What is the L&D ratio?

SmilingBluEyes · Mar 24, 2005

No it goes by acuity and AWONN standards. You will have a lower nurse-patient ratio if a patient is NOT on pitocin, high risk, VBAC etc. And AWHONN has nurse-patient ratio standards by which all hospitals in the USA are supposed to practice. It's based on ACUITY, not progression, per se.

SmilingBluEyes · Mar 24, 2005

http://www.awhonn.org

for information about nurse-patient ratios in L and D. good luck. :)

BETSRN · Mar 25, 2005

It's a long story, but I have always loved maternal-child but have never worked in this area. I was just wondering what is the nurse-pt ratio? How is the ratio determined? Is it determined by the 0-10 cm the mother is dilated? If that is the way it works, I have heard of cases where the mom goes from 0-10 in a very short time. How is a situation like this handled? Thanks for your input.

We are a small LDRP but we work 1:1 in active labor. We might go help out on the floor with other assignments if our patient is not active, but as a labor nurse, we are officially assigned one patient.

JaneyW · Mar 25, 2005

It's a long story, but I have always loved maternal-child but have never worked in this area. I was just wondering what is the nurse-pt ratio? How is the ratio determined? Is it determined by the 0-10 cm the mother is dilated? If that is the way it works, I have heard of cases where the mom goes from 0-10 in a very short time. How is a situation like this handled? Thanks for your input.

Here in CA we have state-mandated ratios. We are 2:1 for laboring patients and 1:1 for 2nd stage and some other pts depending on acuity (loading dose of mag,etc). Things can get a little murky when you throw in the outpatients and inductions. We can sometimes have 3 patients, but really never more. Sometimes two patients can seem like 10--especially when they get back to back epidurals or have back to back deliveries. You can't make plans as things change rapidly.