Patient to Nurse Ratios: What are yours?

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Specializes in Med Surge, Tele, Oncology, Wound Care.

I am curious about what your patient ratio is.....

State the following:

State

City

Unit worked

Patient load

Shift

I will start:

Texas

El Paso

Med Surge

7-8 patients

day shift

Texas

El Paso

Telemetry

6 patients

day shift

Washington

Edmonds

Surgical/Oncology

5-6 patients

day shift

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Specializes in Pediatrics, ER.

Massachusetts

Beverly

Major surgical/ortho

5 patients

Primarily evenings

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Texas

Wharton

LTC

up to 60 residents (56 on my side yesterday)

2-10

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Transplant, Education.

Massachusetts

Boston

Transitional Care Unit

8 patients

3pm-11pm

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oklahoma

ardmore

medsurg/tele

up to 13pts one lpn on rn

7a-11p weekend shift

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oklahoma

ardmore

medsurg/tele

up to 13pts one lpn on rn

7a-11p weekend shift

13 patients?? How do you even find the time.

Ratio laws here are 4:1 on the tele floor I work, day or night.

When I was in Public Health our caseload could go up to 35-40 but I usually did not have that many clients.

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all i can do is the best i can i have been at this hospital for 10yrs we can have 26 pts on the floor we cant possibly get everything done because we have the drug seekers watching the clocks, we get most of the chf, copd, pneumonia, surgery, cancer pts and we do chemo on our floor, we get a little of everything and tele pts it is crazy. we apparantly dont have any laws that i know of and if we complain to the boss they get mad. i never sit down well i do still take my breaks cause it is the only time i can sit and try to pull it together. we do team nursing with usually 2lpn 2rn and 1cna for 26pts we split the floor in half and i pass meds on all these people plus we are expected to do prn's and dressing changes and new orders. am i just crazy or does everyone work like this that does team nursing. to me it is no team the rns do the admits and discharges and try to get us to do the discharges if we get 5 min to sit. plus we also check charts before we start the med pass. i feel like im going crazy when im at work, i cry when im on breaks because i know the pts are not getting the care they need. i dont know what of if i could do anything without the threat of getting fired. they fire people left and right and dont care that the nurses hate this team nursing. suggestions welcome.:banghead: thanks

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Specializes in Critical Care (MICU, CICU, TNCC),.

MICU, Delaware.

1:1 or 2:1

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Specializes in Critical Care (MICU, CICU, TNCC),.
all i can do is the best i can i have been at this hospital for 10yrs we can have 26 pts on the floor we cant possibly get everything done because we have the drug seekers watching the clocks, we get most of the chf, copd, pneumonia, surgery, cancer pts and we do chemo on our floor, we get a little of everything and tele pts it is crazy. we apparantly dont have any laws that i know of and if we complain to the boss they get mad. i never sit down well i do still take my breaks cause it is the only time i can sit and try to pull it together. we do team nursing with usually 2lpn 2rn and 1cna for 26pts we split the floor in half and i pass meds on all these people plus we are expected to do prn's and dressing changes and new orders. am i just crazy or does everyone work like this that does team nursing. to me it is no team the rns do the admits and discharges and try to get us to do the discharges if we get 5 min to sit. plus we also check charts before we start the med pass. i feel like im going crazy when im at work, i cry when im on breaks because i know the pts are not getting the care they need. i dont know what of if i could do anything without the threat of getting fired. they fire people left and right and dont care that the nurses hate this team nursing. suggestions welcome.:banghead: thanks

I can only suggest you find an alternative place to work, possibly advance your degree. RN's have more choices in employment. I used to do team nursing too and it is hard. I would have preferred having the 6 or 7 patients on my own than having double that amount virtually on my own. Many times I could not find the LPN to help with patient care plus I had to do all the charting on all twelve patients. It is so dependent on teamwork and that is an iffy proposition. I remember not getting a chance to pee. There was one gal who felt her only job was to do the first med pass, then she went outside to smoke. Another, when I was working nights, would disappear and I would find her sleeping in the patients rooms. And then there was one who was a great, we really worked it and I always hoped we would be together. Gosh, I certainly don't envy you.

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Specializes in ER/EHR Trainer.

ER Northern NJ 1:5 to 1:whatever-depends on the amount in the ER. BTW, acuity doesn't seem to matter-a nurse can have to unit patients and 3 others.

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Specializes in L&D and newborn nursery.

Florida

L & D

1 :1 or on a busy day 2:1

Dayshift 7a-7p

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Maryland

Baltimore

MICU

2 patients (usually) to 1 RN

Occ 1 nurse to 1 patient (depending on acuity)

12 hour dayshift

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