[angelbear]

Staffing is awsome where I work. I have 30 intermediate care pts.(LTC) on nocts. Also have 2 to 3 NA's. That is awsome for ltc. But still when we have a couple of pts. go bad on us we nearly kill ourselves keeping up. And yes the other pts see very little of us all noct. This staffing is pretty good for ltc but the same pt load in acute care would not even be close to possible. I say run and fast. There is a nursing shortage ya know and you deservere much better.

[Disablednurse]

I had that happen to me one time. I came to work, had one LPN, 31 patients on the floor, all had v/s every 2,3, or 4 hours. They had foleys, some on telemetry, IVs out the wazzoo. I wrote a letter to the admin of the hospital and described the situation to him. I got my butt chewed out for this, but it never happened again. I figured out after that I needed to find something else and did.

[debbie17368]

THANKS FOR ANSWERING TO MY THREAD. WELL WHAT CAN I TELL YOU?. SINCE I WROTE MY LAST THREAD 2 RNS HAVE LEFT (ONE OF THEM LASTED ONLY 6 MONTHS) WE HAD TWO MECHANICAL VENTS FOR TWO MONTHS (BOTH WITH DNR SIGNED BY THEIR RELATIVES)AND SURPRISE THEY WERE BOTH IN THE SAME ROOM SO IF YOU HAD SIDE B YOU HAD THE 2 VENTS ALONG WITH THE OTHER 13 PATIENTS. I WAS SUPPOSED TO BE OFF AND GET PAID ON MY BIRTHDAY (SO IT SAYS ON MY CONTRACT) AND THEY SCHEDULED ME TO WORK. WELL, MAYBE I WAS WRONG BUT I CALLED IN SICK AND WENT TO MY DOCTOR AND GOT A MEDICAL CERTIFICATE.
THANKS FOR EVERYTHING AGAIN.
BY THE WAY I ASKED FOR MY VACATION SO WISH ME LUCK I'M PLANNING TO FIND ANOTHER JOB THEN

[Tiiki]

That RN to patient ratio is frightening. Do you have the ability to put in a "work-load grievance?" We do that soon as we feel that the RN to patient ratio on our med floor (acute medecine, with ventillators) is unsafe. If we have one unstable patient that requires one on one nursing we immediately call for another RN. We also do not have RPN's on nights with us because on nights we get 8 patients and everyone must be vent trained.

Anyhow, we call the co-ordinator, and even the nurse manager to say that the floor is unsafe, and if another nurse is not provided a work load grievance is going to be submitted. This looks bad for the nurse manager. It says that she left her floor unsafe. It's our protection, should something horrid happen, at least they know that we attempted to right the situation.

I would never put myself in a situation where my licence was at risk, or my patients more importantly. Something needs to be done where you are!!

GOOD LUCK

JO-ANNE

[plumrn]

I can't even imagine having 8 pts to one nurse! The average for our nurses is 5-6 pts. Occasionally may have 7, but that is well argued with the supervisor. (dayshift)
I think if a shift is short a nurse or 2 for whatever reason, an agency should be called right away. I don't see any other way to provide the care the pts deserve.
My question, if you routinely have a ratio of 1:8, don't you have alot of pt complaints? How can you ever get everything done?

[Brownms46]

I went to do a shift at a hospital, where the RN and I had 12 pts. I worked that nite and told them I wouldn't be back before the shift even ended! I did the IVF, IVPBs, Drsg chges, Bld Sgrs, TFdgs, Rt and PRN meds, and assisted with answering lights. This was imo waaay to many pts. and I would never even consider taking 15!

I once walked on a unit, and was told I would have 9 pts., plus do meds, IVs/IVPB, blood sugars, and PRN meds for an entire hall. I asked the CN where was the elevator, as this was my first time there, and I was headed for the door. The assignment was changed! 15 or 30 pts., that is just asking for something to go wrong!

One of the reasons I work agency, is so I don't have to put up with the statment, "we can't find anyone to come in". When I get in situations like that I don't go back, and I put the hosptal on my DNR list. I have protected my license for 23yrs, to allow myself to be put in such situations...more than once!

And everyone of the hospitals I have continued to go to, welcome me back, and even ask for me. Such as the case of one I will be going to for a third travel contract in two weeks. So I have no problems sticking to safe staffing ratio hospitals. I would seriously advise anyone working unsafe pt., loads, to run not walk away from such a situation. But that is just me

[gwenith]

The trend here in Australia is for "Patietn - Nurse dependency systems to be used to improve staffing ratios. My BIG grizzle with them is that we are the only profession required to justify our staffing on a shift to shift basis - that and of course they DO NOT predict true "hitting the fan" shifts. It sounds like you need something like this not only on a hospital basis but wider. SPEAK UP! Talk to the administrators - just a quiet talk,not dumping on anyone but let them know, and the higher the better WHY they cannot staff the hospital. DONT assume they know. IF that fails speak to your union/professional body about this then contact the quality assurance investigator for your hospital (is this an accredited facility?) - contact your state licencing body about yoru concerns not only on your registration but future staff working in that field. Call you local Member of Parliment. IT CAN BE ANNONYMOUS. Voting with your feet only helps you. To be a true patient advocate yell long & loud. What you describe is beyond reasonable.

[preciousnurse]

We do our fair share of our job and everyone elses also. We take care of anywhere between 3-6 patients on day shift. MED- SURG nurses are nortorius for taking on a whole slue of responsibilites, especially if they have an aide that does not like to help, or the patient has numerous procedures that go on throughout the day. It sometimes feels like my day consists of nothing but procedure oriented busy work. I wish that there was more time one to one with the patients, but it is the reality of it and i do not think that it could be changed due to increase responsibility, increase patient load and decrease staffing. It is the reality of a TRUE Medical-surgical nurse!!!

[Rapheal]

Please find another job. That ratio is just insane.

[FullMoonMadness]

Is that a common ratio? I work 7p-7a tele and our usual load is 6, in some rare instances 7. We really complain when we have 7. But what I am hearing here indicates that we really have it pretty good.I consider myself a good, efficiant nurse, but there is no way I could provide care for 15 patients at one time.