What is your usual nurse-patient ratio in your unit?

Antikigirl, ASN, RN · Dec 30, 2006

Ortho med surge...day 4, swing 5, nights 6. Sadly that is what is for all other floors besides PCU/OB and ICU. We deal with hips and knees all darn day and break our backs hauling these folks all the time and trying to tell them 'it is okay to bear weight...please bear it a bit".

Normally it is not a probelm...but this last two weeks! OH MY GOD! People are trying to get in last min for their premiums for the year..and wow! Our floor has 30 pts!!!!!!!! Oh yeah...4 nurses normally 5 on bad times! That is six non moble folks..no foleys (our docs hate those....grrrrrrrrrr...yeah how do you like it when they have to pee pee every 15 mins and need someone to physically support them to the BSC or BR? yeah that number of foley yanks would decrease! LOL!).

Last three nights..noc 9 pts per nurse! Yeah I know...I use to do it in gen med..but not ortho..that sucks! 9 is too much...5 is reasonable to a point dependant on acuity!...oh wait..acuity? LOL!!!!! No it is a numbers game! LOL!

Oh man..there was a time..nine was the worse that can happen...and I felt lost..then rules came in for 7 max...I am happy for that..now...flex between 4-9.....OUCH!

dbihl, BSN, RN · Dec 30, 2006

I work in the largest metro detroit hospital on a medical step-down unit, we get 3 patients normally and 4 is the max.

saguaro13 · Dec 30, 2006

OMG! The person from Detroit, what hospital do you work at! I want to apply there! I work at a suburban hospital on an ortho, etc. unit and reguarly, almost daily we have a ratio of 6-9:1 And sometimes we have no nurse aid or secretary!......6 is a good day....

Lovely RN · Dec 30, 2006

I work at a community hospital in Chicago telemetry 5-7 patients 12 hour days.

RunningWithScissors · Dec 30, 2006

I work cardiac progressive care and we have 5-6 pts on days, 6 nights.

We get trach pts on vents (sometimes they stay even after mutliple resp arrests on the floor) acute MI's, antiarrhythmic drips, peritoneal dialysis, dopamine for BP, NTG for chest pain, pull sheaths after coronary interventions, get pts transferred from other floors who are at risk for respiratory depression after procedures.....

They all come to us for a "higher level of care" than the floors, but we have JUST AS MANY patients per nurse as general med or surgery floors do!!!!

Plus, we only have 2 nursing assistants per floor for a 30-bed unit, sometimes no ward clerk, and a monitor tech, but you must chart your own strips every 8 hours.

snowfreeze, BSN, RN · Dec 30, 2006

I work telemetry in a teaching facility, SW PA. Daylight 4:1, evenings 5:1, nights 5:1. The highest number of patients I have had to take on a bad day on daylight is 6. It is nice to have a unit manager who backs up the nursing staff.

dbihl, BSN, RN · Dec 30, 2006

OMG! The person from Detroit, what hospital do you work at! I want to apply there! I work at a suburban hospital on an ortho, etc. unit and reguarly, almost daily we have a ratio of 6-9:1 And sometimes we have no nurse aid or secretary!......6 is a good day....

I work at Beaumont in Royal Oak. I work a medical step down form ICU or progressive care unit. Which hospital do you work at?

jamonit · Dec 30, 2006

in the PICU--1:1 or 2:1 at night. :behindpc:

wolfgirl · Dec 30, 2006

I work at a university hospital, on the rehab unit. We typically have 4-6 patients at night, no NA. Usually we don't need one, but sometimes it's just plain nuts. I came from another unit in the hospital, a surgical unit, and the typical ratio was 5:1 with an NA. Most of the units in the hospital run 5 or 6 to 1 at night, and most of them have at least one NA at night. Our hospital has a floating unit clerk at night to help with admits and things.

ginger58, ASN, RN · Dec 30, 2006

Medical 1 nurse to 5 (max) patients all shifts. Days has 1-2 CPs, 1 unit secretary, 15 beds. California.

bluesky, BSN, RN · Dec 30, 2006

Hi! I am agency now so I work many hospitals in the Washington D.C. area. I am an ICU nurse and my typical assignment is 2:1 unless we are boarding stepdowns and it's 3:1. I guess I'm blessed.