A “patient care emergency” means a situation that:
-
Is unforeseen
-
Could not be prudently planned for
-
And requires the continued presence of the nurse to provide safe patient care
Before requiring an on-duty nurse to work beyond his or her regularly scheduled work hours to address a patient care emergency, the health care employer must:
-
Make a good faith effort to have overtime covered on a voluntary basis
-
Use all methods listed in its Nurse Coverage Plan.
The health care employer must document attempts to secure nurse coverage:
-
Use of phone logs
-
Show other records appropriate to this purpose.
An employer cannot deem a situation a patient care emergency if it is the result of routine nurse staffing needs due to:
-
Typical staffing patterns
-
Typical levels of staff absenteeism
-
Time off typically approved by the employer for vacation, holidays, sick leave, and personal leave
This applies unless the employer followed an acceptable Nurse Coverage Plan but failed to produce staffing to meet the particular patient care emergency.
October 2018
Tags: New York, Nurse Mandatory Overtime
Log in or Register to save this content for later.