telemetry floors and staffing

Nurses General Nursing

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Hi all,

Just wondering what your staffing is like. Are your head nurses in staffing? If so how many patients do they take? Does your telemtry unit have another type of continuous hard wired unit within it?? More for higher NTG drips, for example. We have 1 or 2 additional rooms that hold up to 4 patients within our telemtry units that are used for continuous pulse ox monitoring or more frequent glucoscans. How is that area staffed??

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We have 5:1 all shifts, in reality we average 4:1. We don't have a closer observation unit within our unit. We have a stepdown unit between us and ICU they are 4:1, and it can be pretty rough with the level of acuity of those patients.

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I'm interested to see how staffing works in other hospitals too..ours will be adding 4 monitor beds soon to our med/surg floor...they have left us in the dark on how things will actually work :/

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I'm interested to see how staffing works in other hospitals too..ours will be adding 4 monitor beds soon to our med/surg floor...they have left us in the dark on how things will actually work :/

What is your telemtry staffing like now??

Ours right now is 1:5 or 1:6 but they have been trying very hard to make it 1:6 continuously

The intermediate care unit which is a step right below ICU is 1:4 and can take NTG drips as high as 50 mics so more than 1 of those type of patients can make you very busy, especially if they are having pain until they can get to the Cath lab. They also take other drips, continuous pulse ox, more frequent VS and more frequent glucoscans

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Trauma, Ortho, Neuro, Cardiac.

4:1 on days, but sometimes if short it goes to 6:1 with extra CNA help. It's almost always 6:1 on nights. Our telemetry unit is not a complex cardiac unit, no drips, just medical patients that need telemetry. We have a PCU with similar staffing, but rarely will they ever go beyond 5:1.

The "head nurse" or nurse manager doesn't take patients. The charge nurse is free as well.

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Specializes in Psych, Med/Surg, Home Health, Oncology.

Hi

I don't work tele,but I do occasionally float to the tele unit. They have 5:1

staffing & I hear that is pretty much what it usually is. They do not have a unit within a unit.

Our Micu is 2:1 staffing;Sicu is either 1-2:1.

These are night shift patterns, by the way--I only work nites.

MaryAnn

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What is your telemtry staffing like now??

Ours right now is 1:5 or 1:6 but they have been trying very hard to make it 1:6 continuously

The intermediate care unit which is a step right below ICU is 1:4 and can take NTG drips as high as 50 mics so more than 1 of those type of patients can make you very busy, especially if they are having pain until they can get to the Cath lab. They also take other drips, continuous pulse ox, more frequent VS and more frequent glucoscans

That's just it...we don't have tele YET..so that's why I'm curious..they recently closed down our ICU due to inadaquate staff..I work in a very small rural hospital btw..sooooo now they are going to put pts that would have normally been icu pts in monitor beds on the rt med/surg floor...sighs...it's gonna be a mess I think :/

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i work on a med/surg telemetry unit. we get a variety of different types of patients...pre/post caths, acute mi, pts with electrolyte imbalances, sickle cellers with low hgb, pts who had post op complications like desatting or pulm emobli, etc. we take most drips, like ntg, integrillin, heparin, natrecor, dopa, except for major pressors and we also occasionally get vented pts. it is pretty busy and our staffing levels are 1:4-6; very rarely when staffing is horrible we will have to take seven patients. we also have critical care techs who do vitals, blood draws, and pt care.

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We have 1:4 around the clock. No stepdown between CCU and telly.

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thanks for the replies. How about do you all have your HNs in staffing??? What level is above that??? Do you also have a director for each particular level and then AVPs above that??

Is there a charge nurse position that is paid extra??

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4:1 days. 5:1, occasionally 6:1, nights. No stepdown. NTG gtts titrated for BP go to ICU.

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4:1 days. 5:1, occasionally 6:1, nights. No stepdown. NTG gtts titrated for BP go to ICU.

Yes, our NTG titrated for BP also goes to the ICU. But chest pain NTG titration can go as high as 50 and then needs to go to ICU

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