I am starting my nurse externship in the PACU this Summer was just wondering about what an everyday work shift in the PACU looked like/what to expect, personal experiences with the PACU/how you got into the unit/why you chose the unit!

I work 07-1730 10 hr shift in our cardiac PACU. I mainly recover post EP /ablation , cardiac devices who had general anesthesia. Upin arrival to my unit , anesthesia docs give us a quick report as to what was given prior to induction of anesthesia, what meds were given in procedure room , vital signs and pertinent patient history . We do quick temperature , hook up to monitor . Anesthesiologists are interested in temperature first ( for possible MH) then O2 sats and BP . FSBS are done if diabetic. 12 lead ekg are done too. Airway is a priority ! Patients are categorized as phase 1 or phase 2. Phase 1 means 1:1 ratio until pt’s VS stabilize or with arterial line . Phase 2 when they are awake and most invasive lines are out. The bay where pt recovers are equipped with ekg monitoring , Art line bp plus cuff bp, I2 sats. All recorded in EMR every 15 min. Suction and Airway management supplies are within reach. I have been a cardiac nurse for 40 plus years , did procedural cath lab , now mainly pre and post cardiac care . I have always been fascinated with cardiac . I started as a pediatric nurse , moved to geriartric , then to cardiac .

I worked Monday-Friday(1/2 Saturday once monthly), 8 hrs daily, no holidays, no nights, (after a few years I started working 4-10 hour days) in a GI ambulatory surgical center PACU for colonoscopies, gastroscopies, sigmoidoscopies.
Patients received either Versed/Fentanyl or Propofol. Versed/Fentanyl would make patients nauseous so we switched to Propofol. With Propofol they woke up quicker and not groggy.
The patients stayed in PACU for 15-20 minutes (you have to get VS q 5 minutes) and I was responsible for 2 patients at a time. It was a busy place with 3 MDs working at the same time, so you had to stay on top of things and get patients in and get them out to make room for more incoming patients. Plus you have to clean your bays after they leave, strip the stretcher of all sheets, blankets, pillow cases, and wipe down everything including stretcher and pillow, and move stretcher out—usually in an unoccupied overflow bay. Main job was to encourage patients to fart to get all excess air out so they didn’t cramp and cry lol. They can have a snack and drink if they get their air out. No snacking or drinking for the non-farting crowd because you will then be dealing with their N+V and their extended stay. I liked working there for 11 years because I also worked Pre-op and procedure room. You won’t get a lot of different nursing experience like you would in a Med/Surg floor in the hospital, but I had been there, done that. I took that job because my friend worked there and she got me in . I was working in a dermatologist office but I was bored there. I now do home infusion nursing and I would never go back to punching a time clock again! I love one on one with patients.