intensive care

I work in New Jersey and our Cardiac Care Unit has 8 beds and nurses usually have 2 patients 3 max and that is very rare.

Patients are usually pretty sick with a lot of drips going A-lines, centrals, etc. In our ICU charting is done by paper even though our hospital uses computer charting on the general medical floors. I think all CCU/ICU's are relatively equal with patient to nurse ratio since patients are very critical loads are kept at a minimum and go by acuity.

icu 1:2 is standard. csu is 1:1. ccu is 1:2. intensivist staffing makes all the difference.

i would ask:

• how many md/do intensivists per pt?
  
• what is the experience and certification level of nursing staff per pt: bsn, ccrn, msn...?
  
• ratio of hospital staff versus agency nursing per pt? (qualify: some agency is advantageous - too much agency indicates ... you know.)
  
• is there an md/do available 24/7? how many per pt durring the night shift?
  
• ratio of mid-level vs high-level providers... lower is better.

and the such. there are so many aspects of icu performance. you can't rely on just one or two such as ... technology and floor space, for example. i'd rather be admitted to a unit flush with content, experienced providers operating a bivwac than a modern, expanded techno space staffed with... people.

:typing