Losing momentum?

joe, you're right about your observations. When I first worked at a VA and saw 5 beds / 5 pts in room , I thought how inthe world can they get their rest. But, fortunately it usually works out for the best. Pt's, (men) (vets) more often than not 'take care of one another'- willingly. They watch out for each other in a way I've never experienced in 14 years of public nursing, nor do we see this with women...???interesting, huh?
back to staffing methodology; the va system is so poor but makes the 'numbers look good', wheras when i worked in public, the staffing methodology reflected pt care better, however the 'staffing'numbers were more deficient.