How many hours do nurses work?

Nurses work eight, ten, or twelve-hour shifts and typically have work weeks in the 36 to 40-hour range. A nurse's shifts can vary depending on whether they work in a hospital, medical clinic, physician's office, school, office, or other facilities.

Other factors that can affect a nurse's work hours include demand and personal preference. Nursing shortages can also result in nurses having to work longer hours and for more hours than the average in a given week.

Eight-hour shifts are worked by many nurses. They work these typically five days a week, resulting in a 40-hour work week. Clinical and school settings are the most common for eight-hour shifts. These types of shifts usually mean nurses are only available during normal business hours.

Nurses may work eight-hour shifts in other settings, like hospitals, but in this case, they usually do not always keep to normal business hours. Sometimes they will even start a shift at midnight or another early in the morning time and end at some point in the late morning.

Nurses who work 10-hour shifts tend to have three days off during their work week. These days off may be taken sequentially or happen between work days. However, 10-hour shifts are the least common work shift for nurses. Most places that employ nurses opt to give them either eight-hour or 12-hour shifts.

10-hour shifts may be utilized in the 24/7 hospital setting. Some nurses prefer these shifts because it gives them an extra day off and isn't as intense and demanding as a 12-hour shift.

12-hour shifts are most common in 24/7 medical facilities, like hospitals, urgent care, nursing homes and other medical clinics. Because these places need nurses on hand all hours of the day, the 12-hour shift makes more sense.

Nurses can work day or night 12-hour shifts. There sometimes is also the possibility of working a combination of both night and day shifts. However, most nurses choose to stay on one or the other because a combination of day and night shifts will often lead to issues with sleep.

Nurses work in many different environments, which can result in varying work schedules. A doctor's office is perhaps the most predictable place a nurse can work in a scheduling sense.

Doctor's offices tend to keep regular business hours, meaning nurses will only work from 8am to 5 pm or 9 am to 5 pm. Generally, nurses will only have to work on weekdays in this setting as well.

24/7 medical facilities are far less predictable concerning nurses' schedules. In these environments, nurses may have to work on weekends as well as holidays and take shifts during the day or at night.

Most nurses are required to work a certain number of holidays in these settings, and they typically rotate which holidays they work from year to year. There are exceptions to this, though; veteran nurses may get seniority treatment in some circumstances and not have to work any holidays.

Aside from regular work shifts, nurses also may have on-call shifts. These fall outside of their normal work schedule and vary in terms of hours of each on-call shift. On-call shifts may occur immediately after a nurse finishes a regular shift or on a nurse's day off.

In these instances, nurses are able to leave their place of work and go home but need to remain available in case they are called back into work. The frequency of on-call shifts depends on the working environment. On-call shifts are most common in the hospital setting, especially if a nurse works in the ER department.

The positive aspect of on-call shifts is that nurses are usually paid a specific rate that is higher than their standard rate when they come in for an on-call shift. Some facilities also give nurses additional bonuses for completing on-call shifts.