What do you think a good CNA to patient ratio should be?

[rosey2007cna]

I was comfortable with the 1 to 8 ratio.

[KimberlyRN89, BSN, RN]

I think thats a good ratio too for day & evening. And then on night shift, 12:1 seems reasonable.

[CoffeemateCNA]

I think it depends on the acuity of care needed by the patients.

For long-term residents who are pretty much total care, I think 1:8 is good.

For rehabbers (who are usually on the call light quite often), I'd say 1:5 or 1:6.

If we're talking about Fantasyland where money is no issue, I'd love to have 1:4 or less for everyone so that we could actually do all of the care that the residents want/need.

[Ev1987]

I like 1:8 for day, 1:10 for evening and 1:12 for night. I think that sounds nice.

[KimberlyRN89, BSN, RN]

I think it depends on the acuity of care needed by the patients.

For long-term residents who are pretty much total care, I think 1:8 is good.

For rehabbers (who are usually on the call light quite often), I'd say 1:5 or 1:6.

If we're talking about Fantasyland where money is no issue, I'd love to have 1:4 or less for everyone so that we could actually do all of the care that the residents want/need.

OMG that sounds perfect! When I did the "rehab wing" @ my old job, it was me &12 residents. Sometimes 4 lights would be going off @ once:down:

[CoffeemateCNA]

OMG that sounds perfect! When I did the "rehab wing" @ my old job, it was me &12 residents. Sometimes 4 lights would be going off @ once:down:

I've had nights where there are no less than 4 lights going off at any given time -- the whole night. You really get to practice your "triage" skills. I run from room to room and find out what people need. They either get it now (bathroom) or they get put on my "waiting" list (for things like "I want ice cream" or "I need more Kleenexes"). The worse it is, the quicker they get it. :) Clock out time can't come fast enough when that happens.

[KimberlyRN89, BSN, RN]

I've had nights where there are no less than 4 lights going off at any given time -- the whole night. You really get to practice your "triage" skills. I run from room to room and find out what people need. They either get it now (bathroom) or they get put on my "waiting" list (for things like "I want ice cream" or "I need more Kleenexes"). The worse it is, the quicker they get it. :) Clock out time can't come fast enough when that happens.

Most of the time they'd be asking for help to go to the toilet. The rooms were all connected together by the bathroom so I would go room-to-room that way instead of going out into the hallway. So I'd put one on the toilet, and then head to the next room..so on & so forth.

[macrich84]

1:5? That would be so nice!

[JDZ344]

I think 1:8 on day shift, 1:12 with a float for nights. (float to do mainly the cleaning/stocking up and help where needed).

[DreamyEyes]

1:1

[annacnatorn]

Dream: 1:1..yes...nice! ahhhhhh...

slap..now reality sets in...

days 7:1

evenings: 10:1

nights: 14:1, but this depends on the acuity level on all shifts.

reality:

days: 8:1

evenings: 13:1

nights: 18:1

which is why I went to Home Health!......

[fuzzywuzzy, CNA]

I really depends. Where I work there's one assignment that has 6 people and another with 12, and the one with 6 takes longer- and it's not like the bigger one doesn't have any needy people! Those 6 people are not even total care- they can walk, feed themselves, etc.- they're just that much more demanding.