Ratio + Acuity Controlled Facilities?

Unless you live in California, you may just be very disappointed! Wish I could give you some examples but this is nursing sunshine. Sincerely, Good Luck!

Completely agree. Unless you live in California where ratios are regulated, hospitals can pretty much do as they wish. On my Med/Surg floor I take 7-8 patients and acuity is never taken into account when it comes to admits. I've literally had patients on cardiac drips, with a patient on a BiPap fighting to breath, two post-ops with severe pain and then throw in a code blue just for fun. Hospital administration tends to see pure number of patients to staff instead of how sick a patient really is.

Basically, there is no sure thing and even if one facility seems to give reasonable assignments now, doesn't mean it will always be that way. When I started on my floor we usually took 4-5 patients, but that is now just a fairy tale. If you're really concerned about a professionally safe environment, don't work in a hospital. That sounds rather bleak and cynical, but it's the unfortunate truth.

There are always going to be issues unless you're in an environment that by its nature entails dealing with one patient at a time (and even then there can be issues).