Well...first of all, I need to tell that I am doing the research about the Registered Nurse to Patient Ratio for each department in the hospitals in the US. And it's necessary to refer to the hospitals in the US since I think the hospital system there is standardized and can be used as a good source of reference.
I tried searching before but found many about the theory, the abstract, the blah blah blah but no exact number of the required ratio I'm looking for.
That's why I need to ask you guys a favor on this. Please share the Registered Nurse to Patient Ratio. You may tell your department and the ratio. Telling your hospital name too would be excellent but I understand if some of you find it uncomfortable. You can even PM me or leave me a message to PM you for your privacy.
I can guarantee I won't take the information I get to do anything else but for my project only. I'm from a country in South East Asia and just need the reliable data.
I work on a pulmonary med/surg unit and for days it is typically 1:4. Sometimes we will have 1:5 if we are short staffed, but they try to keep it 1:4 or below. They do look at the acuity of the patients when they assign them, so that helps.
For CNAs, we are to have no more than 1:11 on our floor, which is doable. Both ratios vary by floor due to the acuity.
I work nights on a med/surg floor that is specifically for 65+ pts. We have 6 pts usually, but last night I had 7 all night. Every now and then we have 5 pts a piece, that's nice!
It is not, the competing hospital next doors step down icu patient to nurse ratio is 3:1 but we have no choice but to just work with what we got. It's sad, but what else are we going to do :/ and I'm a new grad who joined a residency that trained you for 10 weeks with 6 "fellowship" lecture courses. That's pretty much it. And then you're on your own. It's not safe patient staffing ratios but management is aware of this and we can't do anything about it
Mother Baby 1 to 4 couplets 8 patients total. This is a hospital in PA. They like to pretend they care about the accuity of the patients but i havent gone a night under 4. Mag or no mag. Complex or not always 4 or more.
MS: 1:5 (my charge closed the unit down once, i.e. no admits since all nurses were max'ed out at 5 Pts).
Tele: 1:4
Observation: 1:4
ER: 1:3 to 1:4
I don't see anything addressing the triage nurse with 25 patients in the lobby....If somebody has info on how they address triage with 20-40 patients in the lobby, please let me know.
Well Bob, this is how triage works in my Level 1 Trauma center teaching hospital:
Triage Rm 1: one CNA to take VS and four booths with 4 RNs
Job functions: look at VS, chart CC (e.g., "cp for 1 day"), assigns acuity; then send Pts to room, fastrack, or back to lobby.
So even if you see 60 Pts in a 12Hr shift, it is still not that bad (job requirement: min 2 yr exp).
Triage Rm 2: two booths with 2 RNs
Job functions: call overhead for Pts in the lobby (those seen by Room 1) to come in to take VS Q2H, then send Pts to room, fastrack, or back to lobby.
When not taking VS, they are doing across-the-room assessments (for the non-ER nurses, it's basically your general survey).
Armed with this info, that "20-40 patients" count no longer seems that impressive now, do they?
Meowzers
19 Posts
I work on a pulmonary med/surg unit and for days it is typically 1:4. Sometimes we will have 1:5 if we are short staffed, but they try to keep it 1:4 or below. They do look at the acuity of the patients when they assign them, so that helps.
For CNAs, we are to have no more than 1:11 on our floor, which is doable. Both ratios vary by floor due to the acuity.