Limit on Mandatory Nurse Overtime

Asserting that mandatory nurse overtime compromises patient safety and drives nurses out of the profession, Reps. Pete Stark (D-Calif.) and Steven LaTourette (R-Ohio) have introduced legislation that would strictly limit the practice. Under the Safe Nursing and Patient Care Act—which has been endorsed by the American Nurses Association (ANA), the AFL-CIO, and several other labor organizations—facilities would be barred from requiring nurses to work overtime except when federal, state, or local officials declare a state of emergency.

TNA has two legislative initiatives this session to improve the work environment for nurses in Texas. TNA refers to the initiatives as the Cultures of Safety bill and the Patient Advocacy bill. To improve the speed with which these bills move through the legislature, companion bills have been filed for each. This means that the same bill language has been filed in both the Texas House of Representatives (HB) and the Texas Senate (SB), each having a different number. The final result will be that only one bill for Cultures of Safety and one bill for Patient Advocacy will...

NEW! Effective November 1, 2008 Nursing Continuing Education requirements related to the 20 contact hours needed for licensure renewal have changed. Read the new Texas BON legislation affecting renewing, reactivating, or reinstating of your RN license...

2008 JCAHO National Patient Safety Goals

2009 JCAHO National Patient Safety Goals