Nurses General Nursing
Published Oct 20, 2013
I wanted to get a poll on nurse patient ratio. I know its different in every unit. So if you can indicate what unit you work in, that would be great! Thank you.
I work in a neuro tele unit and we get 5 patients.
Caffeine_IV
1,198 Posts
Nights
5-7:1
Inpatient hospice (hospice house)
R!XTER
167 Posts
Level 2 trauma ER - 7/8:1
ORNerd, BSN, RN
70 Posts
I work on an Orthopaedics unit and we are 5:1 on days and 6:1 on nights, sometimes 7:1.
bamaguy1989
47 Posts
I work on the medical floor in a Georgia hospital and typical is starting with 4 to 5 patients. I have had to go to 6 patients a few times which is usually awful! I work nights but on days they at least have a charge with no patients. Also CNAs are supposed to have around 10 patients but sometimes they go up to around 12-13.
Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN
4 Articles; 7,907 Posts
Psych unit I worked on, would usually have 5-6 pts, but Ive had 16 pts plus two techs when I was short an RN.
When I used to work outside of California, they were short that second nurse a lot...and often short that second tech too. Just one of several reasons why I'm planning to stay in CA.
bankssarn
119 Posts
When I worked tele, it was 1:6-7. When I worked med-surg, it was 1:5. We never had more than 5 on that unit. The nurse leader would take patients before giving us more than 5.
DisneyNurseGal, BSN, RN
568 Posts
My med/surg unit is 4:1 during the day 6:1 at night.
crystalNC
12 Posts
Med/Surg- 6 patients, if we get rid of 3 we have to admit 3.
vintage_RN, BSN, RN
717 Posts
Surgical trauma, 4:1 on days and 6:1 on nights.
cardiacfreak, ADN
742 Posts
I work on a telemetry/stroke/ICU step-down. We take all CVA patients that are not TPA'd for the first 24hours (usually longer), post-op CABG, cardiac gtts but we can't titrate, all glucostabilizers, and all other cardiac patients, add a few ETOH and OD patients too. Our ratio is 1:4 on days and 1:5 on nights. I think I need a raise.
mmgirlsmom
99 Posts
Psych nurse, usually 8:1 depending on census but 8 is maximum. This is day shift.
ausrnurse
128 Posts
ICU 1:1 for vented pts, 2:1 for non-vented (depends on acuity). When I worked in dialysis it was 4:1 for chronics and 3:1 for acutes.