Help with information on patient ratio staffing

1 Hi folks,

I am doing a presentation on patient to ratio staffing for school. I found a ton of information about it on Massachusetts Nurses Association but I can't find anything on who sets these ratios. Can anyone help me in this area. I am assuming each hospital department sets their own but I am not sure . Thanks!
Texas requires each hospital to have a Safe Staffing Committee. When ours first convened we spent time learning what the standards were for various types of nursing. Bottom line, every patient is different. If you set a specific ratio then the patient may not get the care they need and the nurse may be overworked. Or should I say, MORE overworked? Some recommendations by professional nursing organizations provided us with evidence based references to give to Administration. But the truth is, if people do not want to come in there is not a lot you can do. If you hire too many, then on low census days people get sent home. Hard to plan a budget (home and job) around that.

Here a link explaining the system in Washington State.http://www.wsna.org/Topics/Safe-Nurse-Staffing/Our hospital safe staffing committee had representation from each department as well as management. Granted, the administration did not have to accept the committee proposals, but they did.In our facility, it is ultimately up to each department manager to determine their staffing/ratios and skill mix based on patient needs and budget. I fear with the next fiscal year we will losing a lot of support staff, and though the RN staffing may remain the same, we will be doing more non-nursing tasks.

They are studied by many groups including Joint Commision and the professional oranizations for specialties....http://tinyurl.com/3wez9cu

are there any Massachusetts nurses? I know I spoke with a NICU nurse and they used some type of grid? I didn't quite understand it?

Quote from maddymc55are there any Massachusetts nurses? I know I spoke with a NICU nurse and they used some type of grid? I didn't quite understand it?

Hi,Do you have a grid you can email me? That would be great! Thanks!!

Could you possibly resend that martix information. I think I lost it? Thanks so much for your help!