Victory in Olympia – House Bill 2501 (limiting mandatory overtime) passed out of the House of Representatives on Feb. 14th!
Here are the Representatives who took a stand for patient safety and voted YES for this bill: Representatives Appleton, Billig, Blake, Carlyle, Clibborn, Cody, Crouse, Darneille, Dickerson, Dunshee, Eddy, Finn, Fitzgibbon, Goodman, Green, Haigh, Hansen, Hargrove, Hasegawa, Hudgins, Hunt, Hunter, Hurst, Jinkins, Kagi, Kelley, Kenney, Kirby, Ladenburg, Liias, Lytton, Maxwell, McCoy, Miloscia, Moeller, Morris, Moscoso, Ormsby, Orwall, Pedersen, Pettigrew, Pollet, Probst, Reykdal, Roberts, Ryu, Santos, Seaquist, Sells, Springer, Stanford, Sullivan, Takko, Tharinger, Upthegrove, Wylie, and Speaker Chopp.
This is a great victory for the safety of all of the patients and registered nurses in our State – but it is only the first step. Now the bill moves to the State Senate, where the opposition will be fierce. The hospital administrators will be in Olympia opposing the bill, telling Senators their side of the story, claiming this bill is unnecessary and unworkable. Do you support the use of prescheduled on-call for routine staffing shortages as another form of mandatory overtime? Do you support hospitals scheduling routine nonemergency procedures towards the end of your shift in order to force you to work mandatory overtime?
We need to have nurses who do the real work at the bedside tell OUR side of the story. House Bill 2501 would allow prescheduled on-call to be used only for immediate and unanticipated patient care emergencies instead of chronic or foreseeable staffing shortages. In addition, hospitals may not schedule nonemergency procedures that would require overtime.
Our win in the House was due in large part to the grassroots efforts of hundreds of WSNA members all around the state. Can you come spend half a day in Olympia meeting with your senator? Can you write a personal letter or make a phone call to your State Senator? Your political activism now can help improve the working conditions – and patient safety conditions – for all nurses in our state.
For information about how to set up a meeting with your State Senator, or other ways to contribute to this growing campaign, please contact Richard Burton, WSNA Political Action Coordinator at (206) 718-4377 or RBurton@wsna.org.
About the Bill
Nursing and staffing shortages have forced nurses and other healthcare professionals into mandatory overtime or risk losing their jobs. Nurses and other healthcare professionals are being forced to work long hours without adequate rest. This causes fatigue and contributes to increased risks of patient safety.
The current state law prohibiting mandatory overtime has a loophole that allows hospitals to use prescheduled call as a thinly veiled replacement for mandatory overtime. The spread of prescheduled on-call in units that have not traditionally had call to fill chronic staff shortages is alarming. House Bill 2501 brings prescheduled on-call back to its original purpose—for patient care emergencies, not a stopgap fix for unsafe staffing.
House Bill 2501 would:
- Restrict the use of prescheduled on-call for immediate and unanticipated patient care emergencies only instead of chronic or foreseeable staffing shortages.
- Prevent hospitals from scheduling nonemergency procedures towards the end of a nurse’ shift as another means to force nurses to work mandatory overtime.
- Expand the protection to other health care professionals providing direct patient care.
The hospitals are doing everything they can to stop this bill. The information from hospital administration about what this bill will do and how you will be affected is simply NOT accurate. Get the Facts (PDF).
More information about the Campaign for Patient Safety.
