Over Time

[NurseWannaBe]

In hospitals, is there "overtime"? If I worked in a hospital and wanted to work 12 hrs a day for 7 days (i know thats a lot)but could I do that? I know where I work, over 40hrs a week is over time. Thanks.

It sure is..In California many places pay overtime after 8 hours in a day and double time after 12 hours.

Remember nursing is both physically and emotionally draining and if you don't take care of yourself you can't take care of other...Just my 3 cents...


WR,,, three commas for Becca

[harvgrad]

the system that i work for in nebraska, begins time and half after you complete a 40 hour work week. Yeah I guess you could work 7 12's, maybe you are younger than I, but i dont believe i could of even when i was younger. Have some 22 y.o's that pull 4 12's schedule, they have been doing it for a couple of months now...and its wearing on them.

[NurseWannaBe]

What I was actually trying to ask is can you work any hours that you want, do most hospitals let you work any hours you want or overtime if you wanted? Sorry I didn't make my self clear.

With the nursing shortage most hospitals will let you work your own hours to a certain extend..But remember there are schedules to keep for the patients so you have to work around them...Many nurses love working nights so sometimes you can get straight days.. It just depends.

As far as overtime that depends also.. Many hospitals would rather pay premium money to a nurse for overtime than hire another nurse..I don't know where those bean counters went to business school...


WR,,, three commas for Becca

[kristycarberry]

Nursewannabe,
In my limited experience and the time that I worked in a hospital as a non-nurse, the nurses worked in shifts. It seems to be the same everywhere, there is a 7A-3P, 3P-11P, 11P-7A and then there are 7A-7P and 7P-7A shifts. The nurses at the hospital that I worked at worked 2 eight hours shifts and 2 twelve hour shifts per week, or 5 8 hours shifts. Some of them worked 4 12 hour shifts (giving them 16 hours of overtime at the end of the pay period) I have noticed when looking at job openings that you interview for both the position and time that you want to work. I hope this helps some, and like I said, I have limited experience, so I am sure that some of the guys around here can better help you.

[nursinghumor]

[ QUOTE ]
NurseWannaBe said:
In hospitals, is there "overtime"? If I worked in a hospital and wanted to work 12 hrs a day for 7 days (i know thats a lot)but could I do that? I know where I work, over 40hrs a week is over time. Thanks.

[/ QUOTE ]

The bottom line in hospitals is to keep costs down. With the Nursing Shortage getting worse, there is a lot more overtime available if you want it.

How much over 40 hours/week consistently they'll let you work depends on how desperate they are. You can only work so much overtime before you start getting tired and making mistakes.

Overtime hikes nursing errors, study shows:"Nurses in U.S. hospitals about 40 percent of the time are working long shifts that raise the risk of medical mistakes such as giving the wrong medication or the wrong dose, a study released Wednesday said."
http://www.cnn.com/2004/HEALTH/07/07...g.errors.reut/

Before they give you unlimited overtime, they'll bring in agency and travel nurses that are cheaper in the long run.

Don't worry though, there's plenty of money to be made in Nursing if you do your job well.

Andrew Lopez, RN
http://www.4nursing.com

[HemoStat]

Much depends on the hospital you work, as to how much overtime is allowed, for all the reasons mentioned above. The wages budget has it's limit though and for that reason many institutions use agency and travel nurses (I've done both) because it comes out of a different budget.

If you need a few extra bucks, my advice is to keep your hospital shifts to a minimum and pick up one, or at the max two, agency shifts a week. This way, taxes won't eat you alive and you will have enough rest to practice nursing safely.

Don't burn yourself out!!! We need you!!!!

HemoStat