Patient LOAD anyone?

[Pheobe05]

hey guys! just wondering here... i have been a med-surg nurse for almost a year. i love the skills, people and job. but my pt load is about 8-9 patients a night. i feel as if i've aged 5 years this past year. just wondering if this is the patient load at all hospitals and i'm a big baby. or- if this is unusual? let me know what you think. i appreciate your input.

[RNsRWe, ASN, RN]

hey guys! just wondering here... i have been a med-surg nurse for almost a year. i love the skills, people and job. but my pt load is about 8-9 patients a night. i feel as if i've aged 5 years this past year. just wondering if this is the patient load at all hospitals and i'm a big baby. or- if this is unusual? let me know what you think. i appreciate your input.

you're describing me :)

on a good night, i only have 7 patients. a bad one is 9. i have taken 10, but said i wouldn't do that again, and meant it.

8-9 is the norm for our unit on nights; i may start with 7 patients (still not the norm) but there's always admissions.

i love my job, but if there'll be a reason i leave, it's the patient load.

[crb613, BSN, RN]

You're describing ME :)

On a good night, I only have 7 patients. A bad one is 9. I have taken 10, but said I wouldn't do that again, and meant it.

8-9 is the norm for our unit on nights; I may start with 7 patients (still not the norm) but there's always admissions.

I love my job, but if there'll be a reason I leave, it's the patient load.

And me!

[Pheebz777, BSN, RN]

wow! And I thought my load on telemetry is bad! We usually get 6 patients and on bad nights we sometimes get up to 8.

[RNsRWe, ASN, RN]

wow! And I thought my load on telemetry is bad! We usually get 6 patients and on bad nights we sometimes get up to 8.

nope, that's not a bad load in my world :)

We have some tely too, and it doesn't affect our patient load per nurse. Our "tely unit" also has 8-9 (and more if they cave) pts per nurse on nights.

[meownsmile, BSN, RN]

I think this is pretty normal. Ive had as many as 10-11 on days with an LPN and CNA. But that doesnt help when you have all the assessments, new orders etc.

Night shift ratios can be even worse.

[Cattitude]

When I did m/s on a good night I'd have 6-7. Bad night 10-11.

Thankfully, more good nights then bad.

[madwife2002, BSN, RN]

Day shift 4 pts and night shift 5 pts

[Roy Fokker, BSN, RN]

I posted one of my typical nights just a few days ago:

I walk onto the floor and we're getting slammed - 5 admits in half hour,

Ofcourse, all during shift change time

Had 7 patients all to myself: One very agitated, combative post bowel resection patient in restraints. A 60 year old with CP, mental retardation, MS, seizures (who should be on the neuro specialty floor but wasn't because neuro was full) who was on tele with a Cardizem and Dilantin drip and weird heart rhythms. An ICU transfer. A post perf'd duodenal ulcer with 5 lines going in and 7 lines/tubes coming out. A post hyst who couldn't stop puking all night. My only "normal" patient was a bilat. prophylactic mastectomy...

... and last but not least, a "direct admit" - LOL all of 80 years old who tends to be "forgetful" at times. Dx: Fatigue and loss of appetite. Hx: Chronic a-fib, osteoarthritis, carotid artery clot repair.

All this on a "surgical" floor :selfbonk:

34 beds. 34 patients. 5 nurses. 1 CNA!

Day shift 4 pts and night shift 5 pts

Which hospital is this? I'm moving there tomorrow!

[meandragonbrett]

11-12 pts on nights is routine here

[nurse_drumm]

I work nights, and a typical load for us is 8 or 9. However, I can remember one summer we dealt with really short staffing, and I had 14 patients on more than one occasion...... and yes, this is med/surg. Good thing I love my job.

[military spouse]

While living in AZ, we had 5-6 on days and 6-7 on nights. Plenty of admissions/discharges to keep us busy