What is the state guidelines for nurse to patient ratio in SNF's/LTC for California?

It doesn't make sense to most of us but it is what it is and it will get even worse if the government cuts back on Medicare and Medicaid payments. Those two main insurers haven't caught up with the times and the acuity of the people we now have in our buildings. Call your senators and congressmen and urge them to preserve (and even increase) the reimbursements. I'm lucky to be well staffed in my building. It's a very small community and even the townspeople get involved. They would flip if I cut the staffing.

Hi. I'm a new grad RN and I am thinking about applying to a couple snfs. I noticed that a lot you are also new grads (or were) when you started working at a snf. I created a thread asking for some advice regarding questions I should ask before jumping head first into a SNF RN position. I would really appreciate any advice.

The thread>> http://allnurses.com/general-nursing...sk-416324.html


Thank you.

You WILL get the hang of it. I work at a SNF/LTC AND I have 24 and after about 6 months I got to where I could take my lunch, sit down and read the newspaper and in general have a pretty laid back shift. Sometimes it gets busy but for the most part I am comfortable with the amount of attention I can give the patients and comfortable with their safety.

We dont have a desk nuse and last night (PMs)I was doing a new admit and had one pass away in the middle of my admit so I had no free time but I was suprised at the end of the night I wasn't stressed at all. I think I have totaly adapted. 50 percent of it is knowing your patients and having good CNAs working for you. The rest is time management, prioritizing and nursing skills. After awhile you can do your routine charting, treatments and med passes with your eyes closed. The first three months were ABSOLUTE HELL though.

http://www.calnurses.org/nursing-pra...ios_index.html

All you need to know about nursing ratios in ca,,,,,

1:5 for SNF... Dream on.

The CA Mandated Ratio Law only applies to acute care hospitals. LTCs/SNFs (all variants) and others (group homes/rest homes) aren't covered.

Remember, it might be the "Companys" facility, but it's your license. If you feel that the environment is unsafe, don't waste your time trying to change things. Nothing will change and it'll just earn you a rep as a "troublemaker". Just do your time, earn your way into a better situation when the opportunity presents itself, and don't end up as the fall-guy in a corporate failure chain.

The sad part is that this is yet another COMPLETE MISS by the bone head gUvAnor of Kalifornia~he was elected to lead...not to read! This moron had an actual bill on his desk back in Jan 2008 that was slated to reduce and set the cap on the ratio of nurses to patients! His reason for not signing it at the time was to avoid the financial burdens that would hit the corporate facilities. Yeah, this from the same SOB that ended up causing the huge delay in Medicare and Medicaid payments because he couldn't play nice with the state legislature! This moron doesn't have anyones best interest at heart because his Nazi wife is shmoozed by the corporate wives and their crooked husbands! This wasn't a "political" thing until "AH-nolded" started acting like he knew how to be a competent politician!
But Kalifornia is Kalifornia - a mess due in large part to a people in office claiming best intentions for the people. But they are all segregated and do what is only best for their constituents, as opposed to doing what is RIGHT for safety!