Low census?

Nurses General Nursing

Published

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!

Specializes in Med/Surge, Psych, LTC, Home Health.

Used to happen a LOT at the Med/Surge facility that I used to work... in the warm months, I mean.

We never were forced to use our PTO hours either; however we only got paid one dollar an hour to be on call.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

:zzzzz At least we get $3.00 for call!! We don't have to use our PTO either, but if we do, we don't get our $3.00 call pay. It's one-or-the-other!:madface: 's RN

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Neonatal ICU (Cardiothoracic).

Hell No!!!

We DID have a period of low census from Feb-April with 13-18 babies in the unit (we hold 34) We now have 35 babies in the unit, with 3 sets of twins and a set of triplets coming in on ONE shift. We did start to worry getting called off all the time, but now we are working with 12-13 nurses per shift, and they're calling us every day to work....

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

That's what we all said - it was great at first - it was a nice change, and we were all happy. But now it's getting old. Either use vacation time, or don't get paid....and even if I used all the vacation time in the world, my check would still be hurting, because we dont' get the diff when we use vacation time!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Hell No!!!

We DID have a period of low census from Feb-April with 13-18 babies in the unit (we hold 34) We now have 35 babies in the unit, with 3 sets of twins and a set of triplets coming in on ONE shift. We did start to worry getting called off all the time, but now we are working with 12-13 nurses per shift, and they're calling us every day to work....

Our "baby" nurses do get called off a lot, but that's a little bit different from the rest of the hospital. It all depends on when people decide to have babies, and if nobody delivers for a week, well, their census is just low. I guess what I mean is, it happens on those units more often than anywhere else in our hospital. They actually have two mother-infant floors. If the census is really high, they move staff and pts to the secondary unit to accomodate. I don't know a lot about our NICU (In fact, I don't even know where it is!), so I couldn't tell you what their census is now (or even what it usually is!).

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Stepdown progressive care.

I thought it was just my hospital. We're so low that many units have had to combine with other units just so we have enough patients. People say they've never seen census this low before. Where have all the pts gone?

Up Vote Up Vote ×

From Tuesday July 1st til about mid Sunday the Jul 6th were were low census. Total of 22 patients on 52 bed unit. I just worked This past Wednesday and we were sooooo tight for beds. Our CCU which can handle 20 was down to 5. There is are some lows in the summer seems to coincide when our interventional cardiologists are on vacation. Our per diem nurses get cancelled first and I have just been lucky that I am not scheduled much on those low census days. The other per diem on my unit has been cancelled more, she works a set Friday-Monday schedule and so she is schedule for several of the holiday that regular staff tend to want to work.

I remember over 15 years ago the low census went on so long several weeks they started pre schedule extra days off and this was from Sept til lat Oct. It was weird, then it picked up and was crazy.

It is so hard to staff with low census, you either keep extra staff on so you can accommodate admits that might come in or you have at least one shift that gets swamped.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in School Nursing.

it's been several years since i worked in a hospital, but when i did, it was the summertime whenever we had low census.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Our hospital has had about 8 pt for the whole month on our Med Surg floor. The good news is since it is such a small hospital, the nurses don't get called off because we have to have 3 available in case of a code. The bad news is that is makes for a VERY long shift with absolutely nothing to do.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Why do we as a profession just accept that our paychecks will be short if you are given a day off due to low census- I just voted on a poll asking if you were taking a summer vacation-who can afford to- you end up using you time just to make up the shortfall for these unpaid days. Nurses need to band together-yes- unionize- and start addressing these issues. I have to believe if this was a male dominated profession-this would not be happening.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Add a Comment