Patient sitters ratio...

[Buckeye007]

As a patient sitter, how many people do they have you sit with at once? At my hospital it's 4 pts and one tech. It's not always bad but it does make it extremely frustrating when you have more than one pt at a time getting up out of bed. Keeping your eyes on all 4 at once sometimes seems impossible.

TIA

[AshBuggin]

I think patients or their families should have to sign waivers on admission that state they either accept being put in restraints if deemed necessary to ensure safety, or accept that they might fall and suffer injuries if they get up without asking for help.

Its not the RN or techs fault gravity exists.

Restraining a patient can be traumatic. They're not animals! Bed alarms and fall precautions exist for a reason. No patient should be restrained to prevent a fall. It's against most company policies and in some cases the law (I believe) to restrain patients without a doctors order. Patients are usually accessed upon admission for their fall risk and a bed alarm is a less aggressive and perfectly functional way to prevent falls. If the bed alarm doesn't work for the patient then a sitter is usually assigned.

I can't picture a scenario where tying a patient down to prevent a fall bc the patient is confused or agitated is acceptable or appropriate. I imagine that kind of aggressive treatment would create more issues than it would help.

[SassyTachyRN]

Usually 1:1, if the rooms are adjacent sometimes the tech will sit outside the rooms and supervise both.

[WCSU1987]

Our state is less and less use of soft restraints. We can't even use SOMA beds anymore. If we put up two bed rails it's a restraint on the patient according to the state.

[verene, MSN]

We are typically 1:1 but can be up to 1:4 for certain situations when patients are grouped in a pod or the ED. I'm not sure what those situations are as I've only observed or sat 1:1 or 1:2.