New Mexico Nurse to Patient Ratio

[Heyvu, BSN]

I mostly work in skilled nursing facilities with long term care. Last night I was working long term care at a facility. I took a hall and a half, leaving me with 41 residents. I had a med tech until 8pm covering my half hall so it was okay, but I know I won't always have a med tech. I tried looking into it, but I don't know how accurate some articles are because it's either outdated or not New Mexico specific. The rumor in the facility it's a 1:40 ratio, but that to me still seems high. Does anyone know the ratio and does it change with the pandemic? 

[Golden_RN, MSN]

I'm not in your state, but in California SNFs there is not a nurse:patient ratio per se, but HHPD (hours per patient day) that the facility should abide by.  You may want to look up nursing hours per patient day for your state.  Once you find that, there is an equation you can Google to find out what your facility's HHPD is. 

This system unfortunately does not give you an easy nurse:patient ratio like acute care, but it looks at the staffing of a facility as a whole, over a 24 hour period.