New-generation nurses are putting in long, sometimes worrisome, work hours

Feb. 27, 2019

Many newly licensed nurses put in 12-hour shifts with almost half clocking in overtime – a trend that hasn’t changed much in 10 years, according to researchers at NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing. On top of that, they found 13 percent of new nurses also hold a second job.

The study, published in the Journal of Advanced Nursing, suggests health policy reforms, such as the Affordable Care Act which gives more people access to care and economic challenges, are influences on nurse life, and that patient safety could be at stake as a result, said Amy Witkoski Stimpfel, PhD, RN, assistant professor at NYU Meyers and the study’s lead author.

The researchers examined surveys taken over different periods of time by 4,500-plus newly licensed nurses in 13 states and Washington, D.C. from 2004 to 2015. They looked at information on nurse demographics, education, work attributes, and attitudes, compared changes over time and found that new nurses work an average of 39.4 hours a week, mostly in 12-hour shifts (which they prefer) with 13 percent stating that they also held a second job. Some 12 percent are mandated to work overtime (less than an hour) and more than 45 percent volunteer to work overtime (about 3 hours). Over the decade studied, the researchers saw a decline in both mandatory and voluntary overtime during the economic recession, but overtime hours rose in the most recent cohort.

Collectively, the findings present positive and negative outcomes.

Previous studies have shown a negative link between nurse overtime and patient outcomes including issues such as medication errors, needle stick injuries, burnout and job dissatisfaction. While voluntarily working overtime can be a welcome source of income for some nurses, mandatory overtime – which is restricted by law in 18 states – was found to be a practice norm, occurring for 12 percent of new nurses.

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