Published
In Michigan, I believe it's 20 hours, although as a surg tech, I once worked 21! The last 12 of which was in one surgery...no breaks, couldn't even scrub out to pee! I'm not sure if 20 is the law, but where I work, that is the longest I've seen as an RN. It's not really safe to work more than 16 in a row though!!
According to the Fair Labor Standards Act 2009:
"FLSA does not limit the number of hours in a day or days in a week an employee may be required or scheduled to work, including overtime hours, if the employee is at least 16 years old. "
The longest I worked as an acute dialysis RN was 23 hrs. I went home, slept for 2 hours - got up and went back in for another 12 hour shift!
This is dangerous. By the time I hit 18 hrs, I had to stand up and move around so I would not fall asleep.
sweetart_1980, RN, CNS
11 Posts
HI, i am an acute dialysis nurse and have questions regarding how many hours a rn can work in general in a 24 hour day and also how many hours a RN can work when in a 24 hour on call day. Are there labor laws that regulate this? Sometimes it feels like my company requires too many hours from the nurses.