I work for a Texas post total knee and joint surgical unit. 6years ago the nurse to patient ratio was 1:4 on nights(no cna, no secretary). 1:4 on days with a nurse aid. However, one year ago a new CNO came on board and now it is 1:6 on nights(no cna-no secretary) and 1:6 with an aid on days. The unit has 18 beds, but we're rarely at 18. Mostly its 12 patients and 2 nurses at night.
What is the nurse to patient ratio for any post surgical orthopaedic nurses out there? Also are there any Texas laws that could back us up cause that nursing committee thing is a joke(all they talk about is what we can do to improve customer satisfaction, and when i(cause nobody else speaks up) tell them the nurse to patient ratio is the major problem they tell me theres nothing they can do right now, there in the process of hiring(they've been saying that for a year).
nights 10:1 with charge taking 4, 4 techs, no unit clerk
BUT
that was one of the best places I have ever worked, very organized and everyone worked together, if the CNO walked thru and and call light was going off she answered it.......don't know how it is now that was 6 years ago....
4:1 all shifts, but occasionally take a fifth if were short. At night we have 1 tech and 0-3 aides, depending on the unit census. Days usually has 1-3 CNAs (by census again), a secretary and a tech, plus volunteers are available for restocking, dropping off labs/picking up blood, etc.
I work in an orthopedic,neuro unit. We have a lot of surgeries. We have had 10 patients per nurse on days with 1 aide for 20 patients and a charge nurse.I am talking 7am to 7pm. Most of the time we have a ratio of 7 or 8 patients each. RN's and LPN's have same # of patients. We have so many pts coming from surgery and others discharged that we might end up charting(by hand) on over 10 patients a day. night shift 7pm to 7am has it bad also. If we do have a couple of aides scheduled, they will float one elsewhere cause they are short staffed worse than we are. I work for a "for profit" hospital in Fl. I have been a nurse a long time and this is the worst I have ever seen it.
I work on an ortho/neuro unit with other medical patients thrown in the mix like detoxers, GI bleeds, PNA, COPD and change in mental status. We get 1-5 on evenings with a secretary until 21:30 and 3 aides if the unit is at capacity of 32 patients. I have it great compared to a lot of the other posters but one confused patient or detoxer can suck all of your time up. The thing that makes the number of patients we have worse is that you still have to chart on all of them. The charting is what makes our jobs hard.
37 bed med-surg/ortho unit in PA. Days and Eves 1:5, Nights 1:6. Usually 3 aides (sometimes 4) day and eve. 2 aides at night. 1-2 secretaries days. 1 floating at night. Clinical mgr out on the floor 80% of the time to help.
SheilaORN
101 Posts
TX- at my facility ortho/neuro 20 bed if full mostly 5:1, charge, 2 techs, secretary. Sometimes we get 6:1 if staffing is the issue.