though I'm pretty sure legally in the US they can't force us to work more than 16 hours straight
Unless your state licensing specifically precludes "mandatory overtime" from the definition of "patient abandonment," this is unfortunately not true. Check your state's rules here.
(I'm not a nurse, but my mom was, and I remember hearing about "patient abandonment " cases during Hurricane Katrina and being absolutely horrified at the way the system works.)
My understanding was mainly that they can keep you there especially during a crisis but otherwise can't, which is correct in my state, though there's no upper limit like others. Still interesting that a few months back my previous employer violated that law by forcing me to stay an hour over because they didn't have staffing when they didn't exhaust all options like the law states.
Unless your state licensing specifically precludes "mandatory overtime" from the definition of "patient abandonment," this is unfortunately not true. Check your state's rules here.
(I'm not a nurse, but my mom was, and I remember hearing about "patient abandonment " cases during Hurricane Katrina and being absolutely horrified at the way the system works.)
My understanding was mainly that they can keep you there especially during a crisis but otherwise can't, which is correct in my state, though there's no upper limit like others. Still interesting that a few months back my previous employer violated that law by forcing me to stay an hour over because they didn't have staffing when they didn't exhaust all options like the law states.