Question for upstate NY nurses

[eifan115]

What is your average couplet assignment? My hospital has been trying to switch us over to this model of care for the last year and it has been chaos. Our new manager is now saying that hospitals in our area assign 6-8 couplets per nurse. Is this true? In what universe is caring for 12-16 patients safe? Apparently 2 patients now equal only one! My unit also gets postop gyn surgicals, breast cases (mastectomies and TRAM reconstructions), antenatals for hyperemesis and observation, readmits for postop complications (infection,ileus etc) and day surgery patients not ready to go home when the unit closes at 4pm. We have lost many of our experienced staff over the last year and truly are in crisis mode at this point. Often we do not even have a tech or secretary to help us out.

So what is the concensus? Is this the new norm? If it is, then I am going to have to bail too!

[klone, MSN, RN]

They should use AWHONN staffing guidelines as their guide.

[melmarie23, MSN, RN]

They should use AWHONN staffing guidelines as their guide.

Ditto.

I am in NH and we are LDRP and do couplet care. We never have more than 4 couplets at a time and try and staff so that no RN has more than 3.

We also get the occasional gyn surgical as well.

[eifan115]

We were told when this all started that we would only do it if we were able to staff according to the guidelines ie: no more than 3 couplets per nurse. Now that promise is going out the window. We get more than the occasional gyn also...sometimes as many as 4 or 5 in a day. Plus we have a level II NICU that needs to be staffed out of the same core of nurses. We are being stretched way too thin. Thanks for your replies.