I am currently a new nurse working on a Telemetry unit in NC. We recently changed to an acuity based scheduling system. It is a small (8 bed) unit and the way the staffing is set up, there is a possiblity that we could have 5 to 6 patients with only one nurse and no CNA. I know this is not ethical for the nurses or the patients but my question is are there any legal issues with the staffing? I have searched the internet and was unable to find any actual laws in reguards to patient/RN ratios or if you can only have one RN on the floor. It just seems that it would be a very bad idea to only have one RN on the floor, even if they are stable patients things can go down hill very fast. Thanks for any advice for this situation.