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Critical Care Nurses' Reasons for Working or Not Working Overtime
Vanessa M Lobo1, Jenny Ploeg2, Anita Fisher2
1Vanessa M. Lobo develops workshops for clinicians and teaches in Health Organization Management at the Canadian University Dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Jenny Ploeg is a professor in the School of Nursing and associate member, Department of Health, Aging and Society, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario. She is scientific director of the Aging, Community and Health Research Unit, School of Nursing, McMaster University. Anita Fisher is an associate professor in the School of Nursing, Faculty of Health Science at McMaster University. Gladys Peachey is retired from the faculty of Nursing at McMaster University. Noori Akhtar-Danesh is an associate professor of biostatistics, School of Nursing, McMaster University. vanessa.m.lobo@gmail.com.
Background:
Around the world, registered nurses are working increasing amounts of overtime. This is particularly true in critical care environments, which experience unpredictable fluctuations in patient volume and acuity, combined with a need for more specialized nurses.
Objective:
To explore critical care nurses' reasons for working or not working overtime.
Methods:
A semistructured interview guide was used to interview 28 frontline nurses from 11 critical care units in Ontario, Canada. Analysis was guided by Thorne's interpretive description methodology.
Results:
Participants' reasons for working overtime included (1) financial gain (96% of participants); (2) helping and being with colleagues (68%); (3) continuity for nurses and patients (39%); and (4) accelerated career development (39%). Their reasons for not working overtime were (1) feeling tired and tired of being at work (50%); (2) having established plans (71%); and (3) not receiving enough notice (61%).
Conclusions:
Findings from this study provide important variations and extension of existing literature on the topic, and appear to be the first reported in Canadian critical care units. Additional research is required to understand administrative decision-making processes that lead to the use of overtime.
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