There have been other threads similar to this, but I'm wondering solely about RN to pt ratios, not including however many LVNs, PCTs, or CNAs are included in your staffing.
Our hospital doesn't take into account the number of pts 1 RN is responsible for when staffing, even when they have their own pts, and are responsible for the other non-RN staffs' pts, also. It is kinda scary sometimes when you are so busy with your own full pt load (or should I say 'overload'), that you may never lay eyes on another nurses pts that you are 'legally' responsible for, too. There may be 17 or more pts on the floor (med/surg) some days with only 1 RN, and these are acutely ill hospital pts. It's not humanly possible to do what is required or expected of nurses sometimes. Is this very far off from the rest of the country, or is this pretty much normal everywhere? (I hope not.)
Depends on patient census but ive seen as high as 1:12 and as low as 1:4 on the same unit. I think most of the problem arises from the acuity they are supposed to look at and dont. If they would actually use the acuity criteria the way it was intended you wouldnt see the patient ratios we are. Unfortunately all they see are numbers to schedule staff.
alka,, your in Illinois,, that must be a Illinois thing,, cause that sounds like some of the shifts i have.
1:6 for our acute "floor" .. actually we have only one floor so to speak . . around the corner to the left is our OB delivery room and outpatient services.
We always have 2 RN's and at least one CNA who does vitals and baths with a max of 12 patients. We do blood sugars, not the CNA's.
There have been other threads similar to this, but I'm wondering solely about RN to pt ratios, not including however many LVNs, PCTs, or CNAs are included in your staffing.
Our hospital doesn't take into account the number of pts 1 RN is responsible for when staffing, even when they have their own pts, and are responsible for the other non-RN staffs' pts, also. It is kinda scary sometimes when you are so busy with your own full pt load (or should I say 'overload'), that you may never lay eyes on another nurses pts that you are 'legally' responsible for, too. There may be 17 or more pts on the floor (med/surg) some days with only 1 RN, and these are acutely ill hospital pts. It's not humanly possible to do what is required or expected of nurses sometimes. Is this very far off from the rest of the country, or is this pretty much normal everywhere? (I hope not.)
i have seen the ratios improve and then step backwards at times too. when i first was a baby nurse not tool long ago :) 10 years ago....our ratio at night was 1 RN to 9-13 patients with no CNAs. of course now the acuity has greatly changed since then tho, right?
Depends on patient census but ive seen as high as 1:12 and as low as 1:4 on the same unit. I think most of the problem arises from the acuity they are supposed to look at and dont. If they would actually use the acuity criteria the way it was intended you wouldnt see the patient ratios we are. Unfortunately all they see are numbers to schedule staff.
alka,, your in Illinois,, that must be a Illinois thing,, cause that sounds like some of the shifts i have.
The other night I had 8 pts, the LPN I was working with also had 8, we had a brand new CNA...first day..that worked by herself until 10...THEN...it was just the other nurse and me until 3:30 am when out of the kindness of her heart, one of the day CNA's came in early !! Fortunately, the supervisor that night was one that will actually help out...but it was pretty hectic..and scary when we actually had time to stop and think about it..which wasn't long.
It must be wonderful to have nurse:pt staffing ratios like CA does now. I only wish it would get here. There are things about my job that make me feel good...but there are a lot of things that make me wonder why I ever went into nursing in the first place.
There have been other threads similar to this, but I'm wondering solely about RN to pt ratios, not including however many LVNs, PCTs, or CNAs are included in your staffing.
Our hospital doesn't take into account the number of pts 1 RN is responsible for when staffing, even when they have their own pts, and are responsible for the other non-RN staffs' pts, also. It is kinda scary sometimes when you are so busy with your own full pt load (or should I say 'overload'), that you may never lay eyes on another nurses pts that you are 'legally' responsible for, too. There may be 17 or more pts on the floor (med/surg) some days with only 1 RN, and these are acutely ill hospital pts. It's not humanly possible to do what is required or expected of nurses sometimes. Is this very far off from the rest of the country, or is this pretty much normal everywhere? (I hope not.)
It does kill me to hear about this 1:9 ratios - ours is usally 1:5 on all shifts (nights included) it is very nice, but $$$$$ to keep that ratio we have had to use more agency. Thanks
in ICU 1:2,on tele 1:6, in ER 1:3,4,5. On th chest pain unit with tele 1:3. These are without techs. on medsurg with techs it is 1:6-8. Charge nurses don't take pt's
I just left a small hospital b/c they continue to find money for directors, keep inventing new positions for their family members (in magmt positions, of course), and this last year, made supervisor positions, then put them in offices (away from the floor) and I mean away. All day, every day, you never see them (wouldn't matter - they "have to get back to the office" to work on schedules. This is funny, because we don't have a large staff, we are understaffed, and our rotations NEVER change). Our RN's are 1:6 (sometimes 1:8) during the day, and higher at night. But the straw that broke this camels back was: One RN and one LVN per shift and the LVN was not allowed to do IV pushes, not allowed to assess epidurals that require hourly checks (we were surgical floor and most come back with PCA or epidural). Well, between my patients and taking over responsibilities for those things the LVN was not allowed to do...needless to say, my butt never sat down, eating and peeing was out of the question, and after 12 hours, I'd go home, and my body would just tremble and ache with pain as the muscles started to relax. And I'm so serious about not having time to pee. When I finally got home, and got to actually go to the bathroom, my urine was so strong, and my bladder would actually spasm. So, if my nightmare sounds like yours, then honey, all I can say, is you better start putting in applications to another facility, because it isn't going to be any better on the other floors (when one floor operates like that, you can make a few calls to be sure, usually the other floors do to). I have wondered why nurses stay at places like this. I have noticed that most of who stay are those that live so close to the facility, they just put up with it for the commute, or they came straight out of nursing school, and they just don't know any difference. But there are differences...
meownsmile, BSN, RN
2,532 Posts
Depends on patient census but ive seen as high as 1:12 and as low as 1:4 on the same unit. I think most of the problem arises from the acuity they are supposed to look at and dont. If they would actually use the acuity criteria the way it was intended you wouldnt see the patient ratios we are. Unfortunately all they see are numbers to schedule staff.
alka,, your in Illinois,, that must be a Illinois thing,, cause that sounds like some of the shifts i have.