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 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
What kind of unit? Surgical? Medical? or combined?
I work in stepdown unit our ratio is 1:4, we never go over ratio since it is only a 8 bed unit with 2 RNs and an aid or Lpn. However different hospitals have different policies and criteria for their units. In my stepdown unit we only have vented patients with a trach no etts those are for CCU, and we don't have any titrating drips allowed that's only for CCU as well. Other hospitals I am sure are different
Personally, I'd like to see this broken down by union vs nonunion. I realize this is probably beyond the scope of your study or may have previously been researched.
ICU- 1:2, 1:3 if we are super short. NEVER more than 3, and when they triple its usually two ICU, one with orders to the floor that is waiting for a bed. 2:1 if they are super high acuity/receiving trauma blood, etc. 1:1 for hypothermia, CRRT, proned, etc.
PCU- 1:4 -1:5
Tele- 1:5 - 1:6.
Not sure about med-surg.
I have a friend in NY who I went to nursing school with, works on a neuro med-surg floor, union job, his ratio on nights is usually 1:9 or 1:10. I could never. lol.
On our med/surg telemetry floor days are 1:4-5 and nights are 1:4-6. If you have four at the beginning of night shift.. Guarantee that you will be getting an admission. Often times without any CNA. Very frequently right at shift change. Can certainly be challenging (I am on night shift). Plus if you are covering for an Lpn. Up to eight patients max! Union hospital in PA. We also read our own cardiac monitors
I live near Seattle,Washington is a union state. We have out safe staffing levels set by evidence based practice,for instance I work PACU we use the staffing guidelines set by ASPAN our organization.Now it can't be ideal 100% of the time if you have loads of sick calls but 90% or greater we are safely staffed.
I work in ltac. We have very sick patientsc. With trachs & vents and big wounds. 1:6 ratio. We do our own first set of manual vital signs. Draw our own blood, put in our own meds in emar, most our own wound care. Its to much to take on unfortunately.
armyicurn
331 Posts
What kind of unit? Surgical? Medical? or combined?