nurse to patient ratio laws ohio

U.S.A. Ohio

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  1. Ohio nurse to patient ratio laws. Are they safe?

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      Are you as a nurse or CNA satisfied with the ohio patient ratio laws?
    • 2
      Disatisfied with ohio patient ratio laws?
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      Do you feel you work in dangerous conditions due to patient ratio?
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      Do you work in a Long Term Care Facility?
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      Number of patients ususually responsible for?
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      What is your profession? Title?

4 members have participated

How many nurses or family members of loved ones are comfortable with the current laws governing the nurse to patient ratios. Especially in long term care facilities?

Any thoughts or ideas are very appreciated. This is for a research paper and I would appreciate your approval to use your comments in it.

Jules

well I put in my 2 week d/t this very reason The LTC I work for is trying to run 1 nurse for 47 residents on 2p-10p shift and management simply stated that they were "allowed 1 nurse to 50 residents" Well they may be "allowed", but trying to find nurses to put their licenses on the line and compromise the care and well being of our older generation might be another thing.This nurse is saying NO!!!...its not fair to nurses and it sure is NOT fair to our residents or their family members who depend on us to give their loved ones the best possible care we can provide.I just wonder how far the numbers have to go before someone intervenes. God Bless all the nurses!!!

I work LTC as a charge nurse. I run two floors, I have 30 residents. I have been told that Ohio says max. is 1 LPN to 50 Res. and 2 CNA for 50. I could not imagine having the care of 50 people! I think that is dangerous and I am not willing to put my license on the line for that.

Shannon

I'm an IN LPN, I work 3rd and have 50 residents and two aides, but if one calls off, and they do, I get no replacement. 15 am blood sugars! This is damn hard!

We need staffing ratio laws so we can properly care for people!

Specializes in psych.

I feel lucky. I work in assisted living, second shift. We have two seperate units. One for "regular" assisted living residents, and a secure Alzheimer/Dementia unit. While the "regular" folks require little, if any care, i'm responsible for 18 alzheimer residents that i care for the same as in a LTC setting. The bad thing is, if something in the regular assisted living unit goes awry, i'm the only nurse there, I have to deal with it. So technically, I'm responsible for 25 in one unit, and 18 in the other.

I feel lucky just to have 18 rsndts on my 2nd shift at a ltc facility. Of course until we only have 3 aides for my hall and the hall that has 20 rsdts then i have to become an aide too just so all the work is done that way the next shift can't say that we are slacking in any way. I about died when i found out the ratio is 1-50!!!!:angryfire I think the answer is simple, lets take the people that came up with this stupid ratio and put them in a brief, stick them in a bed, and tell them they have to wait because there isn't enough people working that day to change them so they have to sit in their urine until it's their turn.:angryfire

In ohio, nurse ratio is 1:50. YES, 1:50! I'm not sure on CNA's. We have 1:36 where I work(in LTC), and that is every shift. The dayturn 9 am med pass starts at 7:30am and ends around 11:30am.

Thank goodness I work midnights.

I work at a hospital in Southern Ohio. The med-surg floor that I work on has a nurse patient ration of 1:6-7. Most of the time there are 6 teams and 4 nursing assistants or LPN/RN doing patient care. What we need is for each patient to have an acuity number. When you have a hourly finger stick, a CBI, and someone in Resp distress and a new surgery patient all at once, it makes for a verrrrrrrry long 12 hour shift. It is dangerous.

Well I just graduated from nursing school last month and I got my license about a week ago and the LTCF where I am want me to do a 50 person med pass. Needless to say I'm looking for another job.

I have worked LTC for years. Have worked as staff nurse and agency nurse. It is not uncommon to have 50 residents on the 7p-7a shift. We are still responsible to pass night and morning meds and also treatments. It is a non stop job. A few who can not hold up ( alot of stress) but the rewards from the residents who become like family are lasting. I would rather see it down around 30 or less. But until state steps in the facilities will not. All staff are counted in the ratio of 15:1

I hear you loud and clear----I wish Ohio would pass a law like California---the ratio would be tolerable at five patients to one RN on a med-surg floor.

Specializes in LTCF/vents/skilled.

I want to thank everyone for their comments. Not only have I lived it, breathed it, almost regreted it. I am going to my congressmen and women to change it. The reason you guys cant find the actual ratio of patient to nurse is because it's not listed anywhere. Ohio's laws are so ass backwards...didn't you know that's why all our ED's talked out of their asses!?

Ohio does the old 'each patient gets 4.1 hours of care per 24 hours a day' thats what is says anyway. I've read the OAC, the ORC, The Nursing Act of 2005 (which is outdated already). you're not gonna find an actual ratio. When I worked in LTC, i worked 7p-7a, we easily had 40 patients, when i was in skilled and life support it went down to 25. Needless to say i don't work there anymore. I am pretty sure none of those laws say anything about ratios or 'hours of care' fluctuating between days and nights. even if they did, most facilities always included office workers, MDS, etc. as part of the 'nurse' portion of the ratio. these things are not right and need to change!

Darlene

Specializes in Pediatrics, Pediatric Float, PICU, NICU.

Wow these numbers are killing me!! I'm assuming they are all adult facilities. One thing I'll give credit to peds, in general, is that we don't have crazy ratios like that usually. Like others, I'm not really sure what the exact law is but I know the pediatric facility I'm at, 6:1 max on nights although it's usually 4 or 5 patients each, and 5:1 max on days...that's only on my floor which is a short stay floor, on some of the more in-depth floors its 3:1 or 4:1.

Specializes in Med/Surg/Tele, Hem/Onc, BMT.

The Ohio Patient Protection Act of 2008 is soon (very soon) to be introduced by NNOC Ohio. In the meantime, download the petition collect signatures. Contact NNOC and join the movement for safe staffing!!!!

Petition: www.calnurses.org/nnoc/ohio

On the website you can read about the actual bill. The propesed minimum ratio's by unit and other provisions that are included- whistleblower protection etc.

http://www.calnurses.org/assets/pdf/ratios/ratios_booklet.pdf

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