PACU call

SmBasol · Sep 16, 2015

When I worked in PACU, we had to be at work within 45 min of getting called in. They gave us more time because it was policy to call us in as soon as the patient got to the OR. I am sure the policy varies by each hospital though.

brownbook · Sep 16, 2015

My guess is that with a critically ill/injured patient they like all the OR crew, including the PACU nurse, to be there just as a second set of hands...someone to run to the lab to get blood or take ABG's down, mix up drips, etc. The hundred of little things that can be done to help out in an emergency.

I would be honest with the manager, if you are a good candidate I can't think 10 to 15 minutes would make that big a difference? Maybe on the off commute/traffic hours you'd be driving it would be closer to 30 minutes?

Jemrick · Sep 30, 2015

Just have them call you in when they call the OR team. That would give you the extra time to get there.

twozer0, NP · Sep 30, 2015

All these ER nurses wanting to go to PACU! Our policy is 45 minutes from the time you receive the call. If you are beyond this, and a few of our nurses are, they stay in the call room.

Jemrick · Sep 30, 2015

Something wrong with ex ED nurses coming to PACU jobs?

twozer0, NP · Oct 1, 2015

Something wrong with ex ED nurses coming to PACU jobs?

Not at all, I'm an ex ER nurse myself. I think the skillset pairs well with the ED. We just hired another staff member to replace an someone who moved and she is from the ER (I worked with her in the past). The two prior hires after me were also from the ED. Just seems to be a large influx of people wanting out of the ED (I dont blame them).

hsckid9, BSN, MSN · Oct 4, 2015

I would check with the manager to see why it is required that you be able to be there within 30 minutes. Where I work, a large academic trauma hospital, PACU nurses can be called in anytime the OR gets busy. The PACU is staffed 24/7 but if the OR gets busy we will have to call staff in. There are different factors that affect the volume of the PACU. The OR is not always able to know exactly when their cases will come out and we don't always know how long it will take patients to recover therefore if we have a few patients that are taking a while to recover sitting in the PACU and we unexpectedly have mutiple cases all closing at the same time we might have to call someone in and need them to be there quickly. I hope that helps.

azhiker96, BSN, RN · Oct 5, 2015

We also have 45 minutes to come in. A couple of nurses who live farther away choose to sleep onsite to make the time deadline.

It is standard to have the PACU staffed whenever a patient is in the OR. The main reason is you can never really be sure how long the patient will be in surgery. Just a few months ago we had a patient show up in PACU minutes after entering the OR for a 5 hour surgery. He had a poor response to induction and the case had to be cancelled. We recovered the patient until he was stable enough to transport to MICU.

There can be other reasons. On traumas PACU nurses have helped with massive blood transfusions, transferring the pt, room turnover, and codes. All PACU RNs are required to have ACLS and PALS at my facility. The circulators have neither so we are expected to help during codes.

Mavrick, BSN, RN · Oct 18, 2015

We have a 30 minute call-in time for consistency. The OR nurse is supposed to "best guess" when pt is 30 minutes out and to call in the 2 PACU nurses. That gives us 30 minutes to get there. Sometimes the pt is already out and everyone is standing around waiting for you to get the monitor turned on etc, sometimes you have to wait a bit and can get yourself a cup of coffee etc. You can't expect the OR nurse to keep up with who needs 45 minutes or more.

They don't want you coming in too early and sitting around at time and a half. Some cases can be 2-3 hours long so it doesn't make economic sense to call the PACU nurses the same time you call in the OR nurses.

If you live 7 minutes away, as one of our nurses does, then he can take his sweet ole time, take a shower, drive thru Dunkin' Donuts etc and still get there in 30 minutes.

dah doh, BSN, RN · Oct 18, 2015

30 minute call time is what I'm familiar with at both my hubby's hospital and mine. Luckily my hubby lives super close to the hospital, but he says it's still painful to get out of bed at 0200 to recover 1 patient then go home!