I have 26 residents to one nurse. Is this normal? I feel like it is impossible to provide the care I would want for a family member.
Yes that's normal in a nursing home setting. I've worked with 45 with one nurse. No they don't get the care they deserve. I'm retired now but nurse to patient ratio is so dangerous. Protect your license!!!!
If you are at a long term facility.I totally agree about the care and all you can do is do the best you can and pray before you get there.Health care needs to change and not to make the nurse job easier but more efficient and safer.
Unfortunately, this is the typical ratio in Nursing Homes. You are not going to be able to provide the care you would like to your patients. It is frustrating but do your best. You have to rely heavily on your CNAs /LNAs to carry out those task you would want to do but cannot; as long it is within their scope of duty. Cutting finger nails, shaving, oral care etc should be delegated to CNAs as long as there are no disease processes that prevent that ( Diabetes etc).
It is hard to provide treatment and do medpass so you will have to develop a strategy as to whose treatments are priority and do those first. Then for simple treatments, you can ask the oncoming nurse to do those. Just make sure to document that treatment was not done on your shift.
The truth is that there are some nursing homes where you will never be able to provide adequate care because the treatments and med pass are heavy. Then there are other places where there is a treatment nurse in addition to a med nurse. Still there are facilities where you have really good CNA s that are willing to do their jobs as they should, thus making your job less stressful. You will eventually find the perfect place where you can provide great care within the timeframe allowed.
Sadly, yes, this is normal. Many nursing homes are designed with four halls, about 25 beds each, plus the kitchen, rehab center & admin. office. We nurses often get over-worked. You have to triage and take care of the most critical patients first. As a rule of thumb, I try to do all my vital signs as soon as I can.
My Lvns typically handle 18-20. If you have a treatment nurse, possibly 26 is doable
Unfortunately, this is the norm. I worked for years in LTC and in Rehab. My advice is to develop at team approach with the CNAs/PCAs. They can be an incredible source of information, being your eyes and ears. It can be challenging and chaotic at times. I know ER nurses and the like that picked up shifts when they were on strike and "ran". Trust and develop your assessment skills and if a patient needs to go to the hospital, send them. Good luck, these elders need good nurses that care.
Each state has rules for nursing care. However critical care differs from acute hospital which differs from those in skilled nursing. You need to ask the Board of registered nursing (or equivalent) in your state for the regulations and type of care you are expected to give.
Unfortunately this is the normal for the past 15+ years. Which is why I will no longer work in Longterm Care, Assisted living is even more residents plus monitoring NAC’s and Med Tech’s. It used to be no more than 18-20 max. You could do all your assessments, ensure your residents and their families needs are met or that you are working on meeting their needs and wishes. You could do skin care, assessments and call the doctors for whatever changes etc you would find.
Those were the good old days.
You can if you are treating long term care paitients with long term care orders written by long term care physicians...not acute care.
That's Actually, pretty Typical. What do you mean by care?
I used to have 40-45 patients during my 8-hour shift. I did not take break most of the time. During covid the number of beds increased to 80 patients due to staff shortage. So, I'm not surprised.
Unfortunately, yes, this number even seems low in comparison to the ratios I encounter in Florida.. between 30-36 patients: 1 nurse, maybe 2-3 CNAs covering the same amount of patients.
Nurses barely have time to leisurely have conversations with patients, let alone assess 30 patients in a shift while giving meds throughout 90% of the shift’s hours.
