Position Summary
- Under the leadership of the department Director, Surgical Services, the Registered Nurse - PACU is an active member of the department that collects data and provides comfort measures and care to post-operative patients.
- The PACU Nurse is responsible for providing care that is appropriate for the patient’s developmental age and is culturally sensitive.
- The PACU Nurse formulates an appropriate plan of care and analyzes the effectiveness of interventions while effectively interacting with patients, families other health team members.
- The PACU Nurse maintains standards of professional nursing.
- The PACU Nurse duties are of considerable difficulty and are based on scientific principles and standards of nursing practice.
Basic Qualifications
• Education:
- Requires an Associate’s degree in Nursing from an accredited school of nursing or completion of a degree from an accredited nursing school.
- Experience:
- Requires up to one year of work-related experience, or any equivalent combination of education, training and experience.
- Licensure, Registrations & Certifications:
Requires a current state license as a Registered Nurse and is listed in good standing with the state’s Department of Professional Credentialing.
Requires a current certification in Basic Life Saving (BLS). (If BLS verification is not current upon hire, it must be obtained within the orientation period, PALS, and ACLS.
Essential Job Responsibilities
- Obtains pre- surgery and surgical information, Conducts an assessment of patient’s condition (i.e., physical, emotional, age, etc.), documents findings and in conjunction with the medical notes, prepares a suitable post-operative plan of care for the patient, and modifies the plan of care as appropriate given changes in the patient’s condition.
- Performs basic nursing skill and treatments as prescribed by the physician or as indicated by the patient’s condition effectively and consistently.
- Receives post-surgical patients and assesses their conditions by monitoring the vital signs and recording the patient’s temperature, checking for any signs of pain, monitoring the respiratory system etc. and informing the physician of any significant changes, complications or anomalies.
- Arouses the patient from anesthesia after the patient has been operated upon, and monitors the recovery of the patients.
- Monitors the patient’s pain level and administers pain medications as ordered, suggests changes to medication based on the patient’s condition.
- Monitoring surgical site(s) for excessive bleeding, discharge, swelling, hematoma, redness, etc. and provides post-surgical wound care to avoid potential infections or complications.
- Coordinates the delivery of care for post-anesthesia patients immediately following surgical procedures with the peri-operative team so that the physical, psychological, safety, rehabilitative and educational needs of patients and their family members are met.
- Renders professional nursing care, including the administration of medicine and drugs, monitoring IV's and blood, monitoring EKG rhythms as well as routine treatments as prescribed by the physician or as indicated by the patient's condition.
- Uses professional judgment in treating patients and modifies the treatment and/or contacts the physician as appropriate.
- Provides patients and family members with post-surgical care instructions to help mitigate fears and to educate during the recovery process.
- Maintains records and charts of patients, reports to proper person pertinent information regarding the patient’s condition, medication given and treatments administered.
- Processes the release/discharge of the patients to appropriate nursing units or prepares the patient for hospital release, obtains necessary release signatures and provides them with their personal clothing and items securely stored during surgery.
- Participates in performance improvement studies and integrates performance improvement standards into patient care activities
- Remains current on innovations, developments, new procedures and techniques in nursing care in order to provide quality nursing care services.
