Trends in Nurse Overtime, 1995-2002

Nurses and their advocates have expressed concern about increasing use of overtime in hospitals, but systematic data on trends in the amount of overtime worked by nurses has been lacking. Using data on New York hospitals, we find that overtime increased 51% between 1995 and 2002, from 3.9% of total hours to 5.9%. Most of the increase occurred after 1997, and the rate of overtime use leveled out from 2001 to 2002. Overtime increased more in nongovernment unionized hospitals and nonteaching hospitals, but the wide variation in changes in overtime suggests there is substantial management discretion in using overtime to address fluctuations in census and staffing.