What is your Nurse to patient ratios?

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I work on a Med/Surg/Ortho unit. We usually start off with 5 patient on days/eves, and will usually get an admission or post-op. Nights were have 6-7-8 patients. About 3-4 CNA's for a total of 33 patients.:uhoh3:

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Specializes in Med/Surg.

Yuck.

I work general medical/surgical 40 bed unit of a large urban hospital, day shift ratios are usually 1 RN to 4 pts, or 1 RN & 1 LPN to 6-7 pts, or 2 RNs and 1 Tech for 8 patients. Night shifts are usually 1 RN to 4-5 pts, or 2 RNs and 1 tech for 12 pts, or 1 RN & 1 LPN for 8 pts.

I think no matter where you are, med/surg staffing just kinda sucks. That's probably why so many nurses hate to work med/surg.

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I am from Indiana, but I am a travel nurse. I am currently in Iowa working night shift on a Medical-Telemetry Unit and we have lots of telemetry as there is no special unit for telemetry care patients, we are it. We usually run 4 nurses (RN/LPN combo). We have 6-7-8 patients each and we have only 1 Tech to help with vitals, blood sugars and assist in answering call lights, turning, bed checks...you know the routine. One of the RN's on nights is desigated Charge and takes a full load of patients and is responsible to over see the LPN if one is on duty. I end my contract this coming week and will not miss for one second this rediculous nurse to patient ratio. This is there standard for the floor and it is in writing...we are NOT considered to be working short! haha...right. Oh, and 6-7-8 patients each is just the starting number....that does not include the admissions we get throughout the night, which is usually at least a couple and I have seen as many as 6 admits during the course of a night shift. Thanks

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Anyone work at any of the Clarian Hospitals? I'm interested to know the staffing ratios on their postpartum units.

Thanks

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Our med surg unit (which I don't work, thank god) has ridiculous ratios. Big part of "restructuring" last year (which meant layoffs). Days (7a-7p) usually have a ratio 0f 1:6 or 7; have seen it as high as 9. The floor can hold 18 or 19 patients. Usually 18 patients, and they can have 3 nurses. Only 2 CNAs though, no matter how high the census, or how high the acuity. (You know, CNAs are so overpaid and such, they were just breaking the hospital's budget so they had to be scaled back). :eek:

Nights on med surg (7p-7a), no CNA after 11 pm, unless the census is 18. Two nurses for up to like 15 pts, and 3 nurses for 16-19. Which is baloney if you ask me. No way would I work under those circumstances. :nono:

No unit secretary after 11 pm either.

We are a critical access hospital (which I hate) and the med surg floor can have anything from an infant with RSV to a 100 year DNR acute MI. They also have telemetry beds.

Yeah, it stinks.

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Specializes in palliative care, medicine, rehab/geri.

Some of the former posters don't know how lucky they are! I, too, work on a medicine ward. It's a 70-bed ward, divided into 7 ten-bed units. On day shift, a RN and a LPN work each unit, so we each take 5 patients, but of course, help each other out. We have no charge nurse, and our manager is not on the floor, so we're also responsible for doctor's rounds, calling lab results, coordinating all care, team rounds and as we only have 1 unit clerk for 30-40 beds, we often do our own order transcriptions as well. On night shift, we have 10 pts each, but our ER is usually packed with people waiting admission, and so our region's answer to this is to add a 5th bed into our 4-bed rooms. This often means we're caring for 11 acute care pts on night shift with 1 HCA to assist (and no unit clerk between 2300 and 0800).

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Specializes in Med/Surg since ‘96; PACU since ‘16.

30 bed Med/Surg Tele- on nights 3-4 nurses but more likely 3 so up to 10 patients. 6-8 avg. 2-3 techs split the floor. They staff days better. AM shift get 4 nurses minimum (unless the census is down) plus there are two extra (charge) nurses who take off orders Mon-Fri.

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Specializes in ob/gyn med /surg.

6 patients to 1 nurse

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Specializes in Physician office, Hosp, Nursing Home.

I work med-surg 7P-7A.. The ratio is 7:1 with one CNA mon-fri. (20-25 bed unit). No unit secretary after 2300 and none on the weekends. Its usually just 2 nurses on the weekends no matter the census or aquity. We dont have the staff on the weekends for an aid let alone a secretary/ward clerk. I'm thinking of going into home-health so i can devote more time to pt. care instead of mainly "paper work."

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Specializes in Med/Surg since ‘96; PACU since ‘16.

To Polly Dipcya: Geez where is this hospital?- tell so I won't apply there. Nights and weekends sounds horrible. 2 weekends no matter what the census?

Yeah paper work takes 55 minutes out of every hour. S*cks.

P.S. The spelling is ACUITY- base word acute

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Specializes in Peds ED, Peds Stem Cell Transplant, Peds.

I worked Renal diabetic unit at Clarian, I often would have 9 patients and the LPN with me would have 8, so basically 17 patients to one RN. No wonder I quit.

I work in an ED now. If I am Urgent care I can have anywhere from 4-8 or more patients to myself if I am alone, usually short staffed. If in ED 2-3 patients

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