Working in long-term care can be overwhelming. Imagine you are a new graduate nurse putting your new knowledge and skills into practice for the first time. Your orientation lasted three days, which is standard for home orientation for nurses, compared to hospital orientation which lasts approximately six to eight weeks for new graduates. The change has just begun and you already have a new admission, a new pressure ulcer to evaluate, a possible drug reaction, several new prescriptions to pick up, and eight patients to document for various reasons. Feelings of frustration and confusion take over as you are the only nurse on the unit with one certified medical technician (CMT) and three certified nursing assistants (CNA) caring for 47 patients. The ideal nurse-patient ratio continues to be a national issue, both in hospitals and long-term care (LTC) facilities. In long-term care facilities, there is no official nurse-to-patient ratio; there is a suggested staff-to-patient ratio. This problem affects not only new registered nurses, but also seasoned nurses. Recently, there have been controversial debates about whether heavy workloads are detrimental to patients. Federal, state, and local governments regulate many aspects of health care. However, it is doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals who provide care directly to patients. Therefore, understaffing, heavy workloads, and unsupportive work environment directly contribute to low patient satisfaction, nurse burnout, high staff turnover, and job dissatisfaction? In nursing schools, nurses learn to apply the nursing process to administer care safely and effectively. However, this value does not always coincide with that of the employer. Instead, this is the middle of reporting to Congress. (2001). Relevance of minimum nurse staffing ratios in retirement homes. http://www.allhealth.org/briefingmaterials/Abt-NurseStaffingRatios.Gregory, L., A. An analysis of nursing home quality measures and staffing. (December 21, 2010). Internet. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3006165/.Nelson, A., Powell-Cope, G., Palacios, P., Luther, L.S., Black, T., Hillman, T ., Christiansen, B., . . . . Nathenson, P., (2007). Internet. Rehabilitation nursing. Nurse staffing and patient outcomes in hospital and rehabilitation settings. Rehabilitation Nursing, Vol. 32, 179-200.Vahey, CD, Aiken, HL, Sloane, MD, Clarke, PS, & Vargas, D. (January 15, 2010).Web. US National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health. Nurse Burnout and Patient Satisfaction. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2904602/