Acute dialysis nurse/patient ratio

Specialties Urology

Published

Specializes in Dialysis.

I'm seeking information on what the nurse patient ratio is in the acute unit you work in. My unit currently is 1:2 but we only have one tech for a 14 bed unit and she is also responsible for setting up bedsides. If your ratio is different than this how many techs per nurses do you use?

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Specializes in Critical Care, Acute Dialysis.

Our unit is presently 1:2 as well for floor/tele pt's and 1:1 for ICU pt's......Most days we do not have a tech we do all of our own transport and set-up:D

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Specializes in Acute Hemodialysis, Cardiac, ICU, OR.

I work in a hospital with a 16-bed unit which is divided into 3 bays -- each bay has 2 RNs and one tech, plus we have an additional float tech and an extra nurse who is assigned to ICU (ICU is 1:1 at bedside). I love this setup -- there are always plenty of hands to help and plenty of brains to bounce ideas off of when something hinky comes up.

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Specializes in Dialysis.

Thank you for your replies. Management has floated the idea we should go to 4:1 but I don't see how this can be considered safe.

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our unit is usually 3:1 ratio but it is being considered to become 4:1. i dont feel its safe practice especially when you have a bad access or a critical pt!!

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Our unit is either 4:1 or 3:1. However we usually have one or two float technicians (sometimes it is a Nurse.) I am still in training but from what I have seen everyone works together and if a crisis happens people are willing to jump in and help.

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Specializes in ICU, School Nurse, Med/Surg, Psych.

Interesting, I worked at a facility where inpatient acute dialysis was done in a room set up for 4 clients with 2 nurses. For ICU or more critical clients it was 1:1 (no tech to set up or anything the RN did it all from start to finish - water testing, everything)

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