chickhatz

I'm in Canada

lol thanks I needed the giggle. Do all your patient's come out without tubes? Now by tubes I mean ETT, LMA and the occasional nasal ETT for dental surgery.

When responding can you please let me know what province you are in? I'm in Ontario.

Many times we stabilize the ICU patient's there is also usually a bed issue in ICU so they don't go direct. Many of our cardiovascular surgeries they like to remain close to the OR so they stay in PACU and go to the ICU after an hour or so.

I would guess that 90% of our patients are tube. The anesthesia department feels it helps quicken OR turnover times if we finish their anesthetic.

I should also add that these Pre-op patients also include children. On the weekend PACU staff admit around 6 patients which we use to leave in the waiting room. Now these walking patient's are expected to sit in PACU waiting their turn in the OR as there is no one in the waiting room to assess them. Thank you for your input OlivetheRN and Rose_Queen.

Can your pre-op patient's see your post op patients? Unfortunately we do not have call bells. Our PACU has 12 bays and we accommodate 11 OR's. We have bed flow issues at the best of times. By pulling a curtain around the pre-op patient we would not be monitoring them as per hospital standards. As our PACU very small family is not able to attend with the patient, hence the anxiety level of these patient's increases as the watch patient's coming in fighting and tubed. They have long stays at times which adds to the patient and families anxiety.

The joy of PACU is the fast turnover rate. Even if a patient is mentally unstable they will be moving on to another area within an hour. Enjoy, and I agree every area has it's issues.

Hello All: Anyone else out there work in a (PACU) Phase I recovery unit, that also has pre-operative patients in the room with tubed recovering patients? Hospital management has stated we will be accepting Pre-operative patients to PACU after 1500 hrs and on the weekends. The support systems of these patients would wait in the waiting room. We do procedures on children and there is no exception for parents to attend in the PACU. This has come about as the transportation system in my hospital is unreliable as to the time the patient would be brought to the OR once the OR nurse has called for the patient. OR staff currently call hour(s) prior to when the next patient would be going into the OR. Wait times for these patients are increasing with anesthesia leaving to attend elsewhere in the hospital and surgeons not present or available to start their case. Patients have been bumped waiting for an acute case and left waiting in the PACU till this case is completed. We have had two breaches of privacy and one patient had an anxiety attack witnessing what the general public doesn't get to see in a recovery room that takes tubes. Anyone else have any experience with this or guidance?