staffing guidelines for a med/surg floor

[RNCNMAMS]

Hi,

I am a Clinical Nurse Manager for a 46 bed Medical Surgical floor. Our census has been down for about 6 months. Administration is looking at ways to cut nursing hours. We are re-looking at our staffing guidelines. In particular with an average daily census of 33 patients we are using 33 staff members in a 24 hour period to take care of them. (including Sec, Med nurses, charge Nurses and caregivers) My staff has no downtime. The patients are sicker than ever. My administration only remembers what they did many years ago. How can I convince them that this is not the area to cut?

Signed, protecting my staff and patients

[hbncns35]

Administration always looks for solutions to problems not just someone presenting a problem. How long have you been at 33 census and are you expecting more? Seems as though you have 13 beds open which could cause you more problems if they were filled. How many RN's do you have presently and how many patients at Max do you think they can handle? Get feedback from the staff on how they might resolve the problem. Sometimes 6 heads are better than one. They may just complain but try to redirect them into a problem solving mode. This way you may better be able to see what they feel they are capable of doing. Armed with this knowledge you may better be able to see the solutions to the problem. Also write your pros and cons to the problem and show this to the management as a concrete way of looking at the problem rather than trying to explain it and possibly getting flustered at them. Good Luck - HB

[RosesrReder, BSN, MSN, RN]

:) welcome to the site, enjoy your stay and best wishes to you! :balloons:

[Thunderwolf, MSN, RN]

thread moved to the med surg nursing forum.

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