Any techs out there? How many patients are you assigned?

bethin · Apr 28, 2008

How many patients are you assigned during the day or night?

When I worked days, I was assigned anywhere from 4-14 pts. On nights, I take up to 28 pts (on med surg).

How many techs usually work on your floor at night?

Depends. Sometimes I have help and sometimes it's just me. BUT the nurses on nights are HUGE helpers and will do tech work without being asked.

How many patients do you feel is a reasonable number for Techs to care for?

I'm comfortable in the 7-10 range on nights. Days, it's more like 5-7. Anymore than that and I feel like I have to skimp on baths, linen changes, etc in order to get vitals, accuchecks, etc done and everything the nurses ask me to do.

Do you feel techs are giving exceptional care at this number?

Not always. Depends on the acuity at the time. If there are 10 complete cares on the floor than I feel that taking 10 patients is way too much and good care, no matter how hard I try, just doesn't happen.

liljeepster · Apr 28, 2008

Ok, so I am not alone. It just bugs me that I was not told I would ever have 18-20 patients on my own. This makes me very upset. I want to take care of these people but how can I if I have the entire floor? Regardless of how helpful a nurse, they seem to be few and far between... it just seems unfair to the patients and ME!

Should I talk to my charge nurse about my concerns? I don't feel like I am able to do my job properly if I were to have all those patients at night.

Advice please:cry:

Ms Kylee · Apr 28, 2008

Questions:
How many patients are you assigned during the day or night?
Depends on the number of Techs. Usually there are 2 techs and 36 patients, so we each have 18.
How many techs usually work on your floor at night?
Night shift usually has 1 or 2 Techs.
How many patients do you feel is a reasonable number for Techs to care for?
No more than 10. Any more than that and you just cannot provide good patient care and get all of your work done. You have to prioritize what is most important (humm.. change a brief or get someone a snack, water, blanket, etc. x 5)
Do you feel techs are giving exceptional care at this number?
Absolutely not. And I beat myself up about it on a nightly basis. The higher acuity patients tend to suck the life out of me. Was in one patient's room last night helping a nurse for over an hour. I was late with vitals, glucometers, and I&O. I just hate nights like that.
Once I get your answers, I have follow up questions.

Our biggest problem is we have one tech that calls off constantly. She was scheduled Friday-Sunday. She called off all 3 days. We got someone in to cover for 7-11P and they promptly got pulled to another floor. This crap just needs to stop and soon. :banghead:

bethin · Apr 28, 2008

Ok, so I am not alone. It just bugs me that I was not told I would ever have 18-20 patients on my own. This makes me very upset. I want to take care of these people but how can I if I have the entire floor? Regardless of how helpful a nurse, they seem to be few and far between... it just seems unfair to the patients and ME!
Should I talk to my charge nurse about my concerns? I don't feel like I am able to do my job properly if I were to have all those patients at night.
Advice please:cry:

I would talk to your nurse manager. She/he has the power to hire and maybe she doesn't know that pt's aren't receiving good care d/t lack of techs. Then again, it may not be in the budget to hire anyone.

ChristineN, BSN, RN · Apr 28, 2008

Questions:

How many patients are you assigned during the day or night?

I've worked both adult med-surg and PEDS as a PCT, so I'll answer you for both settings:

Adult---anywhere from 8-13 pts on daylight, typically 20-37 on nights

PEDS--- normally around 8-12 pts on daylight and 12 on nights (MAX)

How many techs usually work on your floor at night?

Adult---Ideally 3 PCTs for 37 beds, however we typically had two, and not uncommonly just one

PEDS---2 PCT's MAX on nights, sometimes just one (but still only 12 pts for the PCT)

How many patients do you feel is a reasonable number for Techs to care for?

I feel that I can handle 12 pts reasonably, but if all 12 were complete care pts it would be hard

Do you feel techs are giving exceptional care at this number?

For the most part yes

I don't know how open your nurse manager might be to the idea, but you might suggest to her that if there is only one PCT that there be a maximum amount of pt's that the PCT is allowed to have (ie 12). The PCT would not be obligated to do vital signs, I&O, blood sugars, or anything else for the rest of the floor. This is how it's done were I work now and it's a very smooth system. BTW: I work straight nights, but we do this on daylight as well if we only have one PCT.

liljeepster · Apr 28, 2008

Why are we allowing this to happen? We all know it's just not right for us or the pt's.

I am not sure what to do. I am going to see how the next two weeks are and then decide if I am going to talk to my charge nurse.

Thanks all for your advice.:heartbeat

casi, ASN, RN · Apr 28, 2008

I'm the only CNA at night on a 26 bed unit. If the census is below 10 I get floated. Sometimes I get floated when the census is well above that.

So the answer to that is I can have up to 26 patients, but for the most part I work with really amazing nurses who know the meaning of team work.

liljeepster · Apr 28, 2008

But what about these questions:

How many patients do you feel is a reasonable number for Techs to care for?

Do you feel techs are giving exceptional care at this number?

casi, ASN, RN · Apr 28, 2008

I think a reasonable number of patients depends on the patient acuity. There are nights that I have 26 patients and I'm bored. Then there are the nights where I may only have 15 and I'm ready to be admitted to psych.

I think reasonable would be 12-15 patients at night, but that really depends on what kind of patients they are.

The questions about exceptional care just makes me care. No matter how many times management can urge us to give exceptional care, exceptional care is in the eye of the beholder. For one person exceptional care may mean getting them a cool compress, for another it means answering their call-light for something they can do themselves.

mcknis · Apr 28, 2008

Bump to CNA forum...

ok2bme · Apr 28, 2008

I am a Tech in the ER. We generally have about 10-30 patients. There are slow days and nights, and there are hectic days and nights. There are about 4-10 Techs working at any time. I start nursing school in June, and unfortunately I don't think being a Tech is good preparation. We just wait for a name to become highlighted on the computer, take their vitals, and plug them into the computer. We also do EKG's and transport patients up to specialty floors. I like the job though, love the patient interaction, I'd recommend it. :up:

Good Luck!