My recruiter told me about Los Robles in Thousand Oaks, CA and she said the ratio was 6:1 at night. That would be nice compared to what I have now except she told me the ratio for a CNA is 1:29 at night and 1:15 during the day. Can't expect much to get done on either shift. I thought the ratio for med/surg was 5:1 set by state law? Is their some clause that allows this? I couldn't get the postion anyways as there was 35 applicants within hours and they weren't taking anymore. I have heard different things for this hospital. Any thoughts for future reference. I do know they are having financial difficulties along with some other near hospital.
I have worked at many facilities that smugly state they are respecting the ratio law, then they give you 6 very high acuity patients and tell you that you are the primary nurse. Happens all the time. Theses facilities have got us by the short hairs and for some wacky reason they think WE initiated the ratios so WE get punished!
They don't seem to understand, the patient pays the price if we are primary for 6 high acuity patients, at some point in the shift we are gonna need some help. And there is no help, only over worked nurses trying to do their best.
These managers pretend to know what they are doing and I think they do. They are purposfully misinterpreting the law in order to violate it. It is literally a crime.
You can make a complaint. They need enough information to find the medical records because it may a month or two before they investigate. So give the:
* Name and address of the facility.
* Date, time, and location (unit or room number).
* Name(s) or medical record # of patient(s) involved. Do not e-mail or Fax. Use the U.S mail or hand deliver it to the DHS office. This is NOT a HIPAA violation if the information ONLY goes to the licensing agency.
* Names of involved staff. Staffing assignment sheets if available.
* Description of incident with quote from Title 22 (include number of the violated section.section).
Remember they must provide break relief and the ratio applies at ALL times. Even if you must take a patient to a test your other patients must be reassigned. You give report and ONLY care for the patient you are with.
Ratio violations are Title 22 section 70217. Assigning an LVN responsibility for patients without also assigning an RN is a violation of section 70215.
If you always get the maximum and NEVER STAFF UP it is a violation of the requirement to IMPLEMENT a patient classification system (PCS) or acuity system.
Also, in CA there is no such thing as a team according to the law. By law the RN is responsible for their patients and may not cover the LVNs. So to have a "Team" of 10 on a medical floor is fine as long as there are 2 RN's, each with their own 5 patients. This is truly how the law was written and if any of you are covering in this way I think you need to document LVn push IV meds and give certain piggybacks and deal with PCA drips when they can't? So who is responsible for that patient on the Morphine PCA? I guarantee you not the LVN(in this state).
LVNs need to be assigned nursing responsibilities which fall under their own nursing practice act and cannot have an assignment, period. SOunds horrid but this is not my idea!
When the charge reports staffing needs this would be a great time to mention this to the nursing office or staffing office.
Haunted
522 Posts
I have worked at many facilities that smugly state they are respecting the ratio law, then they give you 6 very high acuity patients and tell you that you are the primary nurse. Happens all the time. Theses facilities have got us by the short hairs and for some wacky reason they think WE initiated the ratios so WE get punished!
They don't seem to understand, the patient pays the price if we are primary for 6 high acuity patients, at some point in the shift we are gonna need some help. And there is no help, only over worked nurses trying to do their best.