[Ty-134]

Is in different on day shift and night shift? Do you have to do CNA's job?

[Alois Wolf]

Well I am a CNA... technically.. (state titles and everything are strange and non-existent outside the state).

I work midnight shift... and there are probably about a max of...maybe 10-15 nurses for a population of over 300 clients... so the HSA's and CTT's (like CNA'S) do most of the dirty work, except giving medication and giving treatments. But seeing how the individuals live there at the facility, they aren't constantly sick all of the time. So... yeah... thats part of the reason why I want to work as a LPN there when (not if) I get my LPN license at that facility because I thoroughly enjoy working with the population and when I'm ready to leave I'll have a lot of experience dealing with "difficult" patients.

[nurse38401]

I work in Nashville, Tn and work the 7p-7a shift, and we take 5-7 pts with a tech working with us. It is too much. Some nights are good, but many others are not. I worked 7a-7p for 14yrs. and always thought night shift would be boring, but we're on our feet working when we're not trying to chart. And they wonder why there's a shortage of nurses. People can get out here and work jobs where they can have a real lunch break and not be stressed, so why would you go into nursing these days. But I do love my job...there's nothing like knowing you're taking care of someone and making a difference. Somebody's got to do it, and I'm glad chose me to be one of those people. But the higher ups need to wake up and stop putting so much of the bonus in their pocket, and think of the patients.

[SeasideRN]

The nurse: patient ratio on my unit is usually 3 on days, 4-5 on nights. It seems to be the same for other floors in the hospital too. The techs do the vitals, blood draws, EKGs, finger sticks, set up rooms for new admits, etc. On dayshift, a tech will wash up one patient and the nurse washes up the others. The techs are great but are usually very busy so I do a lot of my own "CNA work" when I can.

[nurse38401]

Seaside RN, where do you work? What state are you employed in, what kind of floor do you work, and what's the name of your place of employment? I've have never seen those types of numbers in nurse/pt ratio as long as I've been a nurse. But I have only worked in Missouri and Tennessee. We've got to do better, our patients have a right to it.

[SeasideRN]

Originally Posted by nurse38401

Seaside RN, where do you work? What state are you employed in, what kind of floor do you work, and what's the name of your place of employment? I've have never seen those types of numbers in nurse/pt ratio as long as I've been a nurse. But I have only worked in Missouri and Tennessee. We've got to do better, our patients have a right to it.

I work in a large teaching hospital in Boston, MA. I work in a specialty unit so my patients are a little more acute but my friends on other units, both specialized and general med/surg, have these ratios too. We are fortunate to have great staffing!

[DolphinRN84]

I work at Beth Israel in Boston and there has been some staffing issues there. I work permanent nights and our max is supposed to be 5-6 patients. Though I've had up to 7-8 patients when we are one nurse short...not fun. On days, we must be the only floor in the whole hospital that has nurses take up to 6 patients during the day. Other floors I've floated to had day nurses take up to 4.

[Shopgirl1]

6 patients during the day!! Yikes!! I work at a major teaching hospital in Boston on a general medical unit, we typically have 3-4 during the day, with a tech sometimes. Mostly I do all of my own CNA work, meaning get my own vitals, ADL's, lab draws, ambulation, ect. It keeps me busy thats for sure!! When I work nights we typically get 4-6...6 being a TERRIBLE night. We are very lucky to have the ratios that we do!

[DolphinRN84]

Originally Posted by SeasideRN

I work in a large teaching hospital in Boston, MA. I work in a specialty unit so my patients are a little more acute but my friends on other units, both specialized and general med/surg, have these ratios too. We are fortunate to have great staffing!

I wish I could say the same..those are great ratios!

[DolphinRN84]

Originally Posted by Shopgirl1

6 patients during the day!! Yikes!! I work at a major teaching hospital in Boston on a general medical unit, we typically have 3-4 during the day, with a tech sometimes. Mostly I do all of my own CNA work, meaning get my own vitals, ADL's, lab draws, ambulation, ect. It keeps me busy thats for sure!! When I work nights we typically get 4-6...6 being a TERRIBLE night. We are very lucky to have the ratios that we do!

Yep..up to 6 patients during the day and that's with a tech. Not everyone has a tech working with them during the day so a nurse can have a max of 5-6 with a tech; max of 4 patients BY YOURSELF. During the night we almost always have a tech..but we recently lost our full time night tech- she found another job so there have been a couple of nights where we had no tech at all.