For those of you that work PACU, perhaps you can be of assistance to me....I work at a small hospital in Florida in Labor and Delivery. We do our own C/Sections and recover patients in our own PACU. Here's my question: our nurse manager is well aware of the fact that: A. There is only ONE person in recovery (even though I truly belive there is a state law in Florida that TWO people must be present in recovery due to a case that took place about 7 years ago where a male nurse was molesting patients that were incoherent) and B. most of the nurses recovering these patients (myself included) do NOT have ACLS nor do we have even a basic EKG training under our belts...in other words, we were told (and I QUOTE) "just put "yes" in the box that asks for the cardiac monitor dx" (as in, yes, they're on a monitor, but I have no friggin' idea what it says!) I am very nervous about this whole situation....and feel as though my manager is just trying to save a few bucks to make the budget look better (by not staffing the recovery room and not properly training the staff) when in the long run, I could be in jeapordy of losing my license, couldn't I??? I even asked my manager if she would "allow" me to take off a few Fridays so I could attend the one and only EKG course offered at my hospital and she told me no!! I sure don't want MY family having a baby where I work!!
