[PIANISTRN]

Hi,
Just wondering what the nurse to patient ratio is right now in Med-Surg
NIGHTS at Sarasota Memorial. How about the other hospitals in the area?

[jansailsea]

I did clinicals at SMH, work at Blake Medical, 2South MED/SURG nights.
Patient ratios are generally eith 6 or 7 to 1 in MED/SURG units.
The bad part with it being so high in this area- lots of dementia / Alzheimers' pts. who try to climb out of bed during nights when they haven't walked in years!
Your assignment can easily include 3-4 Contact Precaution pts.
Plus, there may be only one aide on the floor for every 4 nurses.
SMH, a public hospital, is generally well thought of in the area.
Blake staff just voted in the union.

[PIANISTRN]

When I called Sarasota Memorial, they said patient ratio is 5:1 on nights for
med/surg. Is that really possible? I'm used to getting max 8 patients at where
I work. That is definitely a plus for me if that was the case. If you had to start all over again, would you choose Blake Medical or
SMH? Are the benefits any better for full timers??Thanks for the input...

[jansailsea]

I can't tell you if that's true or not about the 5:1 patient ratio.
Makes me wonder if it's truly the standard, or gets stretched when patient census if up.
Come December, it's High Season here, & the snowbird population influx really drives pt. census up.

I chose not to work at Sarasota Memorial as I'm easily a 35-40 minute drive north in Ellenton ( I hate to drive), Blake is closer, smaller, private vs. public.

Sarasota has a health care insurance plan, if I understand the articles in the newspaper, include using its' own facilities.

My hubbies' insurance with BCBS of FL is better than the plans at Blake.

[PIANISTRN]

Any others working at SMH?? Anyone?