I am not an ER nurse but I do assist ER nurses when they fill out PRF (Professional Responsibility Forms) for such things as workload and safety (pt. & nurse) problems.
Can anyone tell me -
* what is the "normal" nurse to pt. ratio in the ER?
*what are the "acceptable" times for the EHS (Emergency Health Services, aka: ambulances) to wait for triage?
* "who" is assigned to these ambulance pts. for care/responsibility?
I sincerely appreciate any help you can offer. Some of the problems we are experiencing in our hospital are - MAJOR gridlock, a nurse in the "back" may have up to 20 pts. and of course...as is everywhere...pt.'s are very acute (some ICU status, vents, etc.), ambulance attendants are supposed to monitor v/s and report to nurses but, on at least one occassion...a "problem"got overlooked, NO NURSE is "assigned" to these ambulance pts., we have had 6 - 7 ambulances waiting up to 8 hours to triage...meaning...the one day, there was no ambulance available to the community at large for the hours of 1100 hours to 1500 hours.
I have seen worked everything from a 4 to 1 ratio to a 14 to 1. At every place the ambulances get checked in immediately so they can go back out. One place had a large holding tank for all the pts that came in by ambulance and stayed there unless they were triaged as a level 1 or 2 ESI.
So far the only place that I felt my license was in jeopardy was a 5 to 1, but only because staff hated travelers, loaded them up and wouldn't help.
It sounds like you are talking about a county hospital or out of US hospital because I didn't realize there were any places this bad in US.
gonzo1, ASN, RN
1,739 Posts
I have seen worked everything from a 4 to 1 ratio to a 14 to 1. At every place the ambulances get checked in immediately so they can go back out. One place had a large holding tank for all the pts that came in by ambulance and stayed there unless they were triaged as a level 1 or 2 ESI.
So far the only place that I felt my license was in jeopardy was a 5 to 1, but only because staff hated travelers, loaded them up and wouldn't help.
It sounds like you are talking about a county hospital or out of US hospital because I didn't realize there were any places this bad in US.