Patient/Nurse Ratio- 8:1. Would you work here as a new grad??

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I am a new grad nurse and have an interview for a large hospital next week. It for a medical/peri-operative/surgical ward. I have been told that it is more usual than unusual to have eight patients!!!. I was originally offered a job in PDN but declined as I felt that I would be working in isolation with a peg/trach/vent case.

However, they were going to give me three months to shadow staff and training. I have a friend in the hospital that said that her orientation was one day!!!. She was then thrown in at the deep end!!. I am starting to panic before I have even started now. I want to go on to do my midwifery and have been advised that I should really start in the acute med/surg area. I was told by the director of midwifery that any experience is valuable but obviously, hospital acute may be seen to be more valuable at interview.

What do you guys think?. I am 40 years old this year and not sure about 8 patients as I feel that my registration is very valuable and that this is unsafe practice and very risky. Any feedback is very much appreciated. Thank you in advance. x

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Specializes in ICU.

That's unsafe. Not just for the patients but for you, physically mentally and emotionally.

Dont take the first offer. Request an interview with MB or PACU.

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Thanks libbyliberal for your reply. May I be so ignorant to ask what PACU or MB is?. I was hesitant to say what country I was in as thought that the post would moved. I am in Ireland so not sure what the above is?. I was even told by friends that it is commonplace to have 8-10 patients per 1 nurse in Ireland!!!. I trained in the UK where we just had 1 nurse : 5 patients. I am really panicing now!!!!

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Specializes in ICU.

Recovery Room and Mother Baby which encompasses nursery, labor and delivery and post partum.

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Thanks Libbyliberal but they basically emailed me an invite for interview and told me that it is for medical/peri-operative area so I guess if I want to branch out, it means starting here or nothing. As a new grad, it tends to be a case of taking what you can get!. No luxury of an orientation. It is just being thrown in at the deep end!!!. The community position sounded really nice but it would mean being with one person all the time with a trach/vent and peg and I would be stuck in that area and may have difficulty progressing to other areas of nursing in the future. It is common knowledge here that if you want options in the future, you have to start in the hospital!!. In order to work with Mother and Babies, I have to do an 18 month midwifery conversion course and to qualify for that, I need at least 6 months experience in a hospital.

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
May I be so ignorant to ask what PACU or MB is?

PACU = Post Anesthesia Care Unit

Be mindful that the majority of the respondents on this forum live and work in either the U.S. or Canada. Higher nurse/patient ratios tend to be commonplace in other countries based on anecdotes and previous postings on this forum over the years.

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In Spain is usual to have 12 patients per 1 nurse in med/surg ward.

8:1 ratio it´s a dream hahaha

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In Spain is usual to have 12 patients per 1 nurse in med/surg ward.

8:1 ratio it´s a dream hahaha

God, that really puts things in perspective. It doesn't make me want to do it more though lol. I just feel this is going to be a real compromise of patient safety. I really am thinking of other options but cannot come up with anything that does not require hospital acute experience!!!!

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Specializes in Labor and Delivery.

HELL no!

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HELL no!

What do you think would be good option instead?. I am being called for a lot of private duty who said they will train new grads but I need my IV certification and cannulation training which I will not get in private duty nursing. Any advice would be fantastic, please?. Agencies for PDN will only give the bare training for patient specific cases ie vent/peg/trach. Therefore, I will not the scope of clinical skills to give me options further down the line.

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God, that really puts things in perspective. It doesn't make me want to do it more though lol. I just feel this is going to be a real compromise of patient safety. I really am thinking of other options but cannot come up with anything that does not require hospital acute experience!!!!

I really think it´s a big mistake a 12:1 ratio, I only show you our options in my country. A 8:1 ratio it´s nice, it depends on the workload, obviously. A 5:1 ratio would be perfect in a med/surg ward.

Working as a nurse in the USA it´s different that in Spain, so I don´t know how to help you, but only one day of orientation... just crazy!! (here, we don´t have it... so...).

It´s also true that experience is achieve with work, so if you want it, go for it and good luck!

Sorry about my english, I know it isn´t perfect.

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...but only one day of orientation... just crazy!! (here, we don´t have it... so...)

I refer, sadly we don't have any orientation :(

(I don't know if it understood well previously)

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