A new study finds that state-mandated caps on working hours encourage nurses to avoid working overtime, thereby reducing the risk of fatigue, and minimizing the risk of errors. According to the study which was conducted as part of the RN Work Project funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the caps on working hours for nurses, have reduced overtime hours for newly registered nurses, and has confirmed that long working hours can indeed increase the risk of fatigue and risk of medical errors.

The study is part of a ten-year longitudinal study that kicked off in 2006. The purpose of the study was to learn more about career patterns of registered nurses, including their turnover rates in hospitals. The data came from nurses in 34 states, and the results of the study have been published in the Nursing Outlook.

The study focused on 16 states which have rules that restrict the number of overtime hours that nurses can work as of 2010. Arizona does not yet have rules that restrict the number of overtime hours for nurses. In those states that have such restrictions in place, the researchers found that 59% of the nurses were less likely to work mandatory overtime than nurses in states that do not have such regulations in place.

In addition, nurses who were working in states which had regulations on the number of hours that nurses can work, worked an average of 15 minutes less a week than those nurses in states that do not have such regulations in place. Earlier, Arizona medical malpractice lawyers had feared that limiting the number of work hours for registered nurses could increase voluntary overtime, but that does not seem to have happened.