Proposed Ohio law to prevent nurse OT

DAYTON » A shor tage of nurses i n Ohio has prompted a state l awmaker to propose a law that would ban hospitals from requiring nurses to work overtime.

St at e Rep. Rober t Sprague, a Findlay Republican, said he’s concerned that exhausted nurse s work in g lon g hours can lead to preventable medical errors

“It’s a recipe for problems,” Sprague said.

The Ohio Nurses Asso- ciation supports the legislation Sprague introduced last month. Nurses sometimes work 12-hour shifts on successive days without lunch breaks, said the organization’s CEO, Lori Chovanak.

“We want to be able to provide safe, confident care to our patients,” she said.

Research shows mistakes in administering medication, patient falls and patient morbidity rise when nurses work overtime, she said.

“We want to be able to provide safe, confident care to our patients,” Chovanak said.

The Ohio Hospital Association opposes the bill. It said in a statement that hospitals need flexibility to adequately treat all patients. The proposed law overlooks varied skillsets within hospital staffs and ignores staff competency, the group said.

There are more than 200,000 registered nurses in Ohio. The law would make Ohio the 19th state to ban compulsory overtime, Chovanak said.