Published
There's been few times when my ICU census got to zero too...and it always makes me real nervous, cuz one ICU nurse always has to be in house ( and one on call)....and ya never know what's going to be rolling into ER ....and *wham* there ya are all alone with an unstable patient (or two) until the oncall nurse gets there...
If census stayed low and ER and stepdown didn't need me, I also had the option to float to another 'sister' hospital in the same corporation....and I'd rather do that than go on call to be honest.
But then again I looked at oncall duty as a way to support my coworkers so I took my turn. :)
i also work in a small rural hospital....46 beds, 4 icu....and a few weeks ago we had a total census of 4......icu closed, ob closed, 4 m/s patients. but that`s not the lowest i`ve seen. when i was in new mexico ( also a small rural) we had one shift with zero, zip ,zilch patients.....was the longest shift of my life....had to have enough help in case of a code rolling through the doors.....and there is just so much "make " work one can do............oh...last week, icu was full, ob was over flowing and there was 21 patients on m/s......so things come and things go, but just enjoy the down times.....they don`t last.:-)
Early in July, we had 2 patients in our 18-bed ICU. (Hospital usual overall census is about 220.) We got one more admission for a grand total of three. I walked around all day stating "I'VE GOT 2/3RDs OF THE PATIENTS IN ICU!!" (Well, that was 2!). LOL!
We are now full to the brim!! 17 to 18 patients every day. Low census never lasts long; gotta appreciate it while you have it!
We have been extremely busy lately. Our Mother/Baby is an 18 bed unit and our L&D has 14 beds. If we are full then L&D has to hold the overflow until we discharge some. Which is not fun for us because even though L&D continues to care for the mom when she's back there after delivery we have to run back and forth taking care of the babies. This can be quite a hassle if you're really busy on the floor and can't get back to L&D to check on the baby often.
I worked Sunday and we were full with 5 in the back waiting on beds.
WOW... Our hospital is huge.... I don't know exactly how many the hospital will hold, but the Orthopedic floor I work on has 30 beds itself, and it is a 6 floor hospital, with a N,S,E,W wings and a SE section...
I got sent home last night because of low census for the hospital, and the census was 195 patients... Go figure
Ted
624 Posts
I work for the second smalles hospital in Massachusetts. Total Potential bed population: around 32 patients.
Lately, I've been taking care of 50% of the hospital population . . . two people. (Total patient census for those nights was 4!. . . for the whole hospital!!)
(About a year ago, during this time of year, there was a total patient population of ONE !. . . . for the whole hospital!
)
I guess this is the slow time of year. So I'm told.
I can't say that I'm happy about this. No patients, no money . . . no hospital?!?!? (. . . No job???)
Our small rural hospital does service a large geographical area which includes South-west Massachusetts, north-west Conneticut, and mid-eastern New York state. I'm told that this is to our advantage . . . a major reason why our hospital has existed for so long. Hopefully, this is true. I do like where I work!
When our ICU/CCU unit has been closed (because of no patients), I've been floating to either the med/surg floor or the ER. I actually like doing this. It beats eating up vacation time for being "on call". (We have a choice of being either placed on call or working on another unit.) It also helps keep work interesting.
Just wondering. . . . for those of you who work in small rural hospitals:
What's your lowest census? What do you do when your unit closes because of no patients? Do you have a choice to float to another unit or take call? What's your hospital's strategy to keep open during the "slow season"?
Regards,
Ted
P. S. During our "busy season" (from mid-fall to late spring) our unit usually has between 3 to 5 patients. Often, the med-surg unit is filled to capacity (about 16 patients). The maternity floor has no set busy or quite season - - it's just whenever the mothers/babies are ready . . .
Ted