PACU – Logistics
Who's Who?
- Rotation Education Director: XXX, M.D.
- Rotation Coordinator: XXX
- Division Lead: XXX, M.D.
Responsibilities
– Location: Ellison 3 PACU, Wang 3 CPC (beds 7-12) for ECT
– Support: PACU attending (an ICU attending assigned to PACU for day; generally does 30-45 mins of teaching around 2 p.m.), 2-3 NPs staffing other PACUs who can help with signouts during ECT/lectures, charge nurse
Responsibilities:
ECT: picking up/returning controlled substances and med box from pharmacy. Preparing and administering medications for patients undergoing ECT each morning; starts at 7:30. Occasionally will be asked to preop inpatient psych patients for ECT.
PACU
Signouts: seeing patients to assess readiness to leave PACU level of care (to CPC, to home, to floor, etc.). Nurses will write the patient’s room number on the whiteboard behind the resident desk in the column corresponding to dispo. NPs can help with signouts with the exception of pedi patients, who must be signed out by you or OR team.
Overnighters: admitting and caring for PACU overnight patients. These patients may have more care requirements than a regular floor patient but are not so sick they require ICU stay. Staffed with PACU attending. Lobectomies generally are overnighters. There is a board behind the nurses’ station in Ellison 3 that has the planned overnighters written on it each morning.
Consults: seeing patients to weigh in on addressing hypotension, agitation, PONV, pain control, CXR findings, concern for corneal abrasion. Nurses will put the room numbers on the board, find you, or page you depending on urgency. Occasionally, you will be asked to go to an OR to assess patient’s appropriateness for PACU admission (vs. overnight or ICU).
Late Stay
PACU Nights (PACU residents do not take OR call)
Hours: 5 p.m. – 7 a.m.
Location: Ellison 3 PACU, call room in suite of MOR call rooms
Support: SICU PM attending (gets signout from day PACU attending), charge nurse, R1
Responsibilities:
ECT: preparing list of patients for day resident along with doses of meds received during last treatment.
PACU:
Signouts: same as above.
Overnighters: same as above. Any new overnighters need to be approved by SICU attending.
Consults: same as above.
Didactics
Lecture: on the 2nd or 3rd Thursday of the month at 9:15 (depending on which week you are on days), the PACU resident gives a 20-30 min lecture to the nurses on a topic of their choosing. Usually is given in an empty patient room; you can use slides.