ortho patient load

[caringRN]

I work on a busy ortho floor and start off with 6 patients, usually discharge a couple and get 1-2 post-op's in a 12 hour shift; along with giving at least one person blood, dealing with post-op issues (pain, nausea, etc.), and trying to give quality customer service. I rarely get lunch much less any breaks and I am usually at work until 8:00-8:30 charting. Any other ortho floors like this or do I need to seriously consider something else? I really enjoy the ortho environment and taking care of post-op patients, but at this rate I can feel the burnout coming on. I have been on this floor for 5 years and this is all I've done since I graduated from nursing school.

[PeachyOrthoRN, RN]

I've been on ortho for 4 years now when we started we were at a 1:6 ratio then we were able to talk our way into a 1:4/1:5 ratio. The hospital I work at just changed all of our staffing models and now we have to go back to a 1:6/1:7 ratio. Talk about taking a step back!!!