'average' patient/staff ratio?

allnurses Guide · Nov 15, 2007

In the small rural ER where I worked, it was one RN and one EMT 1 and a EMT 2 (although most of these have earned their Paramedic). We had 3 beds in the ER and one gyne room.

In the larger ER - it was 1 nurse to 3-4 patients with no medics/EMT's. There were some techs around to help but not assigned to anyone.

steph

EMTSNA · Nov 15, 2007

Sounds lovely, In the NE where I work, I'll average about 8 patients on day shift in the ER. Having a tech is a luxury and can't be counted upon.

nursingisworkRN · Nov 15, 2007

In our hospital, we are not paired with the techs. RNs can have 4 pts at at time, but the techs are assigned by rooms and have more than 4 pts. On a busy day when we are full++, I don't want to know how many pts the tech's are assigned to. Of course, we all work together and work hard but our techs are just AMAZING and I am always grateful for the help!

ERRNTraveler, RN · Nov 15, 2007

Most ER's I've worked at have 1 RN to 4 patients, and then one or two techs assigned to the whole department, meaning, each tech is assigned to anywhere from 10-20 rooms.

mom2michael, MSN, RN, NP · Nov 16, 2007

1 ER job I worked 4:1 or 3:1 depending on the time of the day. "Maybe" one medic to work an overlap shift (11-11 or 3-3)- no techs. 14 bed ER with 9 Urgent Care beds open from 11-11. We also have a dedicated triage RN at least 16 hours per day and a charge that doesn't take patients.

2nd ER job 1 RN 24/7, 1 tech 20 hours per day (who has more assigned duties than actual patient care, so they aren't really there to help the RN's) and an overlap medic or RN from 11-11. No really assigned rooms at this ER becuase it depends on the day of the week and you do all your own triages there....it's an 8 bed ER.

3rd ER job, 2 RN's, 1 tech 24/7. House Super that works out the ER to make for 3 RN's 24/7. 1 overlap RN or medic from 11-11. 8 bed ER expanding to 12 in the very near future. No assigned rooms and we do our own triages.