Overtime

Nurses General Nursing

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Hey guys, I had a couple of general questions regarding overtime. Is there a specific specialty/type of nurse that sees overtime more so than others? I've spoken with some nurses and they say that overtime is becoming a thing of the past, or a rarity. I've also had others tell me that it is typically offered based upon seniority. Could I get some insight please?:)

depends on the facility,mostly and unit. i work in a rural location that is hard to staff in med surg. turnaround is high, holes are always there so overtime is available. and mandatory ot, too! i have friends in big city hospitals that couldnt work any ot if they wanted to. they get flex/prn jobs

Any facility with high turnover will have more OT. Of course, the high turnover indicates problems....

In my experience, the larger the facility, the more potential for OT. I work in a 700 bed facility and can pick up at least a shift a week if I wanted to.

Specializes in PACU.

Specialized units with mandatory call often provide opportunity for OT (OR, PACU, IR, cath lab, and so on).

Specializes in Emergency Department.

I would expect that most of the opportunities for overtime would be driven primarily by the type of facility, the size of the facility, specific units within that facility (staffing needs), and so on. In some cases, high levels of overtime could be an indicator that there are problems with the facility or the unit within the facility simply because there's high turnover. Another possibility for a relatively high amount of overtime with any particular unit is that they may have some mandatory staffing ratio, and do not want to hire additional staff because at some point it is more cost-effective for them to pay existing staff some overtime that it would be to hire and train a new staff member. Some specialty units probably have very few people certified to work on those units, therefore with those units you will find mandatory overtime being very common.

So, I would say that outside of some specialty units, the likelihood of overtime would be quite variable. I hope you find the information you are looking for, hopefully more people will chime in with their experiences and let you know more generally what the likelihood of overtime is in a given type of unit.

Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.

I am employed at a small 60-bed specialty hospital. Overtime is now available to any employee who wants it because we're currently experiencing a period of high patient census. However, hospital administration seriously frowns upon paying out overtime because it increases labor costs.

When patient census drops below a certain level, all opportunities to pick up extra overtime will disappear into the sunset. In addition, if census continues to plummet, peoples' regularly scheduled shifts will be canceled.

Specializes in NICU, ER, OR.

i work in thew or. i literally could work 100 hours per week most weeks if i wanted to. AND it is not seniority based. i work at a large university level 1 trauma center.

Specializes in Pedi.

Specialties like OR, PACU, ICU, Radiology, and ER I would assume across the board have more opportunities for overtime. I never once got paid overtime working inpatient peds in a large inner city academic facility. But I know that the nurses who worked in the previously mentioned specialties did... OR and PACU nurses take call on nights/weekends for emergent OR cases... Radiology nurses were on call for emergent MRIs or IR procedures (pediatrics... sedation required for these tests) and, of course, the ER needs to be fully staffed no matter the census because a mass casualty could happen at any time.

Where I work ot is not seniority based. it is first to sign up gets it. My facility is very large and there are many "med surg " units. some mostly med others mistly surgery but any of thise units' nurses can do ot on my floor but preferance is given to unit staff.

ER. There's always been available shifts to pick up at any hospital I've been at for the ER.

Curious minds want to know......do you want overtime....need a lot of money? Or do you hope you don't get into an area where a lot of overtime is required or expected?

I'd love the opportunity to gain more experience and knab extra cash if I ever needed it. So I was just a curious cat wondering about the specifics behind attaining it. Thanks for all the posts guys, so helpful!

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