Staff ratios

[kewlnurse]

I'm getting more and more fed up with having 8-12 patients on a regular basis with the same lame excusses form management that doesn't care. I hear NC,SC, AZ and NV have it better than most with lower staffing ratios, is this true? I am considering moving, all i need is to convince my wife and i'm outta here, also what does everybody get for shift and weekend diff? I work in a union hospital and we get nothing for weekends,and have to work at least 4 weekend days per month, and $1.10 for 3-11, i know just about everyone gets more than that. I'v seen some post with people calling for union representation but don't bother, if you want all the details of our latest 5 year contract which was just passed (i voted against it) let me know and i will post it.

[This message has been edited by kewlnurse (edited February 08, 2001).]

[bestblondRN]

I work in an inner city teaching hospital in Chicago, where RN staffing in the ICU's is still 1:2 and 1:4-6 on the med-surg floors in addition to NAs and unit secretaries. I had previously worked in a facility that was unionized, and patient ratios as well as acuity were considerably higher, so I'm not sure that unionization had any real impact on the staffing--I received a lot of ADOs (assignment despite objection) that I had to answer to, but ultimately saw no results from. On my unit at the previous hospital, I had 23 very complex neuro and ENT patients and ran with a 1:6-7 ratio doing primary care (translates to about 5.2 hours per patient day). Those nurses made great money, but worked like dogs to get it. As the manager of that unit, I went to administration no less than 6 times in a two year period and finally had to leave after beating my head against a wall trying to convince them that the acuity and activity on the unit, not to mention all the falls, patient complaints, etc., warranted at least 6 nurses on 7-3 and 3-11. Where I currently work, the staffing is generally quite good, and most of the staff say that they would never leave for more money in lieu of safe staffing levels (and the salaries aren't bad here either, I might add!). Good luck in your search kewlnurse--there are lots of opportunities out there, and places that still value the role of the RN over the almighty buck.

[Brownms46]

I work for a state hosp. in Charleston, SC.

Hope this helps.

I worked as a Travel nurse at Roper Hospital, and went to visit a friend of mine, who worked in your hospital. Just walking throught there, I KNEW I wouldn't want to work there!

On the other hand, I LOVED my time at Roper, and would have signed another contract there, But...this was during the time they brought Baker hospital. They let go of all their travelers, and even stopped using their own agency for a time. Loved the Charleston area also. I know there's a lot of travelers in Charleston, so does your hospital use them?

I have also worked at several different hospitals in S. C., from Florence to Beaufort. Beaufort's staffing was absoultely awful, except for the ICUs. And the staff was totally vicious to agency people. But Florence, Manning, Kingstree, and Charleston were great. I would go back to any of these places again, but only as a traveler.

On another note, it was good to see a post from my old hometown of Buffalo. I used to work at the VA hospital there, and worked with a great bunch of people there. At the time, we never had a problem being short staffed, but did have to use sick time, when we were asked to stay home. But, that wasn't often. Haven't been there since 88', but have at times, thought about going home. I now know better..:-)!