Average nurse/patient ratio?

[annak92]

I am looking into getting started in my career in psych, moving from an ICU. Where I interviewed, they told me I would have 14 patients. Is this normal? I know the ratio would be much higher than I'm used to, I just want to make sure this facility isn't putting more on its nurses than it should before I sign up.

[B52, ADN, BSN, MSN, RN]

Where I previously worked, I had 10-18 patients, but I also had 1 or 2 mental health techs to assist with charting.

[umbdude, MSN, APRN]

What kind of facility? For inpatient, this kind of ratio is extremely unsafe.

I worked in med/psych facility and even 6-9 patients can get pretty overwhelming sometimes.

Also, if you want to have good/proper learning experience (assuming since you're ICU nurse switching to psych you're probably thinking about psych NP), you won't learn good stuff from crappy psych hospitals. 

[annak92]

@umbdude It is an inpatient facility. Up to 14 patients per nurse with two techs. I am in a psych NP Program looking to gain valuable experience, what kind of facility do you suggest I look for?

[LadyLamp]

I work on a busy inpatient psych unit, day shift, and have a maximum of 6. With the heavy charting requirements, especially with regard to admissions, there is no way we could take on more. Plus, in psych, in order to deliver proper care, you need some one-on-one time with patients for assessments. 

[deza, MSN, NP]

14 patients is pretty average for freestanding/private psych facilities where I live. If you can find an inpatient hospital position they will probably have a more reasonable ratio. My first job was a geropsych facility and we had up to 24 with an lvn to pass meds. My last job was part of a hospital the ratio there was 6-9:1. Mu current job at a hospital is 5-7:1.  You will most likely learn more at a teaching hospital and working day shift. 

Congrats on going into psych. 

[lilRN16, ASN, BSN, RN]

Los Angeles, baby...

1 RN for 6 pts max... But I'm inpatient pediatric psych (10 beds max), and my partner and I are currently sharing the 5 pts we have... 

You guys really have to push your states to enact mandated ratios, the posts are mind boggling, sounds extremely unsafe and I don't know how you guys can risk your licenses like that with all that variability.

Welcome to psych, it's the best!

 

 

[jnks]

Also I’m Cal but at a PEC. 1:4 here. 

[umbdude, MSN, APRN]

On 8/8/2021 at 11:12 AM, annak92 said:

@umbdude It is an inpatient facility. Up to 14 patients per nurse with two techs. I am in a psych NP Program looking to gain valuable experience, what kind of facility do you suggest I look for?

That's a lot even with 2 techs. Might be doable for evening shifts and if everything else is well managed.

I would suggest psych hospitals that are directly part of a larger research institute. They generally have better nurse-to-patient ratio, more academic teaching, more up-to-date evident based practices, better safety/nursing protocols, and allow RN to integrate into the treatment team (e.g. going to rounds, making recommendations). But if that's not available, do some online research to make sure that the hospital you're going to isn't one of those horrendous psych facilities with multiple investigations and/or deaths.

[maggie0, BSN, RN]

At my facility, we normally have 3-4 nurses for up to 20 patients, and 2 or 3 (on a lucky day!) techs. This is during the day/eve. One nurse is the med nurse and doesn't usually take patients. At night it drops to 1 or 2 nurses and one tech. But there's also a nurse and a tech from the pediatric unit who can come running if there's something going down.

Ours is a pretty nice place to be honest.

[chevyv, BSN, RN]

I work acute inpt and we can have 5-7 pts.  When I worked Long term inpt mental health, I had the whole 23 pt unit with 1 lpn and 3 CNA's. It was more than doable as most were fairly stable

[RNhere_]

At a facility I once worked at, it was common for me to be the only nurse for 24-28 patients. I would also have 2 (3 if lucky) techs to help with rounds. But only I could do assessments, admissions, discharges, meds... it was a nightmare.