How many patients are you expected to take report on?

I am just curious about something and I was hoping that med surg nurses could help me out.

My understanding is that it is dangerous for a primary nurse to take report on anything more than 12 patients. I thought that the ideal number was 4-6 patients.

If you work on ...say a 36 bed ward... does every single member of nursing staff take report on all 36 patients at the beginning of the shift? Does that sounds incredibly time consuming to you? Personally I think that it is way too much information

Say you have 3 nurses coming into work for a dayshift on a 36 bed med surg ward. That's it. Three RN's for the whole unit. Would you have each nurse take 12 patients and just get report on those patients or would you try and have everyone listen to report on all 36? You do not have a charge nurse. Just the three RN's.

I know the first thing that people will type is omg I wouldn't work in a place like that at all!!

But seriously. How many patients do you take report on and how many do you think is too many?

Was is the best way to deal with the situation I am describing above?