Postanesthesia care unit nursing: just watching.
The recovery room was one of the first units in the hospital to be specialized, and it dramatically decreased the complications and mortality rate of postoperative patients; but, like anything that has been around for a long time, the PACU is sometimes taken for granted, and can be regarded as a place where patients just sleep while nursing care consists of taking blood pressures. In reality, PACUs have kept abreast of the advances in technology, and are even more necessary today with the increased acuity of surgical patients and shorter hospital stays. To the PACU nurse, it is an exciting place where the status of the patient changes rapidly, and requires constant, astute observation and intervention as he or she is guided safely from one stage of emergence to another.
Tricarico
P M
PM
Good Samaritan Hospital, Dayton, OH, USA. pmtricarico@juno.com
D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D006801:Humans; D007587:Job Description; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000523:psychology*; D016528:Postanesthesia Nursing / Q000458:organization & administration*