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Bill could raise nurse input But it would limit forced overtime By BILL KETTLER A bill that would limit forced overtime for hospital nurses and give them a role in setting staffing levels won Oregon House approval Wednesday. Supporters of the bill, which passed 42-17 and now moves to the Senate, said it would put more nurses in hospitals and improve patient care. Opponents said it fails to address the real problem - a shortage of nurses that plagues Oregon and many other states. Rep. Alan Bates, D-Eagle Point, a co-sponsor of the bill, said giving nurses a role in setting staffing levels would eliminate the "disconnect" between nurses doing patient care and the administrators who set the levels. "Nurses feel they don't have any input anymore," said Bates, who is also a physician. "They're coming to me and saying they're worried about patient care." The bill would affect Jackson and Josephine county nurses who work in hospitals. It would not affect nurses who work in doctors' offices or nursing homes, or other sites that do not provide acute care. Reps. Susan Morgan, R-Shady Cove, and Carl Wilson, R-Grants Pass, joined Bates to vote for the bill. Rep. Rob Patridge, R-Medford, opposed it. Rep Cherryl Walker, R-Murphy, was absent for the vote. Patridge said he opposed the bill because "a mandatory staffing level is not the way to have better patient care." Patridge said meeting the staffing standards imposed by the bill could bankrupt small hospitals in rural Eastern Oregon. "We need to allow local hospitals to set their tone," he said. The bill would authorize the Oregon Health Division to conduct random audits to ensure that hospitals comply with staffing levels that would be created in consultations with nurses. Nurses could not be required to work overtime, except in emergencies such as natural disasters and epidemics. Barb Geiszler, a Phoenix nurse who retired after 41 years on the job, said nurses routinely work 12-hour shifts and can be required to stay on the job for 16 hours. Geiszler serves on the board of directors of the Oregon Nurses Association, which supports the bill. Although nurses can earn $18 to $26 an hour in Southern Oregon, many are leaving the profession because working conditions are becoming increasingly intolerable, Geiszler said. Patient care suffers the longer a work day lasts, she said. "You're on this treadmill all the time. You can just miss things." Changing the work environment could help alleviate the nursing shortage, she said. "If you improve the environment, nurses will be more willing to stay." The Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems, Oregon's largest hospital organization, opposes the bill. Southern Oregon hospital administrators said many nurses choose to work long shifts because it gives them more days off to spend time with their families. "We are approaching this problem like we do most problems - with a reactionary penalty," said Shirley Martin, assistant administrator for patient care services at Providence Medford Medical Center. "We should be looking for ways to interest more people in the health care professions." "Real solutions should focus on increased funding for nurse education," said Scott Kelly, vice president of planning, marketing and business development for Asante Health System, which operates Rogue Valley Medical Center. Geiszler said nurses were gratified with the bipartisan support the bill won on the House floor, but she predicted a tough fight in the Senate. "The Senate," she said, "walks to a different drum." Reach reporter Bill Kettler at 776-4492, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.