I DO work in a magnet hospital and our ratios ARE good (5 patients to 1 RN)...it's STILL brutal.
The pace is the killer. As soon as you d/c a patient (under five minutes for sure) you get another patient. I think it's BECAUSE we are a Magnet hospital that we're sooooo busy!
The tower I work in is brand new. It was NOT designed by a nurse...there are 3 nurse stations and sometimes you get a split assignment and you're on two stations! The rooms (as in "your patients!") can literally be 200 yards away from you. We've had nurses wear pedometers and they are literally walking 7 to 10 miles a shift. It seems what they took away by giving us decent ratios, they made up for it by making the rooms sooooo far apart????
MOST of our nurse assistants DON'T do accu-checks! Yikes!
I agree with your points, however, that you've got to offer solutions along with your complaints and DATA is all powerful!!!
Believe me, my "wish list" included tons of solution-oriented suggestions...we'll see!