I love my hospital!!!

allnurses Guide · Jul 6, 2008

What kinds of units do you people work on????? How many beds??

We were FULL by the end of the night. No summer slowdown for us. BUSY hospital. We're short staffed too because we recently had one nurse quit and her position was never filled, and then we have another nurse who is busy precepting on day shift; she plans to come back to our shift when our new training program ends in about six weeks.

We'll supposedly be better off when all the new grads get trained. I hope so.

queenjean · Jul 6, 2008

I am really happy at my hospital, too. Of course, some aspects could be better, but I'm sure no place is perfect.

For me, the main thing is our staffing. We are a smaller hospital (180 beds or so? maybe a little bigger), and there are large cities on either side of us that pay a couple of bucks an hour better, or offer a weekend option. So a lot of nurses go out of town for the extra cash. Thing is, they have horrible staffing, every one of them.

Our staffing on the med/surge floor is usually 2-3:1. No, I'm not talking ICU or stepdown, I'm talking medical floor. If I don't have an aide helping me, I start out my night typically with 2-3 pts. If I have an aide working with me (we do RN/CNA teams), I'll start out the night with 5-6 pts.

My friends who work in some of the large hospitals for the weekend option usually have 6 pts with no aide. Are you kidding me? That's just crazy. I love having all the staffing we need.

Right now we are short, and they are encouraging all of us who want extra hours to just let our scheduler know. I worked one extra shift each week for the last several weeks. Some of my coworkers worked 5 shifts a week last month. We have five new nurses training, but it takes a while. Even being short staffed and paying all this overtime, we aren't working short; our managers are making sure we are starting with reasonable staffing every night. I appreciate it.

SoundofMusic · Jul 6, 2008

We have a 28 bed floor, and I think they usually try to staff with at least 7 nurses a night, making for a 4:1 ratio. The problem seems to be our techs. One left yesterday, leaving her two nurses with ALL of their patient care, while the remaining two just kept to their same patients .. .how was that fair to the nurses? No one seems to manage these techs -- they just call all the shots! Drives us all nuts.

I'm grateful with our consistent 4:1 ratio -- I really am, but they're stroke patients, and sometimes crazy wandering unsteady on their feet psych patients also, so it's a hard 4:1.

We will even start with 3, but it guarantees you an admission, and admissions we constantly get. We are always, always full. If we're not, the hospital will make sure we are.

I feel at times I'd take lower pay if I could do a very low ratio. I'm serious -- to take PROPER care of people and to do a top notch job, and take home less pay -- it sounds good. But would anyone ever go for that?

**RosesrReder, BSN, MSN, RN** · Jul 6, 2008

I got low censused last night because there were 4 nurses for 26 pts. There were 20 empty beds minds you. I got called at midnight to rush back because ER was swamped and they were anticipating admits.

I refused. I told them I had 3 glasses of wine and was in my jammies........lol

1TachyRN, RN · Jul 7, 2008

I'm at cardiac specialty hospital. I work in the progressive care area. All beds are tele beds with each "unit" having eight beds. Our ratios are maintained at 4:1, but a lot of the time it's more like 2-3:1, depending on staffing, census, and acuity. Most of the time there's one tech for each "unit". Occasionally we have to do without a tech, but working nights and the ratios being as they are, it's not too big of a deal. Everyone (well, MOST everyone) here works well as a team and are willing to help each other out if needed.

It ain't braggin' if it's true!!!:heartbeat

1TachyRN, RN · Jul 7, 2008

I hope I'm not giving the impression that I skip up and down the halls tossing daisies everywhere...every place has it's ups and downs and petty annoyances. But overall, things are good.