I am a nurse here in Lawton Oklahoma. I work on a med surge floor where our nurse patient ratio is really unreal. 1 LPN has up to 12 patients at any given time. 1 RN has up to 24 patients. Now is that safe. Well if you think it is WOW. It is not like we are doing total patient care, thanks to the CNA's. But it is very stressful at times. We can have a patient with MRSA, Bacterial Meningitis, Pneumonia, And a neutropenic all at one time. On top of that we have to admit, and discharge. I am really uncomfortable with this situation and i have spoke to my supervisor about it and there is nothing to do about it she says. I have spoke with my co-workers about it and they too are uncomfortable. But living in the hole in the wall here, we too need to have a job. I really cant wait to have my year here that will be very soon, so I can go else where. The magnet hospitals, or the new nurse patient ratio should be nation wide. They want to say patient first but they overload us with patients. They are not looking at the patient they are looking at BUDGET. And thats crap because we too pay medicare, and social security. And people pay insurance too. So , I had to voice it somehow. Anyway. tomorrow is a better day. though we dont know, whether it will come but thank god when it comes. Hopefully someone will tell me what the safe amount of patient one lpn is by policies, or law, we are to have. Thank you for reading this..
i feel your pain and frustration!!!!! i can't believe the first thread i read was someone with my EXACT same story. i've been out of nursing school for almost a year and returned home to work at my hometown hospital for at least a year b/c of the scholarship they gave me during college. and now, b/c of conditions there's no way i'm staying longer than that. i've fought w/in myself not to leave b/c my co-workers are awesome, but administration just doesn't have a clue. i wanted to be noble and stay and help out, but there becomes a point at which noble is no longer noble! i think the best way i can help now is to leave and let them (and not to mention the state dhh and jchao) know exactly WHY i'm leaving. anywho, a little background.
i'm 22, from a small town in very southern louisiana, we're talking on top of the gulf. i graduated rn bsn and received only three weeks of orientation before i was thrown to the wolves w/ a full load of six to start off the day and seven w/ admits. (since then the ratio has gone up to 8 total, starting off, or getting there w/ admits) i demanded to be put back onto orientation and was. now keep in mind orientation here does not really mean orientation where you follow a nurse who shows you the ropes. it simply means they scaled back my pt. load, but no one was watching or helping. (preceptor, what's a preceptor???!) anywho. after six months i was strong-armed into the charge nurse position on the night shift, so for twelve hours every night, i am the ONE RN on the shift--in charge of potentially up to 44, yes you heard right, 44 pts. i have only had 36-37 so far, but that's beside the point. . . . quality of care w/ ONE RN to do all the blood hanging, scheduled ivp's, admit assessment, prn pain ivp meds, pca pumps, lab draws from central lines and mediports etc etc. the list continues! come on! and let's not forget the inevitable code in the middle of it all! it's a nightmare and i thank God every day i still have a license. well, it IS ok to LEAVE. my year is up june 16 and i'm out of there! off to a big city where hospitals have better ratios and ancillary staffing to help out. even the worst hospital there sounds like heaven compared to my current hell!
and here's the best part. me, the ONE RN for 30+ pts., my co-workers (LPNs) have 8 pts a piece, and we have one CNA for all those pts. poor thing, she tries so hard and does wonderfully, but who can do all of the aid work for 30+ pts. by themselves, NO ONE that's who. so we help out. but according to my director of nsg. "you are an RN, you need to delegate and manage your time wisely, you shouldn't be doing aid work." so when i'm the only one around to answer the call bell what am i supposed to say "i'm sorry, i'm the RN, i can't do CNA work, lay in your dirty diaper until she's available." yet they scream "pt. satisfaction" all of the time. by the way, they're currently trying to cut out the night aid for our shift, well pardon the bluntness, but whose gonna do the aid work then??? the "alternative" to cutting out the aid is for me to start taking a load of 3/4/5 pts per night so we can keep our cna and cut out a nurse. what kind of choice is that? i mean maybe the charge nurse could take pt. if there were a higher RN ratio and more aids, but not the case here, and NO plans to hire more RN help. don't get me wrong, the help i do have (lpn's, cna's) is WONDERFUL, you couldn't work w/ a better staff, but no matter how great they are, there are just some things the law says only i can do. (where's the law that says a REASONABLE max amount of pts. we're supposed to have??) and we're all strapped and frustrated and we're all always there hours late b/c we're understaffed, though according to our beloved d.o.n. we're "overstaffed per acuity!!" joke of the century!
i found your thread b/c i'm doing some research for my d.o.n. to show her that our ratios are RIDICULOUS. anywho, just want you to know someone out here does understand, and wanting to know that someone out there does understand me. would be nice to contact you so we can compare notes. til then, hang in there and go with God, His Grace is sufficient for all of our needs!
Taking care of up to 24 patients on a med/surg floor is insane! That is the whole floor. Are you serious? Get out of there and get out fast!!! You should not go over six, seven max. Oh my God, that is crazy.
The poor patients, and the poor nurses, its a no win situation. Good post reminds me that I DO NOT want to go back to floor nursing. I will stay in school nursing, even with less pay, I may have expanded my life span with this job.
I am a nurse here in Lawton Oklahoma. I work on a med surge floor where our nurse patient ratio is really unreal. 1 LPN has up to 12 patients at any given time. 1 RN has up to 24 patients. Now is that safe. Well if you think it is WOW. It is not like we are doing total patient care, thanks to the CNA's. But it is very stressful at times. We can have a patient with MRSA, Bacterial Meningitis, Pneumonia, And a neutropenic all at one time. On top of that we have to admit, and discharge. I am really uncomfortable with this situation and i have spoke to my supervisor about it and there is nothing to do about it she says. I have spoke with my co-workers about it and they too are uncomfortable. But living in the hole in the wall here, we too need to have a job. I really cant wait to have my year here that will be very soon, so I can go else where. The magnet hospitals, or the new nurse patient ratio should be nation wide. They want to say patient first but they overload us with patients. They are not looking at the patient they are looking at BUDGET. And thats crap because we too pay medicare, and social security. And people pay insurance too. So , I had to voice it somehow. Anyway. tomorrow is a better day. though we dont know, whether it will come but thank god when it comes. Hopefully someone will tell me what the safe amount of patient one lpn is by policies, or law, we are to have. Thank you for reading this..
karatRN
1 Post
Dear Lawton Nurse,
i feel your pain and frustration!!!!! i can't believe the first thread i read was someone with my EXACT same story. i've been out of nursing school for almost a year and returned home to work at my hometown hospital for at least a year b/c of the scholarship they gave me during college. and now, b/c of conditions there's no way i'm staying longer than that. i've fought w/in myself not to leave b/c my co-workers are awesome, but administration just doesn't have a clue. i wanted to be noble and stay and help out, but there becomes a point at which noble is no longer noble! i think the best way i can help now is to leave and let them (and not to mention the state dhh and jchao) know exactly WHY i'm leaving. anywho, a little background.
i'm 22, from a small town in very southern louisiana, we're talking on top of the gulf. i graduated rn bsn and received only three weeks of orientation before i was thrown to the wolves w/ a full load of six to start off the day and seven w/ admits. (since then the ratio has gone up to 8 total, starting off, or getting there w/ admits) i demanded to be put back onto orientation and was. now keep in mind orientation here does not really mean orientation where you follow a nurse who shows you the ropes. it simply means they scaled back my pt. load, but no one was watching or helping. (preceptor, what's a preceptor???!) anywho. after six months i was strong-armed into the charge nurse position on the night shift, so for twelve hours every night, i am the ONE RN on the shift--in charge of potentially up to 44, yes you heard right, 44 pts. i have only had 36-37 so far, but that's beside the point. . . . quality of care w/ ONE RN to do all the blood hanging, scheduled ivp's, admit assessment, prn pain ivp meds, pca pumps, lab draws from central lines and mediports etc etc. the list continues! come on! and let's not forget the inevitable code in the middle of it all! it's a nightmare and i thank God every day i still have a license. well, it IS ok to LEAVE. my year is up june 16 and i'm out of there! off to a big city where hospitals have better ratios and ancillary staffing to help out. even the worst hospital there sounds like heaven compared to my current hell!
and here's the best part. me, the ONE RN for 30+ pts., my co-workers (LPNs) have 8 pts a piece, and we have one CNA for all those pts. poor thing, she tries so hard and does wonderfully, but who can do all of the aid work for 30+ pts. by themselves, NO ONE that's who. so we help out. but according to my director of nsg. "you are an RN, you need to delegate and manage your time wisely, you shouldn't be doing aid work." so when i'm the only one around to answer the call bell what am i supposed to say "i'm sorry, i'm the RN, i can't do CNA work, lay in your dirty diaper until she's available." yet they scream "pt. satisfaction" all of the time. by the way, they're currently trying to cut out the night aid for our shift, well pardon the bluntness, but whose gonna do the aid work then??? the "alternative" to cutting out the aid is for me to start taking a load of 3/4/5 pts per night so we can keep our cna and cut out a nurse. what kind of choice is that? i mean maybe the charge nurse could take pt. if there were a higher RN ratio and more aids, but not the case here, and NO plans to hire more RN help. don't get me wrong, the help i do have (lpn's, cna's) is WONDERFUL, you couldn't work w/ a better staff, but no matter how great they are, there are just some things the law says only i can do. (where's the law that says a REASONABLE max amount of pts. we're supposed to have??) and we're all strapped and frustrated and we're all always there hours late b/c we're understaffed, though according to our beloved d.o.n. we're "overstaffed per acuity!!" joke of the century!
i found your thread b/c i'm doing some research for my d.o.n. to show her that our ratios are RIDICULOUS. anywho, just want you to know someone out here does understand, and wanting to know that someone out there does understand me. would be nice to contact you so we can compare notes. til then, hang in there and go with God, His Grace is sufficient for all of our needs!
understanding,
kara