unless in critical situations like in the occurrence of
disasters. Moreover, the key stakeholders in the healthcare industry including the policymakers,
management, nurses, and clients ought to collectively put efforts that undermine the practice of
mandatory overtime in the health sector so as to bolster a promising future in the field.

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References
American Association of Critical Care Nurses: Mandatory Overtime. (2015). Retrieved from
http://www.aacn.org/wd/practice/content/publicpolicy/mandatoryovertime.pcms?
menu=practice.
American Nurses Association (ANA): ANA Policy & Provisions of Health Reform Law. (2010).
Retrieved from http://nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/Policy-Advocacy/
HealthSystemReform/Policy-and-Health-Reform-Law.pdf.
Bae, S. (2013). Presence of Nurse Mandatory Overtime Regulations and Nurse and Patient
Outcomes. Nursing Economics, 31(2), 59-68.
Nelson, R., & Kennedy, M. (2008). The Other Side of Mandatory Overtime. AJN. American
Journal of Nursing, 108(4), 23-24.
Olds, D., & Clarke, S. (2010). The Effect of Work Hours on Adverse Events and Errors in Health
Care. Journal of Safety Research, 41(2), 153–162.
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