How many patients?

[sistasoul]

Hello all,

I am currently an aide on a telemetry unit and when I graduate in May I am hoping to work on the med surge unit in my hospital. I did a clinical rotation there and one of the nurses there told me she usually gets 5 patients. I would like to hear from other RN's how many patients they usually take care of. Five seems like a low number from posts I have been reading.

Thanks to all who respond

[st4wb3rr33sh0rtc4k3]

It definately depends on where you work.

7:1 in the hospitals I worked in. That was at nights. It was 6:1 during the days.

[NurseCard, ADN]

On the floor I work on, it can go up to 8 patients per nurse on nights OR days. Day shift is like that because they are horribly understaffed and are looking to hire but aren't having much luck. Then once they hire, of course they have to train.

Most nights I have around 6. If those 6 have a ton of meds to pass, then it is hard to deal with. If they don't, then it isn't so bad.

[BuckeyeRN07]

I work nights on a med-surg telemetry floor, and our goal ratio is 1 nurse to 5 patients. Unfortunately, that ratio doesn't take acuity into consideration when making assignments... I've seen assignments go as high as 7:1 (on days as well as nights), but thankfully that doesn't happen TOO often.

[jnette, ASN, EMT-I]

There are still hospitals which have a 12:1 ratio.. yes, it's true. :stone

[NYRN115]

8-9 patients per nurse on my unit - that is for both day and night shift.

[RNperdiem, RN]

In med-surg I worked with 1:6. There was a CNA for every 12 patients, 15 when working short. Secretaries worked days and evenings only.

Ratios are only part of the story.

See also how much nursing assistance coverage there is, if there are any secretaries, IV start teams, patient transporters, transport nurse(for patient trips on telemetry) and if the charge nurse takes a patient assignment.

[Penelope_Pitstop, BSN, RN]

My department is set up strangely. We have three different floors with the same staff, nurse management, and type of patients.

1st floor:

7 patients, each in a private room

Day/Evening:

2 nurses, 1 with 4 (LPN if there is one), 1 with 3

1 tech

Midnight:

1 RN

1 tech

2nd floor:

16 patients, 2 in private rooms

Day/Evening:

3 nurses, 1 with 6 (LPN if there is one), 2 with 5

2 techs, each with 7

Midnights:

if we're fully staffed, nursing is the same; if we're not:

3 nurses, 2 with 7, one RN with 2 (who is also in charge of ALL nursing on all three floors)

1 tech, with 16

3rd floor:

14 patients, all semi-private rooms

Day/Evening:

3 nurses, 2 with 5, 1 with 4

2 techs, each with 7

Midnights:

2 nurses, each with 7

1 tech with 14

I think it's sooo much better than my old place, 7 patients per RN on day, 9 per RN on Midnights...and that was a Cardiac floor!

*Jess*

[StrwbryblndRN]

Days:

Want no more than 4pts with at least a tech, secretary and charge.

Expect 5pts, no tech, and charge nurse gets at least 2 pts. (weekdays)

Nights.

Want no more than 5-6pts (depends on acuity if we can help it)

charge gets same amount of pts and no tech.

Expect up to 8pts a piece with only 2 nurses on floor. (we only have 18 rooms, so even if full you could not get more than 9pts)

The expected numbers are due to short staffing. We are getting shorter since some of the nurses won't put up with the lack of help.

[barefootlady, ADN, RN]

6-7 on days. 7 to ??? on nights. Usually 3 aids on days, 2 on evenings and 1 on nights. this is on a floor with 33/34 beds. Sometimes the beds/rooms are closed for construction. LOL. The construction is administration constructs lies to cover the lack of staff. Nurses leave quickly at this facility. Me too.

[MedicalLPN, LPN]

I'm on a medical telemetry unit. We do primary care typically on days the nurses have 4-5 pts a piece with 2 aides, ward clerk, and a charge nurse that doesn't take patients. On night shift it's 5-6 pts with 1-2 aides and the charge nurse takes a full load. The acuity is so high on our floor and we get so many types of pts in, total cares, chemo pts, end of life care, cardiac, dialysis pts, etc.

I think on Med/surg and tele floors the ratio should be set 1:4 on all shifts, when you have 6 pts, 3 of which are unstable and one that's a comfort care that's getting ready to pass away, it's sometimes impossible to catch up.

[BillieRN]

Our floor has 36 beds. 1st shift has 8 nurses, 4 CNAs, a charge nurse with no patients and a secretary. 2nd shift has 8 nurses, 2-3 CNAs depending on number of patients on the unit, a charge nurse with no patients unless short staffed, and a secretary. 3rd shift is 6 nurses with 2 CNAs, charge nurse is included in one of the 6. Of course this is in an ideal world when all staff actually are there but that is the guidelines we use.