Longer shifts increase nurse burnout and patient dissatisfaction. Nurses who work shifts of 12 hours or longer experience more job burnout, and their patients are more dissatisfied with their care, report researchers in the November 2012 Health Affairs. The study involved 22,275 nurses, 65% of whom worked 12-to-13-hour shifts. Patients whose nurses worked longer shifts reported poorer communication, pain control, and responses to help calls from nurses. They also gave hospitals lower ratings and were less likely to recommend them. Nurses working 10-hour shifts or longer were 2.5 times more likely to experience burnout and job dissatisfaction than peers working eight to nine hours. The authors suggest restricting the number of consecutive hours worked, respecting days off and vacation time, and allowing nurses to leave a shift promptly or refuse overtime work without retribution. (Read a related AJN blog post at: http://bit.ly/10QR14H.)