Beginning today -- July 1st, 2009 -- mandatory overtime is a thing of the past for any healthcare worker in Pennsylvania providing direct patient care. This victory is the culmination of a 7-year struggle by nurses and other healthcare workers who repeatedly marched, called, emailed and lobbied their legislators to support this important patient safety legislation.

With the exception of true emergencies and unforseen events, the law protects all nurses and health care providers from discipline by their employers for refusing to work overtime. Nurses and other caregivers will no longer have to worry about making mistakes or falling asleep while driving home because we had to work over our regularly scheduled shift. This is a monumental day for patient safety in Pennsylvania.

SEIU Healthcare PA has been working to educate caregivers on the legislation and how to implement it at their facilities. Now it's up to our hospitals, nursing homes, State facilities and other health care employers to begin adhering to the new law. If you have questions about how the law is being followed at your facility, you can fill out this form on the SEIU Healthcare PA website. Read more about what is covered in the legislation and how it applies to your facility by downloading Your Guide to Act 102.

This week, hundreds of RNs flooded our nation's capitol, many of us with several decades of experience in patient care. We left our families and communities because this year - 2009 - is the year that Congress can finally fix our broken health care system. And it can't happen without nurses.

On Wednesday, I joined with hundreds of nurses to lobby members of Congress about the issues we face at the bedside. As nurses, we're able to speak to issues the general public doesn't know about--understaffing, mandatory overtime, nurse training and education and more.

The National RN Day Of Action on May 13th turned out to be an incredible display of unity for all nurses and the patients we care for. While we were on the hill, we heard from staffers who'd received calls into their offices from nurses the following week. (See SEIU Blog post, "On National Nurses Week, We're Calling a Code On Our Healthcare System")

Thanks to your calls, Congress knew that nurses had an important role to play in health care reform. It was history in the making and I'm so excited that I had the chance to be a part of it!

Below are photos taken of the event: www.flickr.com/photos/valuecarenurses/

Janelle Manigault is a Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) at St. Petersburg General Hospital (HCA) and a Vice President of SEIU Healthcare Florida's Health Systems Division.