How many patients do you typically have (day/night)??

[2011nursetobe]

....and what kind of unit do you work on (ICU/Med-Surg/Tele/Ortho)? Does your unit have a ratio limit?

I work in Tele and we have 4 patients during the day, 5 at night.

[Glimpsethepast]

I work on a surgical floor. Currently on day shift (we do 12 hours) between 4 to 8 patients. On nights between 6 to 12 patients. Our hospital is BRAND SPANKING NEW, the building that is. Prior to moving into the new location our floor was Med - Surg and we all had more assigned pts for each shift but it was split between pts with more complex issues and pts more stable and only requiring observation, guidance and continuing assessment.

[misswhitney]

Med/surg tele. 5 to 6 pts days no more than 6 on nights (though if they are running really short-which rarely happens- then one person has 7). Our patients/patient load is usually so tough that if we work there for a year, we can usually go straight to any icu at any other hospital.

[Reno1978, BSN, RN]

ICU and days or nights it's 1 or 2 patients.

[Dr.Naija_Glam]

I work days on a peds-med/surg and have 3-4 pt (usually 3) sometimes 2 for the shift if I'm working the weekend. When I was nights on the same unit I had 3-4 pts (usually 3). I keep telling the nurses I work with that, when it comes to patient ratios, we are very spoiled since we are well staffed. I have never cared for more than 4 patients in my life! It is also written in our units staffing guidelines for nurse patient ratios to be 1:4 at the max. :heartbeat

[MomRN0913]

Wow, those are some pretty great ratios!

Where I worked, ICU has seem to become a 1:3 kind of thing these days. For both shifts. Our manager actually stepped down from her management position because she was sick of our unit being so short-staffed due to floating to other units. Makes me not want to go back per diem, even though I am missing ICU bedside.

[MInurse.st]

Med-surg 3-4 on days and 4-5 nights. I appreciate our ratios :)

[Do-over, ASN, RN]

Tele/step-down - 1:4or5 for midnights.

[BunnySan27]

Ltac night shift 7 patients with usually 5 tele patients.

[carolmaccas66, BSN, RN]

I was responsible as the only RN on for 100 residents the other night.

.

[Nicky30, BSN, RN]

Med/Sug - 5-6 during the day 10-12 at night.

ED - well being the only nurse on for the department means you get everything. With a resus you call for backup from the ward; we are supposed to be a 1:3 ratio but that never happens unless the patients don't walk through the door.

Maternity - because of the way the department is run, there is 1 midwife per shift and they are responsible for everything that could and does happen. Antenatal - labouring - postnatal and sometimes sick bubs or mums too. My best effort lately on nights was 3 postnatal mums with their bubs; and 1 antenatal with BP problems. 2 presented in labour in the middle of the night. I still thought I was managing until my antenatal on the ward that was scheduled for a section decided to go into labour as well. Then I was allowed to call for backup.

Ugh we are an accident waiting to happen.

[tojal1989]

medical tele unit. 5pts day/evening, 6-7 nights

[TPeters73]

Medical/oncology (very few surgical pts), but most are very acute and/or total care.

patients: 3-4 on days, 4-5 on nights. But the norm is 3 on days, 4 on nights depending on how full we are.

right now, we are staying full b/c of fall/winter illness, so I'm having 4 most of the time, but over the summer, I had 3 patients most days.