Nurse/Patient ratio in the ED? - page 5

Work in ny and it is pretty similar

Three to one 'regular' pts is our norm. Quite often we have a fourth mental health pt that doesn't require much of us once initial eval is done. We often get a fourth if an ambulance comes in when we are full, but once of our main 3 rooms is open that ambulance pt usually goes into that room getting us back to three.

DC :-)

Patients should be assigned based on acuity not volume...I do per diem in a place with a 1:4 ratio and getting slammed with 4 half-dead patients at once is way more difficult than taking care of 10 stable ones.

Agreed, though in our case, our 3:1 (sometimes 4:1) as I just described is baseline. Someplace to start. We get a STEMI or CVA or respiratory distress or something and others jump in to help until things are manageable and then its still 1:1 for as long as needed, with others covering my other pts and rooms not getting filled until I am available.

DC :-)

That's absurd!! No way I would be there long!