PACU RN requirements

I find that those without critical care experience have a "harder" time and are less adept at managing a high-level care patient.
They are slower (not dumber, mind you, just slower in a sense that things are not second nature).

I prefer working with someone who has a lot of experience because I know I do not have to "babysit"; although I do not mind being supportive to my colleagues, after a while I get tired of doing "everything" and thinking of "everything." Generally, I don't mind.

I understand that is the part of the environment we are in now as we have very few nurses even where I work with an extensive critical background, compared to 10 years ago when everyone who worked there was ONLY from ICU.

While I do agree that icu experience IS important and can be helpful for PACU nursing, about half of the nurses in our PACU dont have icu experience, myself included. I do not have to be "babysat" by anyone. I am more comfortable taking the critical/icu patients than some of the nurses who have been there for years and years. This was a huge struggle I faced when I entered PACU as a new grad. There are a lot of "this is the way things have been for years..." Well, things in nursing are changing. Nurses are needed everywhere. Many places are now offering residencies to train new grads or even experienced nurses new to an area. I think more nurses need to accept that nobody knows everything and we can all teach each other something. Maybe the perspective should change...if you have icu experience, help people learn, dont look at it as "babysitting". I love it when our more experienced nurses teach me things, it helps me become a better nurse. Be willing to teach and share your experience, but dont put others in a position lower than yourself, we are all nurses, you might even learn something from someone else.
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true! No one is perfect. Yet, no one should judge the others as burden when it comes to learning.

It is very difficult to work with someone without critical care experience. The problem comes the day you are without support (weekends?) on call and sometimes wheels right in through the ER.

You have to be able to handle WHATEVER it is--especially when your anesthesia doc is busy dealing with some other issues.

At night. Geez, now my heart is palpitating..

Would like to recieve feed back from ER nurses who are now working PACU ....pros and cons of PACU nursing, I noticed there are different levels of PACU noted on this blog, which level would an ER type training fit in, etc.... or PACU nurses who have worked with an ER transplants......do ER nurses on average adjust well to this line of work and do they end up staying in PACU

I am an ER transplant to our PACU and outpatient surgery. There are many similarities to ER and PACU- the need for excellent assessment skills, IV proficiency, cardiac rhythm interpretation, short patient stays, strong organizational skills, etc. I had a lot to learn when I transferred to PACU, but I also feel that I had a good background of critical care/thinking skills that made the transition easier. I loved ER, but I think that PACU is the next best thing (better hours and a bit more controlled environment). I have been in PACU for 10 years, so I guess I like it!

Phase I is the immediate post op period when patients are emerging from anesthesia and require the most intensive monitoring. Phase II recovery continues with monitoring of vital signs, pain control, and preparing the patient for discharge home. Both of these levels of care are very similar to what you do in ER- assess, monitor, intervene, evaluate, and teach. It's very rewarding!

Im a fairly new nurse with only a few months of med/surg and a few months of OB experience. I got into the PACU training program at a level 1 trama center where I work and I am going crazy with how difficult the training really is. The hardest part is trying to take an ICU competancy exam without ever having set foot in an ICU! I would say its ideal to have ICU experience, but I also think if the training program is extensive enough, as this one is, it should be sufficient.