What is a caseload?

[Sunnysandy]

A novice question, i know.

1. When a nurse says i'm doing 20 or 30 or 50 caseloads, what does that mean?
   
2. Is a case load for all nursing specialties?
   
3. Is it the amount of patients a nurse sees in a week? In a day? A month?
   
4. Is caseload the same as patient to nurse ratio? What's the difference?
   
5. Do travel nurses have case loads? If yes, then...
   
6. In a large teaching hospital, working as a med-surge nurse, what is the average caseload? What is considered above average? What is a lot?
   
7. How do you put your caseload in a sentence? Do you say..."i do 20 caseload"?, "I manage 20 caseload"? "I have 20 caseload"?...etc.
   

Obviously i need a for dummies explanation.

Thanks in advance!

[caliotter3]

I always thought that a caseload of 20 meant that the nurse was responsible for the administrative requirements for 20 patients.

[Sunnysandy]

So im guessing this is different than nurse/patient ratio which is usually 1:4. Can't imagine anything such as 1:20 or 1:70 (as some say they have case load of 70).

Any knowledge that can be shared would be SOO greatly appreciated!

[oceangirl1234]

The average floor nurse does not have a caseload. But some nurses who are involved with services such as home care may say they have a caseload. This is more realistic because they are not doing full patient care for 30-70 patients in one shift....that's unheard of (except for long term care nurses).

[Sunnysandy]

The average floor nurse does not have a caseload. But some nurses who are involved with services such as home care may say they have a caseload. This is more realistic because they are not doing full patient care for 30-70 patients in one shift....that's unheard of (except for long term care nurses).

Makes sense. So when i see nurses talking about caseloads here...perhaps the are case management nurses?

[PixieRN1]

That would be my assumption. I've only ever heard case managers use the term caseload in 15 years...but it would make sense for administrative nurses and perhaps home health, like the previous poster said.