Is this crazy? Nurse to Pt. ratio

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  1. Is 72 per nurse patients crazy?

    • 47
      Yes
    • 1
      No

48 members have participated

Specializes in LTCF PDN.

Is this crazy? I work nights - 8 during week and 12 on weekends. Now the LTC facility has been having staffing issues - but they have Been having staffing issues for over 5 months.

There is me, and 72 patients. Three new NA's - if I'm lucky - there will be an experienced CNA. We also get a list of people up in the morning.

Also, there is a BIG morning pass. No, not just a couple of pills, a full med pass - but I "only" do 20. Just curious?

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Dialysis.

Yeah, that's insane. You are the only nurse responsible for the whole building??? No way would I do that. If, God forbid, something should go wrong during your shift you have no help or back-up nurse available. I would never consider working in a facility that size as the only nurse.

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That's insane. It's easy to imagine not just one, but who knows how many emergencies or incidents that could occur during a shift. How on earth can you be expected to give safe care when you're pretty much solely responsible for a hilariously large amount of people who are sick or disabled. Situations like this make me want to write letters to newspapers or reporters so that the public's interest can help push bills into legislation that will ban these practices. Nurses are constantly exploited and it's not right. That assignment is definitely crazy.

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That sounds scary! So you pass meds for 20 pts? That is a lot. When I worked in LTC my med pass was for 30-35 pts depending on census and that was stressful. Being the only nurse for that many pts would make me so anxious! So much responsibility!

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Yep that's insane, but I think most of the patient ratios of today are just plain D-A-N-G-E-R-O-U-S!

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Wow!! That's a super off-kilter nurse/patient ratio! At the Assisted Living facility I'm at, we have 30 patients and no less than 4 CNA's plus me passing meds and supervising, and my RN on call 24/7...Not sure how they expect you to do an accurate and timely medpass (even though it is "only" 20 patients!) and still make sure there are no falls, etc. Have you spoken to upper mgmt. re: more CNA's ???

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Specializes in Critical Care, Med-Surg, Psych, Geri, LTC, Tele,.

I think that sounds normal for a night shift at an ALF. This doesn't mean you have to be comfy with it, though. I worked in an ALF on PMs. I had 45 residents and the other side had more than I did, but they were more independent. During AM and PM, there was 1 nurse on each side. But on nocs, there was only 1 nurse for the entire facility.

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The most patients I've ever had was 30 and I think that was pushing it. 72 that's insane, even though you are only passing meds to 20 pts, you are still responsible for the 72.

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