What's your patient load?

Specialties Emergency

Published

I'm still orienting but I take on about 5-6 patients. Normally we will have 6-7 sometimes 8. I work in NYC. What are the ratios in other states or hospitals? 7 patients is crazy! Granted, not all are super sick, but still, time management is one of the top skills needed, perhaps the hardest for a new nurse. Thoughts?

Specializes in Med-Surg.

Med-surg 4-6:1 on days and eves. 7:1 on nights.

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Specializes in ED.

Teams of two RNs, each has a 'standard' of three rooms, but often get one additional 'hallway bed'. While we keep our own pts, if one of us is swamped and the other isn't, we 'inherit' anywhere from a few aspects of the teammate's pt care to an entire pt or more.

DC :-)

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Specializes in Urgent Care NP, Emergency Nursing, Camp Nursing.
Med-surg 4-6:1 on days and eves. 7:1 on nights.

...you do realize this is an ED thread, right?

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4:1 for less acute and 3:1 for trauma rooms.. In Cali.

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Specializes in Cardiac, ER.

68 bed Level I Trauma ED,..4:1 and when we are staffed well we break down to 3:1 with a float!

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Specializes in CT ,ICU,CCU,Tele,ED,Hospice.

4/5-1 in my ed .depends on accuity .we use hall beds also.if real acute/icu 3 -1.

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3-5 depending on acuity, more often than not 4:1. Trauma bay 3:1, but usually 2:1 because we reserve one room for the traumas that will need the level 1, intubation, etc., which we don't get every day. But of course, any nurse that has an actively dying patient will get help from other nurses whose loads are lighter.

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Specializes in med-surg, step-down, ICU/CCU, ED.

We get as many as we get, meaning it can be as few as 5, and on a particularly bad night up to 12+ EACH! Completely unsafe, and the pt load depends on how busy the ED is as well as staffing. This is a level 1 trauma ED in NYC. Whoever posted that working NYC EDs was similar to working in third world countries was spot on in their assessment. I've done both, and it ain't much of a difference :-(

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Specializes in ED.

After thinking about it, I am not sure any of these numbers have a lot of meaning. While, as I posted above, our 'standard' is three, often with a fourth 'hallway appropriate' patient, we are expected to get our patients out within 2 hours in most cases (admitted or discharged). So we are just as busy as those with 'up to 12+' each, I would *assume*.

I can't imagine moving those patients very quickly when, as the math calls for, you only get to spend 5 minutes per patient per hour. YIKES!

DC :)

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Specializes in Accident and emergency.

I'm in uk our ratio in resus room in Am is 4 patients max to 1 nurse in majors we are also 4 patients to 1 nurse throughout the day but a night shift it could be 7 patients to 1 nurse

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Wow I'm an RN at a very busy level 1 trauma center in CA and we max out at 4 pts each. T

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.
Wow I'm an RN at a very busy level 1 trauma center in CA and we max out at 4 pts each. T
You have a union.....
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