Published
I have worked surgery/holding/ PACU for a little over 2 years now. I take call for PACU only. I love PACU! At our hospital it is patient care 1:1 for kids and critical patients. Every once in a while we can have up to 3 to take care of in an hour. It is never that way on call though. I usually take care of one at a time and occasionally 2. The great thing about PACU is you get a variety of patients with different problems and usually have them for an hour or a little over an hour and you send them to their room. Spinal patients I send them up when they start wiggling their legs. You learn alot about pain management. Hypertension is a problem here where I live so when they finally get to recovery their blood pressure is back up and we treat that with the 2 main drugs we use in recovery labatelol and apresoline. The only thing I dislike is the call. Don't get me wrong, I make alot of money with the call, I just don't like not knowing when I will be getting called. I have 3 kids and its hard having to take care of them and call. I do make more money then the rest of the nurses in the hospital, mainly because of the call. Good luck to you with your decision!
Angela, RN
I work mon-fri. 6:30am to 3pm regular scheduled days. I take call 1 to 2 times a week and 1 weekend a month. Our call is split between 4 people. When someone is off on vacation we have a extra day of call. or early weekend of call. The days I am on call, I just have to stay in town. I carry a pager and a cell phone. I get paid 2.00/hr for call after 3pm to 6:30a.m. Time and a half if I get called out plus 10.00 per each case I do. Other than that I am free to do what I want after hours if I am not on call.
essarge
1,250 Posts
I graduate in May with my RN. I am currently working on a med/surg floor and have almost a years experience in ER, both as assistants/tech. I have recently found that there is an opening in PACU and have talked to the nurse manager about it. She is interested in my training for the RN position once I graduate and feels that this would help me hit the floor at least at a slow jog.
I would like to know, those of you that have worked in PACU, what your duties were, how you liked/disliked your job, and anything else that you might think would help me make a good decision.
Thanks!