Jaesim

I worked in ICU for over 27 years and then went to PACU. It was a wonderful place to work until a year or so ago when the "climate" began to change. Now we often have patients for many hours as they wait for a bed to open up on the one surgical floor we have. We also have liberal visiting which should mean a brief visit in pacu, but often turns into families gathering at the beds and sitting in chairs when pts are delayed. We also get many ICU patients that stay for days in the pacu because there are no ICU beds available, and that means having "on call" nurses work around the clock to care for them. Be sure to check out how the pacu you are interested in working in functions, since not all are alike. We also should only have 2 patients at a time, but often have 3 in quick succession due to the OR schedule and the number of pacu nurses on duty. It can get quite chaotic, especially since a patient's condition can change very quickly as they emerge from anesthesia.

Thank you all for your answers. LLLovely had the answer that best explains how my pacu used to do it, until we were told we could not leave them at the bedside and HAD to carry or waste them. (I have dropped syringes on the floor when bending over, and also leaked into my pocket!) As of next month we are going on a computer system which will dictate that we waste for each dose. I can only imagine how many vials we will be going through each day to accommodate this new system, not to mention all the time we are going to be spending at the Pyxis med machine instead of at our patient's bedside.

hi, was wondering how other PACUs handle narcotics during a patient's stay. Do you hold them in your pocket when using only part of the syringe dose, leave it on the bedside table or waste after each dose? thanks.