staffing on nights

sockov, ADN, ASN, BSN, CNA, LVN · May 7, 2005

And they wonder why there is a nursing shortage!

I don't think I will ever work LTC again with the poor staffing! I think those residents deserve more nurses and CNA's to not only meet their physical needs, but emotional too. As always.. no time.

:madface:

Otis4DinTN · May 7, 2005

We are a 48 bed hospital based skilled nursing unit. Our night shift staffing is currently 4 nurses (either RN or LPN) and 3 aides. We do two routine med passes (sometimes there's an oddly timed med, too) and treatments. After reading all these responses... I'm thankful for what we have!

infullbloom1 · May 7, 2005

On a psych unit at the state hospital, we have 23 patients, one RN and two clinicians. Thats our standard for night shift regardless of patient census.

scooterRN52 · May 7, 2005

How many licensed nurses on nights for how many beds? Do you have a supervisor as well? Thanks!

Our ratio is 4-5 patients to each nurse and yes we do have a supervisor on every night. I work in a specialty hospital on a surical-telemetry unit and these pt.s all have cancer, so they are pretty sick. :)

clc79092 · May 7, 2005

We have a 32 bed cardiac stepdown unit. Tonite our census started at 17 with three dismissal and two direct admits. There were 2 RN's, 1 Lvn and a RN charge nurse. I had 6 patients to start with since one of the admits came right before shift change (strange how all the work was left for the night shift). From 1830 till about 0100 I ran my tail off. Patient with CP, one getting blood (that was ordered for 0900 the morning before and left for nights), 1 chest tube, 1 heparin drip, 1 wanting pain meds every 3 hours on the dot since the doctor told him he could get it that often if he really needed it, 1 helpless as a newborn (generalized weakness). CNA? we never see them on nights.

scooterRN52 · May 7, 2005

I work PRN in a local nursing home. There are 68 patients and 1 RN, 3-4 CNS's.
It's consistently busy...Too much for 1 nurse....

I have worked LTC in the past! I will never go back to it, it is grueling and monotonous work, I will remain on the surgical telemetry unit that I work on

until I retire. My work is busy, but it is also challenging, so I keep all my skills up to date. :)

scooterRN52 · May 7, 2005

We have a 32 bed cardiac stepdown unit. Tonite our census started at 17 with three dismissal and two direct admits. There were 2 RN's, 1 Lvn and a RN charge nurse. I had 6 patients to start with since one of the admits came right before shift change (strange how all the work was left for the night shift). From 1830 till about 0100 I ran my tail off. Patient with CP, one getting blood (that was ordered for 0900 the morning before and left for nights), 1 chest tube, 1 heparin drip, 1 wanting pain meds every 3 hours on the dot since the doctor told him he could get it that often if he really needed it, 1 helpless as a newborn (generalized weakness). CNA? we never see them on nights.

We have surgery patients w/ drains, NGT, chest tubes, J- tubes, and they are on telemetry too, so I can understand, we also get medical pts who need

telemetry, heparin infusions, blood, platelets, FFP, etc. and most of our surgical pts. have PCA's or epidural infusions that require checking q 2 hrs.

If they don't have a PCA or epidural infusion we are giving IV mso4 or dilaudid IV. All of our pt.s have cancer, so they have a lot of pain. We also give chemotherapy sometimes. Our staffing is usually pretty good though,

4-5 pts. to 1RN on a unit w/16 beds and 2 CNA's. That is night shift 11-7, from 7-11 we usually have an extra RN. :)

lisaow · May 7, 2005

For a 33 bed peds specialty unit (some vents, some trachs, most with G tubes, all with some kind of neuro issue) we have 5-6 RN's plus one charge nurse (and 2-3 techs). Not bad, huh? :rolleyes:

MajorAl · May 7, 2005

On a psych unit at the state hospital, we have 23 patients, one RN and two clinicians. Thats our standard for night shift regardless of patient census.

Consider yourself lucky. At the state hospital I work at, only the admission units are that well staffed. The unit I work on has 39 patients and we share the night Nurse with the 18 bed unit next door. We have 2 RCTs (CNAs) and the 18 bed unit has one. And right now our census is low. We're supposed to be at 44 patients. Also we only have one RN and 4 RCTs for the PM and weekend shifts. On the AM shift we get another RN (M-F).

chloe666 · May 7, 2005

I am from HK, in gerenal ward we have 40 clients and only 2 RN with 1 HCA. In my ward(fever ward), only 20 clients and the same manpower. :chuckle

nightmare, RN · May 7, 2005

I work in a nursing Home we have 35 residents,most of whom have dementia.Night shift staffing is one registered nurse and 3 care assistants.Quite often we are short of one c/a.

A typical night sees at least 5 or 6 wanderers.The building consists of the original building on two floors and the newer building all on the level so there is quite and area to monitor.The trained nurses usually do the drug round and then care planning,drug auditing and ordering,c/a training,off duty rota,and relevent paperwork for the night shift.

The carers,as well as looking after the residents,do laundry and some kitchen work,they also have "extra duties" on specific nights where things are cleaned like wheelchairs etc.

Although the nursing care is fairly basic there is a lot of "mental"work dealing with the demented residents,trying to keep them safe and calm.

emeraldjay · May 8, 2005

I work as a CNA in an extended care facility. 160 beds divided into 3 units of 40 beds each, one 11 bed vent unit and a 29 bed unit. The 40 bed units are usually staffed with 2 CNAs and 1 LPN or RN; the 29 bed unit has 1 CNA and one LPN or RN; and the vent unit most of the time has 1 RN, 1RT, and 1 CNA.

This would be almost livable if it weren't for the fact that the happy bell ringers who don't know enough to sleep weren't all on the same floor. With AM cares starting at 5am, the chaos starts as soon as 4am rounds are finished. We have three floors that could use an extra aide to answer bells while the other two are doing rounds. And rarely does a day go by without at least 1 overnight CNA getting asked to stay into the next shift.