Nursing and overtime?

It honestly depends. If you work where there are not enough nurses OT can be plentiful. It depends on census and the amount of staff that is on the unit. Overtime is never guaranteed.

Some places hire ASNs some a BSN. Some will give you assistance towards your BSN but won't pay for the whole thing.

If they wanted nurses could work 5-6 days a week (even more if you are in the PICU over winter, on the ECMO team, et cetera)... but I certainly wouldn't recommend it to new nurses.

In our state we get time and a half for any shift over 12 hours or over 40 hours a week.

With rare exception we only hire nurses with their BSN. We do pay for continuing education for current employees including those without their BSN. This will certainly vary between the area you are in, the specialty you are in, and other considerations like prior experience.

Where I work, there are nurses who regularly work 48-60 hours a week. They have student loans to repay, or they were used to making more money at their old jobs.

If the census drops, overtime staff is the first called off, so this strategy only works in there is plenty of work to go around. Nurses are paid time and a half for overtime.

I am not sure about work paying for BSN. They do have tuition reimbursement, but it is hard to get hired in the first place without a BSN.

In particular I'm wondering can nurses work as much OT as they want?

No. Nurses can work as much overtime as their facility needs them to, but no more than that. Staffing tends to swing from one extreme to another in a lot of places. So while you may be pleaded with to work every day for a month, the next month, you might find yourself frequently canceled.

You also have to consider what you're mentally capable of. I've found that when I'm tired, I'm more prone to making errors that could be serious. So while it can be temping to "rake in the cash". I've got to balance that with the risk to my license while working "barely conscious".

My hospital system has a max number of hours per week for full time employees. I believe it is 60, but I could be wrong....never got that close.

As someone else said, OT availability on any unit waxes and wanes. It is financially to the benefit of the hospital to have enough nurses to staff the unit without (or with minimal) OT. However, there are always vacations, employees who leave, etc., and then OT hours become more plentiful. However (for the second time), if census is low, those who picked up OT are the first to be downstaffed--so don't count those hours until they are in your paycheck.

Bottom line--Most places have some OT available at times, but don't count on always being able to get the hours.

Studies have shown that past 36 hours a week/12 hours a shift (8 in some studies), the risk to the patient grows due to decreased reaction times in the nurse and higher likelihood of medical mistakes that result in patient harm, putting not only their well being at risk but also your own, as you can lose your license and your livelihood.

Lets see a source for this claim please.

Usually there is plenty of overtime available for nurses, but you have to be careful to not get burned out.

Lets see a source for this claim please.

No idea on the nursing studies but I do know from a previous life that the DOT limits the amount of consecutive hours one can drive and the maximum amount of hours one can drive in a week due to safety concerns.

Not sure what studies they use to justify this but I think it can be argued that most specialties of nursing are far more complex than driving.

Lets see a source for this claim please.

There is a study by Linda White (I believe) that shows the link to errors after 12 hours of work. I'm not at home or I'd pull it up.

Nurse.com has a free webinar about fatigue that cites this.

Healthcare Worker Fatigue: Too Tired to Care?

Usually after a year you can work agency and pick up hours if your facility doesn't offer overtime or you want more hours (or work agency only to always get OT pay for over 40).

However, a word of caution-don't overdo it and risk burnout. I did this when I first started nursing for about 8 years. It took me almost the same amount of years to go back to working bedside. I was literally FRIED from working 6-7 12 hour shifts a week.

I'll say it one more time for the people in the back: OT is not guaranteed and should never be counted on to pay bills unless you've signed a contract that entitles you to it. My employer has discontinued OT recently and my coworkers who counted on it are distressed. Finally, if it is available, if you work inpatient you will run yourself into the ground working all that OT. Three shifts is a lot to take people to the bathroom, turn them, pass meds, do dressing changes, get them up with the Stedy to be up for 15 minutes, cater to all their family...etc etc and give safe, quality care. I have gone behind people who were downright dangerous because they were stretched so thin from picking up extra shifts. Orthos weren't done, creams weren't given to people with eczema, blood pressures hung out at 190...then they started calling out because they were so tired. OT is wonderful if you can get it, work it responsibly and never let it overshadow the three shifts you're already scheduled for.