Is this unit short staffed?

[RNinICU]

I got pulled to a med surg unit yesterday, and was absolutely shocked at the number of staff on this unit. It is a small 20 bed unit, and had a census of 18, with one of the empty beds marked Do Not Use because the other patient in that room was paying for a private room. In addition to the charge nurse, there were three RNs, an LPN, and a CNA. The staff on this floor complained all day because they were so busy and short staffed. They felt they should have been sent another aide. I felt it was one of the easiest days I had ever had when floating out of ICU. This floor has a reputation for being coddled, the Unit Manager is the life partner of the Associate DON, and everyone thinks this is why they get the most staff. I can tell you that I have been pulled to other floors with a similar census who managed with less staff. Our Assoc. DON is usually very professional in every way, I can't believe that she would allow her personal life to affect how she does her job.

[RNinICU]

Yes, NICUNurse, you were reading it wrong. My point was that this floor was overstaffed. The aide did not do 18 baths, as a matter of fact, she didn't do any of my patients. The 18 patients were divided up between the 3 RNs and the LPN. Each RN had four patients, and the LPN had six. We all did our own patient's meds, any treatments, and all personal care. The aide was assigned to help with baths and do vitals, as well as running errands. She did not do all the lifting and turning herself. The charge nurse signed off orders for the LPN, did her assessments, and gave her IV push meds, so she had more patients than the RNs, who did these things themselves.

And this patient was in a semi-private because all of the privates were full. We do this on occassion, but only if the census allows.

[wsu.rn]

Seems like the unit is well staffed in the orginal post. The worked on a general med/surg unit. staffed with a lot of lpn's. when our cenus dropped to 18 pts, there was a charge nurse, rn, lpn, and no aide. the acuity varied. It seems like even though there were less pt's on the floor, the nurses had more patient with no aide. seems like we needed a aide. at least one

[sharann, BSN, RN]

In our state, CNA's/aides are NOT allowed to draw blood, insert foleys or test BS. They used to do this, until the governing agencies put a stop to this. They can do EKG's here though. They do alot. Prep pts for surgery,VS, Bathing, turning, and all that. I still maintain though, that it sounds as if the floor was ADEQUATELY staffed. Not overstaffed by any means. Just because some nurses can "handle" 6 or 8 patients, does not mean they are giving they optimal nursing care they could give if they had fewer pts.

It sounds as though the aide of this floor had help at least.I worked noc's with an aide who had the entire 27 bed floor...she was pissed, and who could blame her. These were high acuity pts BTW.

[night owl]

"You can manage", "You can handle it", "I have nobody to send you"...I'm soooooo sick of hearing it!!!! The minute we have someone on 1:1 they always manage to find somebody to cover that resident. We now have two residents on 1:1. One for fall precautions and one for expressing suicide. They've found coverage for them. When you ask for extra help b/c you're at the bare minimum staff, you hear it..."I have nobody to send you!" Bull****! We just keep documenting on our 24 hour report...Working under unsafe staffing conditions for what it's worth.

Then they wonder why people call out all the time...They're exhausted, over worked and stressed to the max :zzzzz :zzzzz ...The same old story....