Low census?

[miko014]

Hi all!

I was just wondering...has anybody else had a low census lately? My hospital has been struggling to get pts for a few weeks now. My unit normally has 30 - 35 pts. Lately as soon as we build back up to 25, the docs discharge everyone and we go back to around 19. We've all been pulled and sent home so much lately that we're getting a bit paranoid. Normally getting called off (or even being on call) is awesome! However lately, it's been happening so often that we are all getting tired of using our time off pay. This happens on an off all the time, but it seems to be extended lately. Has anybody else experienced this lately? It's probably about the same number of admissions as we usually get, they're just not staying very long, so we have a lot of empty beds!

[Roy Fokker, BSN, RN]

Ever since they closed one of our units at the hospital, we've been stuffed to the gills on a regular basis. On my 33 bed floor, we routinely have 28+.

It's insane....

[miko014]

Now I'm sitting here on call AGAIN, and for the whole 8 hours this time! I LOVE not having to go to work, but my choices are, either only take the call pay ($2.25 and hour) or use your vacation (our vacation and sick time is all one deal - if you're off for whatever reason, it all coems from the same bank). I can't afford to not be paid, therefore, I use my vacation time. And I never want to say no when it's my turn to be off, because who knows what will be going on when I get there! But anyway, yeah...I'll be at the bottom of the list for awhile now!

We always see these drops in census, but this one has lasted so long, and every time we think we're full up again, they come and discharge 8 people! I wanted to tell them I was going to come in at 7 tonight and they could send someone else home, but that messes up someone else's groove, ya know what I mean? Darn, I had been hoping they were going to call and say they needed me to be a unit clerk somewhere, haha!

[Hoozdo, ADN]

REALLY, REALLY slow in my ICU too. I haven't been on-call since January until this week. Three 12 hour shifts in a row on call! Luckily I was called in for one of the shifts at time and a half. Last week I had another 12 of overtime, so hopefully my check will be balanced out!

[TigerGalLE, BSN, RN]

yup low here in SC too.. I might be getting called off tomorrow actually...

[pageygirl]

I live in Illinois and we have a 31 bed tele unit usually we are about 27 patients plus yesterday we started with 11 on days and by the time we left we had 8 I had discharged 3 and we had a new patient scary

[bethin]

Really slow where I work too. Our unit has 30 beds but we've had no more than 10 pts for months. I'm WEO so if I'm called off for a day it's a big deal. Lately on weekends that I do work we've had 3 patients. Yes, only three.

[jojotoo, RN]

We're slow too, but this seems normal to me for this time of year (beginning of summer). I'll expect it to pick up again about October.

[miko014]

If we go till October like this, we're doomed. Like I said, we have our slow spots, but this is ridiculous! I've been with my hospital for 5 years and never seen anything last this long. Nursing shortage? Right now we're having a pt shortage!!! They're making our charge RN take pts, pulling people all the time...it stinks! Our raise is coming in July and I'll bet it will be about 25 cents an hour! We started out this fiscal year in the red because of docs leaving the hospital, and I'd hate to hear what we're at now!

We are a large (1000+ beds), well-respeted (win a lot of awards, etc) hospital, and we're just not used to this! Our charge nurses are always on the phone with beds begging for pts! And I'm in the midwest - nobody vacations here! If anything, we should drop in the winter when all your snowbirds come back to you!

[Susan9608]

I wish we were slow. I wish I would get canceled. I'm tired of working.

[bethin]

I wish we were slow. I wish I would get canceled. I'm tired of working.

How about we switch? I need the money and you need a vacation. You'd get a call every morning and if you do work it's not stressful - 3 patients with 2 nurses cannot be stressful (med surg). You would either have one pt or 2 pts.

[angel's RN]

Right now (I work on a Cardiac unit), we have 8 Tele-OF pts. Our unit has been closed 2 weekends in the last 2 months, and our census has been low in-between. Three weeks ago, I was on call Thurs., Fri., Sat., & 3 hours Sun. That hurt the paycheck!!! They tell us that it will pick up again, and it probably will, after Aug. I am seriously thinking of looking for another job, or at least a second job. My husband is disabled, and this is the only "real" income of the household. Don't get me wrong, his SS pays the house payment, but mine is evrything eles. Imagine-----------

's RN

[RNfaster]

We have low census in my hospital as well. It is expected because a high percentage of the population departs the Phoenix area for cooler climes during the late spring to early autumn months.