What's your nurse pt ratio?

[Genista]

I am curious what skill mix others have & what nurse patient ratios are in other hospitals. For those of you who are willing to share:

What's your nurse patient ratio?

What shift?

What floor/setting?

Who else is on your "team" (ie CNA, LPN, etc)?

Are you adequately staffed, in your opinion?

Do you get off work on time usually?

Are you usually able to take a 30 min lunch break each shift?

I'll share about the floor I have worked on the past 3 years...it's a union hospital where the dayshift RN on renal/med/tele has 4-5 patients and "covers" anywhere from 2-4 of an LVN. It's a high acuity floor. We have 1 CNA per 12 patients and one teletech to help with orders & monitoring.Our pm RNs get 5-6 patients each, and NOCs gets 6 pts each and no CNA. I know that sounds really dreamy to some of you! ;-) Despite this supposedly great staffing, we nurses run our *@$% off and are overtime everyday 30 min- 1 hr, as we try to finish up all the charting we didn't have time to do during the shift. We try to take our breaks, but most days we just don't have time.

It really scares me that some other local hospitals staff with 7-8 pts per RN on day shift on the acute floors. There is no way those patients are getting the care they need.

Tell me what it's like where you work! Thanks! This should be interesting:eek:

[New CCU RN]

I'm in CCU ..large teaching hospital..we get the sick patients transfered from the outside hospitals all the time. We generally are pretty close to full .....especially right now...seems to be the season!!!! When we are not full with CCU patients you bet we get overflow from the 4 other adult ICU's in our hospital. Our charge nurse will take an assignment. We also are part of the code team and so we need a nurse to be the code responder and we try and hold a code bed open as well.

We have hired over half our staff during the past year.....at one point had been 50% agency or supplemental staff....yes....we were real bad at one point. So now the problem is more related to experience of the staff....but we are over 85% staffed at this time...YAY!!!!! So things will get better.

I work rotating shifts... self scheduling thank goodness so it is not to bad...most nurses work the 12 hr shifts.... staffing does not change regardless of days or nights. I usually get my half hr break and even have enough time usually to run off the unit and grab a coffee in the morning. Some days you do have to stay late..... usually it is more bc of report taking to long...we have a central report were the charge gives a brief synopsis of each patient and the assignment is decided..then you have to go get bedside report on your patients....so it can get lengthy sometimes...that is what keeps you generally....

[New CCU RN]

oh....forgot to post...we are all RNs

[jschut, BSN, RN]

7p -7a

1 nurse, usually me, for 60 patients between 10p and 6a.

and 1, maybe 2 CNA's.

[jenac]

I'll throw in another LTC for comparison-on dayshift, we have four "halls, about 100 pt.'s total (25 per hall), four nurses (one per hall, and a tx nurse (part-time). Generally we have 3 CNA's, if we're lucky and everyone is well and there. On days I work tx-I can have anywhere from 15-24 treatments, per day, plus paperwork. Some more intense than others, of course. On the floor- I usually don't get a full 30 minutes for lunch-at times, I can't find five minutes to sit and chart! Some days are worse than others.

[lee1]

CCU

Trauma level I doing heart/kidney transplants

14 beds but 2 split units---1 -9 beds, the other 5, far enough apart that you can not mix staff except for CCT (techs)

So, RN ratio 1:2 pts, unless IABP, CVVH, LVAD (if stable LVAD then 1:2) or any other condition that may create 1:1 status---severe cardiogenic shock, GI bleed (that should be in MICU), too many bedside procedures

1 charge nurse each shift that may or may not have a pt.

CCTs--2 each shift for the 14 beds

Unit clerks--1 each shift for the 14 beds

Hostess druing the daytime to clean rooms/stock supply lockers and we have also pt supply lockers in each room.

1 daytime pharmacist with tech stationed between MICU/CCU

MICU is 16 beds

RN management

1 day HN

1 evening HN

1 Director

[ayemmeff]

1 Rn + 1 nursing assistant for 12 pre/post op patients, (17 patients on night shift)

[FullMoonMadness]

Telemetry and hold over from busy cardiac cath lab.on a good day 5-1 with one cna covering floor.on a bad day 7-1.we also have free floating charge nurse. our nurse manager will not allow the house suprvisor to admit more to our floor w/o getting us extra help. it has not always been this way,but its amazing what a few negative outcomes that were undeniably linked to poor staffing ratio can do.These numbers are for night shift and its not unusual for us to intake 3-4 outpatient caths in the am between 6-7 oclock

[mamabear]

RN

Adult psych, acute. Nothing longer than a 90-day commitment.

1 RN and 1 psych tech/aide; 2 techs if we have somebody in 4-way restraints/locked seclusion.

Anything from 1:3 to 1:14:eek:

Our acuity system is a joke!