Becker's Hospital Review

97 FINANCE CMO / CARE DELIVERY Most new nurses work 12-hour shifts, some have second jobs By Megan Knowles N ewly licensed nurses predominantly work 12-hour shifts, nearly half work overtime and more than 1 in 10 have a second job, a study published in the Journal of Advanced Nursing found. The study, conducted by researchers at NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing in New York City, analyzed surveys from more than 4,500 newly licensed nurses in 13 states and Washington, D.C. Researchers asked nurses about their work schedule, daily shift length, weekly work hours, overtime and whether they worked a second job. The researchers found newly licensed nurses work 39.4 hours per week on average, mostly in 12-hour shifts. More than 13 percent of respon- dents reported having a second paid job. New nurses said they prefer working the day shift, and the preferred shift length is 12 hours. Additionally, 12 percent of nurses reported working mandatory over- time (an average of less than an hour in a typical week), and nearly half (45.6 percent) work voluntary overtime (an average of three hours in a typical week). "On the positive side, we observed that new nurses appear to be work- ing a similar proportion of 12-hour shifts as more experienced nurses based on other studies, and the majority of nurses were working the shift and schedule that they preferred. We also did not find meaningful increases in overall weekly work hours or overtime hours compared to previous studies," Dr. Witkoski Stimpfel said. "At the same time, our study did not reveal major changes in when or how long new nurses are work- ing that could enhance patient safety and well-being among nurses." n Johns Hopkins All Children's deaths spur bill calling for more oversight By Mackenzie Bean F lorida Senate Health Policy Chairwoman Gayle Harrell, R-Stuart, filed a bill that would boost oversight of pediatric heart surgery programs in the state, the Tampa Bay Times reported. Ms. Harrell said she drafted the proposal in response to care quality issues at Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg and St. Mary's Medical Center in West Palm Beach. Both hospitals sus- pended their pediatric heart programs due to scrutiny over high heart surgery death rates. The bill would permit pediatric heart physicians to make unannounced visits to underperforming heart programs. The physicians would review death records, interview clinicians and inspect the facility before submit- ting a report to Florida's Pediatric Cardiology Technical Advisory Panel. The panel would then recommend corrective action as necessary. "We need to do things a little differently and make sure that there is the review of the standards that are expected to be met," Ms. Harrell told the Tampa Bay Times. "We want to make sure that we have standards in place and our cardiac centers are doing all they can to make sure chil- dren get the very best care." n ANA on nurse's reckless homicide charge: Criminalizing medical errors may deter reporting By Megan Knowles T he American Nurses Association released a statement regarding a former nurse at Nash- ville, Tenn.-based Vanderbilt University Medical Center who is facing a reckless homicide charge over a medication error. e nurse was accused of inadvertently injecting a patient with a fatal medication dose and has been indicted on charges of reckless homicide and impaired adult abuse. e nurse's error happened in December 2017 but was not publicly revealed until a CMS inspection report was released in November 2018. e nurse was indicted Feb. 1. "ANA supports a full and confidential peer review process in which medical errors can be examined and system improvements and corrective action plans can be established to ensure that errors such as this do not occur in the future," the statement said. "Swi and appropriate action should and must always be taken when medical errors occur." Although healthcare is a highly complex and er- ror-prone system, the criminalization of medical errors could have a "chilling effect on reporting and process improvement," the ANA said. e code of ethics for nurses states that while en- suring nurses are held accountable for individual practice, errors should be corrected and disci- plinary action should be taken only if warranted, the statement said. Whether an error is one's own or a coworker's, nurses may neither participate in, nor condone through silence, any attempts to conceal the error, the statement continued. "ANA acknowledges that the full facts and cir- cumstances of this incident are still developing. is tragic incident should serve as reminder to all nurses, other healthcare professionals, and admin- istrators that we must be constantly vigilant at the patient and system level," the ANA said. n

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