nurse to patient ratio in labor halls

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:deadhorse Just wandering what the nurse to patient ratio is for other hospital's ob departments, we are currently having some trouble keeping our ob department staffed properly and are being told stuff about keeping with the budget. It is kinda scary that we are risking our jobs and all the education we have received to "keep with budget". They also always pull out the AWHON guidlines and it looks good on paper but does not always cover what is actually on the floor. How is this handled in other hospitals?

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Specializes in 4 years peds, 7 years L and D.

We do one on one with active labor patients still. :cheers: In L and D for the watchers...we do 2 to 1. On our perinatal unit...our ratio is no more than 4 patients to 1 RN.

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Specializes in LTC, Home Health, L&D, Nsy, PP.

Kinda off the subject, but does anyone know where I can find a copy of the AWHONN guidelines for staffing? I can find the AWHONN site, but having a hard time finding anything about specific numbers and staffing.

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Nurse to patient ratio cannot tell the whole tale. In our small community hospital on the off shifts, we are the secretary, ( answering the phone can drive one nuts !!!!!! ), we are the runners, we deliver and pick up the dinner trays, and worst of all............WE CLEAN THE LDR AND THE BATHROOM AFTER DELIVERIES, INCLUDING TOILET, SHOWER AND MOP FLOORS !!!!!!!! Does anyone else have to do this ? I am not above cleaning a toilet or mopping, but I am leaving my patients to do it. We have all complained but a nurse is just a warm body in a small hospital. We order and stock, put linen away etc. also. We haven't gotten to even consider an important subject like nurse-patient ratio !!!

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Hello -- Wish I could help you ---I'd like to know the same thing. If you find out, I'd really appreciate if you would let me know....... I'll do the same. Thanks so much.....Tina

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I sure can appreciate all of you who experience that the AWHONN guidelines probably don't include all the other stuff that is piled on us to do BESIDES actually labor a patient. I believe the guidelines that AWHONN uses are the ones in place in Guidelines for Perinatal Care, fifth edition. This little treasure is put out by ACOG and AAP...the specific ratios are listed on page 24. Hope this helps.:uhoh3:

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Specializes in NICU, Infection Control.

"............WE CLEAN THE LDR AND THE BATHROOM AFTER DELIVERIES, INCLUDING TOILET, SHOWER AND MOP FLOORS !!!!!!!!"

Now, that is just plain silly. In $ and cents terms, how much do you make/hr? and how much does a housekeeper make??? They are spending too much $ on you for you to mop! I can't believe there isn't a housekeeper on premises who could clean the room for you.

An RN's pay is for what we know more than what we do.

My compliments to the administration of your hospital. What idiots.

(Sorry, didn't mean to go off like that. NOW. Back to your regularly scheduled discussion.)

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Specializes in L&D.

I worked in a very small OB unit once where we had to do the cleaning of the rooms after deliveries/discharges too. We didn't do enough business to warrant our own housekeeper, so we had to ask the supervisor to have one from the rest of the hospital to come clean. Needless to say, we were at the bottom of their cleaning list, so we usually ended up doing our own cleaning.

We also did our own stocking of supplies.

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We do about 3000 births a year, We staff 4 to 1 in our triage, 2 to 1, in active labor, 3 to 1 for anetpartums....we only have 1 nurse in an uncomplicated delivery. I come home most days exhausted. :o

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RE: CLEANING LDR ETC. About 18 months ago our little hospital hired a new DON ( or whatever the current buzzword title is ) and I carefully and thoughtfully wrote a letter to her approaching the cleaning issue from a cost perspective. I signed my name of course..........I never got even an acknowledgement of receipt of my letter. I have been in nursing for 30 + years. I have seen many changes and can move with the flow for the most part. I just wish I could stop caring when we are abused such as this. It is so WRONG and so DISRESPECTFUL and totally disregards our knowledge and skill level. Are there any managers out there who read these ventings ????

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Well for all of you complaining, I am scheduled to have a meeting with the DON and CEO of the hospital I work at for expressing my constitutional right. Freedom of speech! I was complaining to a coworker about how we don't meet AWHONN standards and that I felt it was unsafe to deliver a baby at our facilty due to lack of appropriate staffing. Now my job is on the line. I guess expressing concerns gets you no where in this business. The only thing this has taught me is trust no one and don't try defending your rights because administration and management is out to get you. :confused:

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