Name the nurse to patient ratio and the hospital in NY!

I just interviewed for a registered nurse position as a new graduate. I was told that the nurse to patient ratio is 10-12 patients per nurse that sounds very scary! Is that even safe? Please let me know the nurse to patient ratio in the hospitals in New York (5 boroughs especially) I am looking for another hospital to apply. I think I might decline the offer if offered. Please specify if it is night or day shift. I need advice I'd like to know what nurse to patient ratio you think is safe on a regular basis. Thanks a MILLION!!!
I'm LOST!!!! Last edit by JennyBSN on Apr 28, '11
Go online and look it up possibly with the board of nursing , dept of health od maybe the jcaho bka joint commission

10-12??? Are we talking long-term care pts. or actual acutely ill people? LTC is one thing but if this is an actual acute care floor my advise, sincerely offered, is not to walk but run like there is no tomorrow.My hospital has a maximum of 7 pts per nurse on nights, and that is the Med-Surg floor. The ratio only goes down from there, with max 6 on nocs for Telemetry, and 3:1 for ICU if the patients are stable, and 2:1 the norm and 1:1 for unstable ICU pts. Ayrman

exact same at my place a little further upstate. 7 max at night on med surg and it only goes down. I worked days with a 5-6 max and it was unbelievably busy and sometimes unsafe. Would never take more pts.

Quote from Ayrman10-12??? Are we talking long-term care pts. or actual acutely ill people? LTC is one thing but if this is an actual acute care floor my advise, sincerely offered, is not to walk but run like there is no tomorrow.Thank you so much for that advice. It is actually real acutely ill patients. Its a med surg floor/roaming alert and telemetry. Although I'm a new grad it sounded like it is too many patients to me. Thank you for letting me know that it is!Ayrman

at my old hospital the med/surg floors had up to 10 PTsPCU was 5:1ICU/CCU 3:1- Those are all the maxes

At lenox hill it's 6 to 9 patients per nurse. But usually about 7 on a med surg floor there. Cardiac I've been told is 5 to 1

What is the type of unit?

What is the type of unit?IT'S A COMBINATION MED/SURG UNIT IT HAS PATIENTS WITH TELEMETRY AND THEY ALL ARE ON ROAMING ALERT SO THEY HAVE THE BRACELET ON TOP OF IT! So as mentioned I was wondering if having 10-12 pts safe? But after asking around I think it's not. Thanks for asking.

On nights we have anywhere from 5-7 patients assuming we are fully staffed and all beds are full, which is usually the case. Sometimes on surgical floors the acuity might be lower because you start with say, 4 patients, expect 2-3 to come from the PACU so the beds stay booked, but then the patient may not stabilize until the morning which means you never actually got the additional patients. But 10-12?? That's a lot and sounds very unsafe, I wouldn't risk it.

Med-Surg/Tele and 10 patients? I'd turn it down. I work nights on a Med-Surg/Tele floor, and we get 5-7. One really horrible night I had 8 and almost tore my hair out. But we also only have 1 or 0 CNAs on my floor.I'd be worried you'd be risking your license.

Don't do it! You might feel like you desperately need a job right now, but I don't think you should even consider this one. It might end up costing more in the long run. I think the people who would make the decision to give a nurse 10+ patients are not nurses or haven't worked on the floor in such a long time that they have forgotten what it's like.

I should have listened to all of you. I accepted the job. The nurse to patient ratio is still 11, sometimes 10 if I'm lucky and orientation was only 6 weeks. Im left to "fend for myself with all these patients. I go home crying each time and I'm starting to dislike nursing! I have no time for the patients. I find myself telling them I'm sorry but ill be back and dont come back hours later. I'm so task oriented and miss the whole aspect of "patient centered carre" No time to talk to my patients. And did I mentioned we are not computerized so I spend time handwriting and figuring out nursing orders and notes. I'm miserable. What should I do? I have two children to feed and they are in private school and soon a mortgage since im looking to buy a home. I live in a not so good neighborhood! HELLPPPP!!!!!