1PACURN

Thank you....this is a great option for us here. I will try to push it up the chain. Thanks.

Thanks for the feedback. We are also a level II center with 3 to 11 staff. I have been trying to get support from the OR RNs for some time now. I Will continue down that road. I think that will be our saving grace. The push back here with the OR is "what if a trauma comes in?". How do you guys handle that. I know here the OR team has to respond immediately and if we have a bad patient in the PACU that could create a huge issue. Who would stay with the PACU nurse or has that even been an issue for you? Thanks again,

I am faced with a recent delimma in our PACU. We live in an area with a lot of military where nurses come and go. Our volumes have dipped a little and a couple of RNs have left. We are down to only 8 RNs in the PACU to work 40 hour work weeks and cover "On Call" hours (M-F 11p to 8 a., Sat & Sun. 24hrs). We are essentially working over 100 hours a month "On Call" and everyone is exhausted. We strickly follow the ASPAN Standards with having 2 RNs "On Call', but are finding it very difficult to cover ourselves. We are also about to lose one additional RN out on FMLA so we are soon to have only 7 RNs. How are other PACU's meeting the Standard with minimal staff? Is anyone utilizing the ICU to recover? Open to see what the Pro's and Con's are on any suggestions. Thanks, Exhausted