How many patients are you assigned?

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Specializes in Assisted Living Nurse Manager.

I am a graduate practical nurse and our hospital here routinely assigns 5 patients per nurse. The do not have CNA's. I worked the ortho floor during my last practicum weekend and it was pure h***:devil: . The patients were total assist and there was no help! Is this routine for most hospitals to assign 5 total assist patients to one nurse without the help of a CNA? After that weekend it really soured me on ortho:( . Anyways just curious if it is like this all over.

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Specializes in orthopaedics.

hello, i work in england and i have to routinely care for eight patients- i am assisted by a health care worker/auxillary- it is hell on earth and if it gets any worse i'll be having a spinal operation myself! with pre op and post op care, coupled with mad patients and family members i am beginning to wonder if i made the right choice- do you think it is mad everywhere? i want to work in the US at some point- but the nclex exam seems really difficult- anyway, take care and look after yourself

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but the nclex exam seems really difficult- anyway, take care and look after yourself

The NCLEX has about an 85% pass rate. Don't let that scare you. But we do have staffing shortages in many areas. Some places in the US have set patient-to-nurse ratios though.

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I work on an Ortho/neurosurgery floor. We have a team nursing system where we are in a group of a RN LPN and CNA. Sometimes we will have 13 patients and sometimes I have even had 7 by myself. It is a lot of hard work!

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Specializes in Assisted Living Nurse Manager.

I commend all you ortho nurses. You have a very physically demanding job and the patient loads that you carry are tremendous. I was exhausted after my days on an ortho floor. I don't know how you do it year after year.

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We have 2 RNs for 17 patients.... Way too much for an Orthopedic unit..

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Specializes in Stroke Rehab, Elderly, Rehab. Ortho.
hello, i work in england and i have to routinely care for eight patients- i am assisted by a health care worker/auxillary- it is hell on earth and if it gets any worse i'll be having a spinal operation myself! with pre op and post op care, coupled with mad patients and family members i am beginning to wonder if i made the right choice- do you think it is mad everywhere? i want to work in the US at some point- but the nclex exam seems really difficult- anyway, take care and look after yourself

I recently started on Ortho and work 7p-7a. Up to 11pm I usually have 5 pt's with a CNA. After that the most I have had is 8 but the usual is 6. It is really busy on post op nights and my back aches at the end of the shift.

I have recently moved over from the UK and I am enjoying it. PM if you need any help or tips with the NCLEX!

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i work on a ortho/plastics floor and we have 4-6 pts with a pct as well. it works out pretty nicely when we have the pcts.

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I worked as a CNA on an ortho floor while going to RN school. It was madness, I would have 30 patients and have to get vitals twice on everybody during the night, as well as turning and bathroom duties. We only had 3-4 nurses for the whole floor, so they were too busy to help me. It was a nightmare, and has turned me off of that sort of nursing permanently. I have nothing but respect for those of you who can handle such a demanding position. The way most hospitals understaff their ortho floors is criminal.

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:) I work on a 22 bed med/surg floor w/ most of our pt's being postop orthopedics- your good vs bad experiences mostly have to deal w/ how the hospital is willing to staff each unit- we have 3 nurses and 2 aides every night, except when our census is low- the max pts I have is 8 per night- if the nurses do their jobs and the aides do their jobs and are very willing to ass't each other when needed- the pt load is not bad at all- there needs to be a law that puts a cap on pt to nurse ratio nationwide- but until then (if ever) we do what we can

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I work nights on a 30 bed ortho/med/surg unit. Some nights are:angryfire some aren't so bad. We have 2 RN's: 6 pts to 1 RN, no aide, on one team of 12 pts. Then the rest of the 18 pts are split at 11p to 2 RN's: 9 pts each RN & the PCA has all 18. At night we get dumps from the ED confused, c-diff, combative, pts with our fresh post-ops, next door. The ortho dr's thinks someday's its a nursing home the way it smells. Not only do we run with the ortho pts but the confused person next door keeps them up all night by her bed alarm and in turn they complain to us. Thats troubling. Its a no win situtaion on my floor some nights, but the time flies so quick some nights 12 hrs is nothing.

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I just started on an ortho-vascular floor 2 weeks ago... the demands for a nurse is [EVIL][/EVIL] ! I'm on days right now but will be working 7pm-7am. I was TOLD that the usual pt load on nights is 7-8 patients so I guess we'll see.

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