What is the Registered Nurse Patient Ratio at your hospital?

[LinenP]

Dear all nurses,

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 would love to hear from you all soon

[NurseGirl525, ASN, RN]

I work on a critical care unit nights. We generally have 3 to 4 patients with once in a great while 5 if staffing is short. If we are titrating drips then we try to keep it at a 3:1 ratio

That is a crazy ratio!!!

[floridaRN38]

Boca Regional ED 4:1

Baptist ED iN Dade county 4:1 or 3:1 due to acuity

Delray Trauma Center 5or6 to one in ED.

HOPE THIS HELPS!!

[NurseGirl525, ASN, RN]

I work in a specialty icu where the ratio of patient to nurse is 2:1 or 1:1. Never any higher than that. We close rooms down if we don't have the staff.

[BSN16]

I work in a specialty icu where the ratio of patient to nurse is 2:1 or 1:1. Never any higher than that. We close rooms down if we don't have the staff.

My ICU has the capabilities to hold 25 pts, however due to staffing concerns we only have 16 rooms open. Still working on building up our staff to be full and functioning.

[TiffyRN, BSN, PhD]

Neonatal ICU in the Southwest.

Depends on the acuity of the infant. The vast majority of the assignments are 2 infants to 1 nurse.

The least acute infants (minimal respiratory support etc. . . ) are 3 infants to 1 nurse.

The sickest infants will have 1:1, I have seen 2 nurses for one infant, but that is usually just for a couple of shifts. We don't do ECMO.

It is very important to figure in ancillary help. Where I work, we moved all our non-licensed into secretary positions a few years ago. Their responsibilities are purely clerical and managing visitor traffic flow at the front desk and cleaning equipment. When we had bedside support staff, we took more infants per nurse.

[malamud69, BSN, RN]

Cardiac...5:1 most days...4:1 on a good day...rarely 6:1

[floridaRN38]

Wow. That many per nurse in the ER. how the heck do u know who your pts r. My friend worked in NYC and said it was like that. She pretty much said she did a "roll call" to make sure she knew which pts were which. Crazy

[RunnerNurse09, BSN, RN]

I guess things are bad in nj.

[HeySis, BSN, RN]

When I did Med/Surg we were 4:1 or 5:1

Surgical was 5;1 on days, but normally there'd be a couple of hours in the morning that your patients are with PT, so you can catch up on charting, get discharge instructions in order and use the bathroom.

In the PACU now 1:1, I'm told that every once and a great while there'll be a 3:2 ratio, and we have a transporter/tech for the unit during the busy part of the day.

[valenzuela79670]

Cardiac/medical ICU

1:2

1:3

Very often have 1:3. Sometimes almost the whole floor 1:3.

We can have two vented pt.s and still have a third.

Not unusual to call safe harbor once a week.

S.O.S.- TX

[oncivrn]

Midwest hospital oncology floor:

1 nurse: 5 patients

On rare occasions we had 4 patients and that was perfect.

Now I do outpatient infusion and we have 3 patients at a time, probably do 8 infusions average per nurse per day.

[CeciBean, ASN, RN]

Last place I worked, big city hospital in VA, Progressive Care. When I was hired I was told it would be 1:4 with a tech. Big laugh. On nights it was always 1:5, no tech in sight. It's since been combined with the Cardiac Step-down next door and it's even worse than it was. My best friend from that unit has transferred to another one with a better ratio. I've been gone from there awhile and I'm retired now.

Before that I was a travel RN. Some assignments: Cardiac Observation, NE TN, nights, 1:3-4, no tech; Tele, No VA, nights, 1:4, tech always; Progressive Care, western MD, nights, 1:3 usually, tech always; Tele, central VA, weekend days, 1:6-7, tech; Cardiac Intermediate, eastern NC, nights, 1:4, tech always; ICU, Beltway area, nights, 1:2 usually, tech mostly; Progressive Care, southern OH, 1:3, rotating, tech always.