URGENT | Northside nurses say mandatory OT threatens patient safety

YOUNGSTOWN — Representatives of 52 registered nurses at Community Health System’s ValleyCare Northside Medical Center say the hospital’s escalating use of mandatory overtime exhausts nurses and endangers patients.

Officials of the Ohio Nurses Association and members of the local Youngstown General Duty Nurses Association, which represents RNs at Northside, had news conference this morning to protest mandatory overtime, which they say is also a violation of their work agreement with the hospital.

Northside officials said all staffing in the hospital is based on the volume and medical needs of patients in accordance with Ohio’s Safe Staffing Law.

“As a practice, we do not use mandatory overtime except in extraordinary situations. In fact, of the approximately 217,000 hours worked by nurses this year, a total of 1,497 were mandatory overtime,” a hospital spokesman said.

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