Am I a woosy for feeling 5 patients is too much on a medsurg floor

Fiona59 · Sep 11, 2018

Reality check. It's normal to have five on a day shift in my hospital.

It's all about time management and prioritization.

Luckyyou, BSN, RN · Sep 11, 2018

Worst night I ever had started with 9 and admit #10 came at about 1930, so.... (yes, really)

Sour Lemon · Sep 11, 2018

Like I stated in the title, I feel 5 patients on day shift on medsurg is too many. I feel like I am in a constant marathon from the time I hit the floor!! And it is STRESSFUL!!! Am I alone in this?......

Five is heavenly. I started with eight in acute care and eight to cover for an LVN. I had to get report on 16 patients and I was the "supervising RN" when any small issue arose. This was a busy med/surg/ortho unit. They made sure every nurse was maxed out every night and would even move patients back and forth around the hospital to make it happen.

I did work nights, but day shift had the same ratios.

beekee · Sep 11, 2018

Yeah, having more than 5 or 5 being the norm does not make 5 an appropriate assignment.

meanmaryjean, DNP, RN · Sep 11, 2018

The word is 'wussy'

psu_213, BSN, RN · Sep 12, 2018

I regularly had 5 patients on day shift on a step down unit. Too many? Sometimes. Stressful? At times. Did administration ask me my opinion? Never.

I have never worked on a solely med-surg unit, but, based on what I have seen, those nurses would likely be very happy with a 5 pt assignment.

psu_213, BSN, RN · Sep 12, 2018

The word is 'wussy'

At first I was honestly thinking that the OP wanted us to determine if he/she felt woosy. :unsure: Oops.

applewhitern, BSN, RN · Sep 12, 2018

Every hospital I have worked in, the med-surg floors took 8 patients each. I have had 9 on med-surg before. That said, I almost always work in ICU, and at one hospital, the ICU was required to take 4 patients on day shift. Other hospitals, including my current one, take 3 in ICU. I have never worked where there was a nursing assistant in ICU, and have worked where we took 8 pts and did not have assistants. Five pts sounds like a piece of cake to me.

allnurses Guide · Sep 12, 2018

Those numbers are absolutely ridiculous. 8 patients with no assistants??

Unreal. Not acceptable in my opinion.

To me 8 patients is too many WITH an assistant, but probably doable

if the patients aren't too bad/acute.

RNperdiem, RN · Sep 12, 2018

Med-surg is always a bit chaotic at the best of times. Five is a good ratio, assuming you have some help from an aide and a unit secretary to handle calls.

The patient population matters too. My first med-surg job gave us six patients, but most of my patients were frail elderly people who needed a lot of basic care. It was unusual for anyone to be able to go to the bathroom unassisted. During shift report, all those elderly ladies who were given 0600 Lasix would be calling at the same time for assistance to the bathroom.

The number and quality of your CNAs will make or break your day.

allnurses Guide · Sep 12, 2018

5-7 is standard.