Ratios down 2 the wire.

With January 1 quickly approaching what are your hospitals doing in response to the new patient ratio law?

Went to a meeting last week and were shown the new forms we have to fill out. Under each RN's name are the patients name who she cared for , their acuity level, who relieve the RN for each break. There is also a form that list what attempts were made to call extra staff in if we go over the ratios. We have a break nurse from 11-7:30 who will do our breaks,except the first break for days and last for pm's will somehow have to be done by the charge RN. Also to note if we are short staffed they will pull the break nurse to take patient assignment to meet the ratio. Therefore it is conceivable that you could start your shift knowing you will not get a dinner break. The only shift that is benefitting from the ratios where I work is nights. Our unit ratio is 1:5 and will stay that way Jan 1st . However in order to meet the 1:5 on nights they are cutting back CNA positions. Our night shift currently has 5-7 pt. So now I will have the same number of patients as before but less aides on the floor and more paper work, and increase chance of not getting breaks.

So what is going on at your hospital?