ICU Pod System

ZASHAGALKA, RN · Jun 8, 2006

I am currently researching staffing ratios for ICUs utilizing the pod system as the pod system is new to us and we want to staff as efficiently as possible. If anyone knows of any hospitals that have criteria similar to ours (listed below), contact information would be extremely helpful!
What we have:
28 beds (7 pods with 4 beds each)
What we are:
Cardiovascular/Medical/Surgical ICU
What we need:
Staffing Ratios
# worked hours per patient day
Much thanks!

Any critical care staffing ratio > 2:1 is unsafe, regardless of unit design.

Period.

~faith,

Timothy.

TennRN2004 · Jun 10, 2006

Any critical care staffing ratio > 2:1 is unsafe, regardless of unit design.
Period.
~faith,
Timothy.

I have heard of some new hospitals up north that do heart surgeries and the patients stay in the same room from arrival from the OR to the time they discharge. The fresh heart surgeries are usually 1:1, but as they progress and would be transferring to a tele floor in another facility, the nursing ratio for these patients in this unit may increase from 1 nurse to 5 patients. That set up is the only way it would be safe to me to have higher ratios in the unit, because technically those patients were no longer ICU patients per se, but floor patients without vasoactive gtts,vents,frequent vs, etc that define the criteria of an ICU patient.

But, it doesn't sound as if that is your setup, so in short, I agree with the above post. True ICU patients should be a ratio of no more than 1 nurse to 2 patients. I don't care if in a pod system you are closer and have easier access to the patients, one nurse can only be in one place at one time with one set of hands. Giving a higher patient load to a nurse no matter the unit's design is only asking for the inevitable to happen--spreading a nurse too thin will lead to poor patient outcomes. We all know sometimes even the two patients you may have in an ICU are of a high enough acuity that you are lucky the patients do fine until the end of shift.