[HealthyRN]

I interviewed for a position on a med-surg floor and I would like some input. The nurse to patient ratio is 1:4. That really shocked me. Other places I've worked/interviewed at had ratios of 1:6, 1:8, and sometimes even more. So what do you guys think? Does anyone have this ratio on their floor?

I'm also really impressed that the nurse manager offered to let me job shadow. I didn't even ask.

[agent66]

Our unit is a 1:4 or 1:5 ration if they are super stable patients. We have no assistants in our unit so is total care by the RN, lots of teaching so don't know how we would manage with any more than that. Don't look that gift horse in the mouth if other places were 1:6and 1:8, surely this was with an aid to help you??

[HealthyRN]

Yes, those other floors had aides. This one does too, although they are responsible for 10-12 patients, so I don't know how much help they would be. I'm just trying to get a feel for if this is a good ratio or not. It seems to me that it would be, but I don't have any experience in med-surg, so I really don't know. My experience is in ER, where the ratio was 1:6 and sometimes 1:7 (or more if you were covering for lunch breaks). Granted not all of these patients were sick enough to be hospitalized, but there were times where I had 2-3 holds for ICU beds, plus 3-4 moderately ill patients. I'm sure that ER is much different from floor nursing, though, so I have no idea.

[RNDave]

1:4 is about as good as it gets. It sounds like a well run/managed unit.

Dave

[kizzykatlove]

1:4 good deal .. that would be great.. we have 1:6 .... i would be in heaven w/ 4 patients.. good deal

[NursingAgainstdaOdds]

I would kill for 1:4.

When I have a medical group, I usually do 1:7 (and more often than not, one or two or three of those will end-up being tele). When I'm assigned as tele, I will have 1:6 (usually 4 tele and and 2 medical, but I've done 6 tele). It's awful, and IMO unsafe. There's no time to do teaching, and so much detail falls by the wayside. We have hospital aides, but they usually have at least 15 pts, and a ton of paper/computer work to be done of their own.

1:4 rocks. Lately with our ratios I'm ready to run for the hills after my year is up (which I swore I wouldn't do, because that's a trend I don't like in med-surg).

[RealNurseWitch]

1:4 sounds terrific. On the unit I'm working on, the nurses in the DAYTIME tend to find ratios of about 1:7. Not a very well staffed unit at the moment, though the hospital is busy working on that. I'm starting to question whether this hospital was a very good fit/wise choice for me. I'm going to try to give it a year at least, and then if I'm not happy then I'm going to try to head back to my old med/surge hospital.

[meownsmile]

I think id quite nursing if i had to do 1:5 or 6 with no CNA or LPN. If i have a LPN and/or a CNA ill take 10. But dont make me do TPC. Team nursing all the way.

[Daytonite]

Obviously, you don't live or work in California. We have a nurse staffing ratio law here and 1:4, 1:5 is pretty common and it's the law. A number of states are also trying to work toward achieving this. I wouldn't be surprised to find Medicare pushing for it as well. At a facility doing this you can truly do all the kinds of nursing things you were taught in school. I was recently hospitalized twice and both times my RNs had 4 patients each to care for with nursing assistants doing most of the actual hands on basic care.

[Jessy_RN]

Our med-surg floor is 1:6 or more-especially when the "snow birds" (winter visitors) get here and quadruple the population. We are the only hospital for a 200+ mile radius.

Our aides are priceless. They do so much including all the blood draws. I have no idea how one would manage without these golden support staff. Forget the ratios, the acuity is high and 90% of the patients don't speak English. My floor is relatively new and mostly staffed with travelers and seasonal nurses.

OP: I think that shadowing is an excellent opportunity. Much luck to you!!