Med-Surg Patient:Nurse Ratios in NYC

[PacoUSA, BSN, RN]

Can anyone tell me what ratios are like on med-surg units at hospitals in NYC, including all boros? Please include hospital name, shift, and whether or not your unit also has tele monitoring.

Thank you!

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[estrellaCR, BSN, RN]

Depends on the hospital. For example, Maimonides MedSurg has 6 to 7 patients per nurse and HHC (KIngs County) has that much or if there are a lot of patients up to 8 to 10 patients per nurse. Telemetry is also a separate unit. Kings County has a Telemetry unit and the patient ratio there is 4 patients per nurse.

[seconddegreebsn]

6:1 or 7:1 Methodist (no tele)

6-8:1 Lutheran (no tele, separate tele unit)

8-10:1 KCMC (no tele on the unit I visited-separate unit)

6:1 Maimo (no tele on the floor I visited)

6-8:1 Downstate (no tele)

[PacoUSA, BSN, RN]

Wow, great info so far from you both (well, great in the sense that it is informative, not the reality) ... thank you! So it seems that med-surg units in NYC dont usually incorporate tele monitoring as do some units outside of NYC (as is my experience anyway: average ratio is 5:1 -- on great days it is 4:1 and short staffed days it is 6:1, never higher than that as long as I have been there).

Questions if anyone can answer them: Are these NYC tele units considered stepdown units then? Also, how difficult would it be to get a job on a tele unit as it exists in NYC with "med/surg-tele" experience? Asking because on my med-surg/tele unit we dont titrate cardiac drips or accept post caths. There is a separate unit in my hospital for that, which is essentially the stepdown to the Cardiac ICU.

Thanks for all the advice!

[estrellaCR, BSN, RN]

Yes in NYC, hospitals have separate telemetry floors....they are not step down units. They are just units where all patients are on telemetry monitor. Patients that may be stable from the Coronary Care unit may be transfered to telemetry. But also Patients admitted stright from ER go to telemetry floor if they need the cardiac monitoring. How difficult is to get a job there? If you have telemetry experience it should be easy...it you have experience in another hospital department...not so much. Hospitals are asking for department specific experience now...not just the standard "general hospital experience".

[seconddegreebsn]

I've only seen tele in the specialty in the specialty units (e.g.: step-down, SICU, etc...) and a select few MS units in the above listed hospitals - to the best of my knowledge they all have tele/CVCU/CCU units where patients are placed if they need continuous monitoring. I know the ratios for the tele area at lutheran are usually 5-6:1. Glad I could be of help!

[bkchick]

I work on a tele unit in a hospital in NYC. The ratio is 6:1 and when we're short it can go up to 8:1. We get direct admissions from the ER for patients that need cardiac monitoring, patients that get downgraded from critical care units (CTICU, CCU, ICU) that still need cardiac monitoring, and we get post PCI patients. I'm a new grad and got the job because my internship was on a telemetry unit. I hope this helps!

[seconddegreebsn]

Reviving this thread because I'm curious to hear ratios at other hospitals in NY. I have been doing a lot of 8-9:1 days and I'd like to apply somewhere else where I don't feel stretched so thin. 6:1 sounds luxurious these days!