Post-anesthesia care unit

Post-anesthesia care unit
"PACU" redirects here. For the fish, see Pacu.

A post-anesthesia care unit, often abbreviated PACU and sometimes referred to as post-anesthesia recovery or PAR, is a vital part of hospitals, ambulatory care centers, and other medical facilities. It is an area, normally attached to operating theater suites, designed to provide care for patients recovering from anesthesia, whether it be general anesthesia, regional anesthesia, or local anesthesia.

Contents

Common activities

The PACU staff, generally composed of highly trained nurses are charged with many vital tasks for the care of post-anesthesia and post-operative patients. These essential activities include:-

These common activities may often need supplementing with more intensive care or treatment. This may require :

  • Preparation and education for the use of Patient Controlled Analgesia (PCA) units
  • Preparation and establishment of IV, epidural or perineural infusions
  • Preparation and establishment of invasive monitoring such as arterial lines, central venous lines, ventriculostomies, etc.

Post-operative complications

Occasionally, serious life threatening complications, such as laryngospasm, respiratory arrest, or malignant hyperthermia can arise post-anesthesia. Patients are cared for with interdisciplinary measures from Anesthesiologists, Certified Nurse Anesthetists or CRNA's, PACU nurses and Surgeons. Patients may remain or have to be re-intubated due to anaphylaxis, pulmonary edema, pneumothorax, or complications from surgery such as extended operative time and long-term exposure to anesthesia and narcotics. Unless complications occur, most patients will only stay in the PACU for a few hours, before returning home or to another department of the hospital.

See also

External links


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно решить контрольную?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Post anesthesia care unit — PACU redirects here. For the fish, see Pacu (fish). A post anesthesia care unit, often abbreviated PACU, is a vital part of hospitals, ambulatory care centers, and other medical facilities. It is an area, normally attached to operating theatre… …   Wikipedia

  • Anesthesia provision in the US — Anesthesia provision in the United States refers to practice of administering anesthesia in the United States. Anesthesia can be administered independently by anesthesiologists or by nurse anesthetists. Anesthesia providers… …   Wikipedia

  • Intensive-care unit — ICU room An intensive care unit (ICU), critical care unit (CCU), intensive therapy unit/intensive treatment unit (ITU) or High Dependency Unit (HDU) is a specialized department in a hospital that provides intensive care medicine. Many hospitals… …   Wikipedia

  • Coronary care unit — A coronary care unit (CCU) is a hospital ward specialized in the care of patients with heart attacks, unstable angina, Cardiac dysrhythmia and (in practice) various other cardiac conditions that require continuous monitoring and treatment.… …   Wikipedia

  • Intensive care unit — An intensive care unit (ICU), critical care unit (CCU), intensive therapy unit or intensive treatment unit (ITU) is a specialized department used in many countries hospitals that provides intensive care medicine. Many hospitals also have… …   Wikipedia

  • Nursing unit — A nursing unit is an area in a hospital or other health care delivery setting where patients with similar needs are grouped to facilitate the delivery of care by health care professionals trained in that specialty. Typically a nurse manager or… …   Wikipedia

  • Critical care nursing — is the field of nursing with a focus on the utmost care of the critically ill or unstable patients. Critical care nurses can be found working in a wide variety of environments and specialties, such as emergency departments and the intensive care… …   Wikipedia

  • Mobile Intensive Care Ambulance — MICA Single Responder in Melbourne. Australian Mobile Intensive Care Ambulances are well equipped ambulances staffed by highly trained paramedics dispatched to emergency situations where patients require a higher level of care than a regular… …   Wikipedia

  • PACU — Post Anesthesia Care Unit (Medical) …   Abbreviations dictionary

  • Surgery — This article is about the medical specialty. For other uses, see Surgery (disambiguation). A cardiothoracic surgeon performs a mitral valve replacement at the Fitzsimons Army Medical Center. Surgery (from the Greek …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”