Patient to nurse Ratios... the first ever rehab nurses poll

[CashewLPN]

okay guys... this is the big question... actually a point of curiosity... i want to know what is the max nurse to pt ratio for you all! I max out at 12.... I usually have 1 CNA.... and yous?

Be Brave! Fill it in!!! Make your number count...

Barbara

[pickledpepperRN]

Worst I ever heard of was a hospital-based neuro/rehab unit with many young head injury patients.

Get this:

1 RN with

2 LVNs and 1 NA for 56 patients!

21 ventilators!

2 nursing stations!

Very dangerous!

Oh, to edit. This is not every night. There was a sick call. Normally they would have the above with one more RN.

[shrpgrl]

I work in a 19 bed rehab unit. We do everything from head injuries, spinal cord. ortho and CVAs to name a few.Our staffing is set at 2.3 hours per patient on days, 2 hrs on eves and 1.5 on nights. It does not take into account acuity, admissions etc.

Day shift always staffs with nurses. Evenings get usually 5-7 pts per nurse and an aide if there is enough hours left. Nights can have 6-9 pts and if allowed, an aide.

The worst thing is evenings have to do all the showers and head to toe wash ups. Nights have to get everyone up and dressed by 7 am. Therapy usually dresses a couple. Eves and nights have to do all the dressing changes as well as CPMs. Yet day shift gets all the help. Go figure. We have been fighting the staffing ratio for years and we are told to Bite The Bullet and quit complaining.

[NannaNurse]

We have a 22 bed unit, 3 nurses on days, 3 on evenings and 2 on nights. We have 3 Rehab Techs on days and evenings and 2 on nights.

Our census was down to 8 last week and we had just 2 nurses with 4 patients each........OMG!

Even with a full house, 2 of us have 7 and the charge nurse usually has 8. We all work together and help oneanother out so it never really gets 'too crazy'....I work with some GREAT nurses!!

[jevans]

I work in a stroke rehab unit with 24 pts

We are 90% full at any time

our working ratio=

mornings - 2Q 5 UQ

evenings - 2Q 2-3UQ

nights - 2Q 1UQ

when we are realy heavy this is hard going

j

[Linderella]

1 rn to 10 pts for pt care the rn may get 2-3 pts for care

[gwenith, BSN, RN]

We staff to acuities - we use a computer program to work out the acuities. Fewer patients but we do not have CNAs' or resp. techs or any other "techs". WE do the lot from ECGs after hours to yo uname it.

[Angelica]

We usually have one nurse and an aid per 8-9 pts, rarely 10. The charge does the admits and helps in other ways, so it's pretty doable.

[ahill1000]

I'm an RN and I work prn filling in needs all over my hospital. For nearly a year, I've mostly worked on the rehab unit which is located within the hospital itself but technically it is a hospital in itself. We have what we call a "staffing Matrix" to refer to when staffing for each shift is determined. To start, there is no team nursing or anything of that nature. Each nurse takes so many patients and they are responsible for those patients alone. The only help is your nursing assistant who is assigned so many patients as well. Also there is no distinction between LPN and RN, as far as who is in charge and so forth. I would say probably 75% of the regular rehab staff are LPNs. I work nights and I am usually the only RN. Also, the LPN I work with is usually put in charge as well simply because I am not "full time" staff. Although I've been working 25-45 hrs a week there for nearly a year and have been charge on many occasions. We have a 31 bed unit. During the day, we are allowed 3 CNAs for 24 patients and above. Max patient load per nurse during the day and evening shift is eight patients. Even so, we are allowed only 3 nurses and 1 charge nurse for 27 patients. That's right, the charge nurse has to take 3 patients, and many times this includes taking discharges and admits. 28 patients and we get 4 nurses and 1 charge and the charge takes no patients. At night, different story. For 21 patients and below, we only get one CNA. Also 23 patients and below we only get 2 nurses so you have one nurse with 12 patients and the charge nurse has 11 of her own. And as I've seen many of you write, having adequate CNAs for all shifts is rare. We commonly may have 23 patients, 2 nurses, and only 1 CNA. And as many have said, it can be back-breaking work with not enought help because everyone needs help toileting and many times can't do much on their own. This requires a lot of manual labor. And when your CNA is "making her rounds" ,usually means you don't see her between 4:30am and 6:00, you're killing yourself cleaning and toileting people as well as your other duties such as passing meds and finishing up the wonderful loads of paperwork rehab loves to make you do. Well, that was my two cents.

[Chaya, ASN, RN]

For eve shift at our facility we ideally have 4 RN's/ LPN's (at least one RN as required for charge) and 4 Rehab Techs for 34-38 patients. Charge has a full patient load. Eves does the majority of admits with the help of a floating admission nurse and a floating secretary.

[PiccoloNurse]

I work in a Rehabilitation unit that can hold 12 beds. Our typical census is around 6-8. For the NOC shift with 6 patients we can be staffed 1Rn + 1LPN/CNA for 8 patients we are staffed 1RN + 1LPN. If ever we had 12 patients it would still only call for 1RN + 1LPN.

[EMM2erl]

I charge and at times I'll have patients. At this point, I am ready to scream. I am not only dealing with mine plus the whole floor but a fairly new nurse who is unsure of her self. I'm just ready to hang it up!!!!!!

[CherryAmes_RN]

Rehab unit @ SNF with 50 patients:

7-3: 2 floor nurses + 1 unit mgr, 4 CNA

3-11: 2 floor nurses, 4 CNA

11-7: 1 floor nurse, 2 CNA

No regard to LPN or RN on the floor.

Whole facility has 200 beds, same ratio on other units (on a good day) Nursing supervisor for whole house on 3-11 and 11-7.