It's an all-to-common occurrence in health care - nurses approaching the end of a shift are threatened with patient abandonment if they refuse to work overtime.

A Regents task force is working with the State Education Department to inform hospitals and health care providers that state regulations make clear that refusal to work overtime in most cases does not constitute professional misconduct.

Clarifying existing regulations is one of six recommendations of a task force on the future of nursing, created by the state Board of Regents to deal with a shortage of nurses.

The panel also recommends academic and financial support to increase the pool of nursing school graduates and more recruiting of men, minorities, recent high school graduates and non-practicing nurses.

"It certainly would help if we could encourage people who left nursing for whatever reason to return," said Dorothea Meinecke, a New York City hospital nurse who chairs the advisory committee of the Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals/New York State United Teachers.

New York state is expected to face a shortage of about 17,000 nurses by 2005.

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