The number of patients a nurse may care for with reasonable skill and safety should be determined by evaluation of the nurse's educational preparation, experience and competencies; acuity of the patients; layout of the facility and equipment; and other resources available for care of the patient.

Pursuant to the Nursing Practice Law and the Administartive Code of the Board of Nursing, the registered nurse shall be held accountable for the quality of nursing care given to patients. This includes, but is not limited to, assessing the patient's needs, formulating a nursing diagnosis, planning for, implementing and evaluating the nursing care in the promotion and maintenance of health of each patient for whom responsibility has been accepted. Furthermore, the registered nurse is accountable for the quality of nursing care given by self or others being supervised. The registered nurse may assign nursing duties to other qualified personnel; assign duties of medication administration or patient medications to other licensed nurses only except as set out in 30 Miss. Admin. Code, Part 2860, Chpater 1; and assign duties for giving patient treatments to licensed nurses and/or auxiliary workers based upon knowledge of their education preparation and experience. However, the registered nurse remains accountable for the acts delegated. Negligently or willfully acting in a manner inconsistent with the health and safety of the persons under the licensee's care, including, but not limited to, inappropriately delegating or accepting a patient assignment, and assuming duties and responsibilities in the practice of nursing when competency has not been maintained may compromise the health and safety of patients and are grounds for disciplinary action against the nurse's license.

The licensed nurse is responsible for assuring he/she is educated and competent to care for the number of patients assigned, to perform necessary procedure(s), or to administer medication(s) prior to accepting such a patient assignment or task. Federal and state regulations contain mandates and regulate healthcare staffing. In situations regarding consistent understaffing, the nurse should be aware of federal and state regulations regarding the facility's responsibility to assure safe staffing and avenues to report this situation when the nurse feels that it endangers the patient's health and safety. A Condition of Participation in the Federal Regulations governing hospital services mandates that the "hospital have an organized nursing service that provides 24 hour nursing services." Regulations further state that "the Director of Nursing Services is responsible for the operation of the service including the types and numbers of nursing personnel as needed. Nursing administration duties include a review of nursing staffing and making adjustments for absenteeism, as necessary." The Federal regulations also mirror the Nursing Practice Law by state the "registered nurse must assign the nursing care of each patient to other personnel in accordance with the patient's needs and the specialized qualifications and competencies of the nursing staff available." State regulations for hospitals state that the facility must provide nursing services for each unit sufficient to meet the needs of the patients. There are similar state and federal regulations for other health care facilities.