Connecticut Children's Medical Center's PACU serves
patients ranging in age from 0-18 years who require complex
surgery as well as elective day surgery, or procedures that
require sedation and/or analgesia.
Our Department
Our unit
consists of a preoperative unit, an isolation room,
procedure rooms (including: bronchoscopy, dental,
dermatology laser, endoscopy, and cardiac catheterization),
and our main Post Anesthesia Care Unit (PACU). Both, our
preoperative unit and PACU, have 11 patient bays each. We
care for 25-55 cases per day. The surgical services offered
are orthopedics, ear/nose/throat, cardiothoracic,
opthamology, general surgery, urology, gastroenterology,
plastics, oralmaxillofacial, denistry, trauma, and hand
surgery.
Patients who require intensive care proceed directly to the
PICU from the OR. However, all newly hired PACU nurses will
be oriented to the PICU as well in order to provide care to
these patients if needed.
Our
Technology
The preoperative unit has Phillips monitors in 6 of the
patient bays, and every PACU bay has a monitor as well. New
to the unit (and CCMC) are our new Masimo oximeters. We
have one in every monitored bay throughout the unit, as well
as a portable oximeter for transport. We use a transport
monitor for cardiopulmonary monitoring if indicated.
Our Nurses
The PACU/DSU has a diverse staff of highly skilled nurses
with varied background experience and education. We are
currently looking to the American Society of PeriaAnesthsia
Nurses (ASPAN) to set our unit standards as our template for
staffing, and patient care.
Our leadership consists of Director of Perioperative
Services, Tom Callan, nurse manager, Beth Cannon and an
assistant nurse manager, Melanie Marcotte-Feinberg.
Our Orientation Process
Orientation to the PACU/DSU includes courses offered through
the new Nursing Residency Program as well as a PACU Core Day
and a PICU core day. New staff are oriented on both units
with an assigned preceptor for an estimated length of time
determined at the time of hire. Orientation is structured
to meet the needs of the new staff member and is continually
evaluated by the managers and educators.
Our Educational Opportunities
Continuing education is offered both on the unit and through
the Education and Development department. In-services on
the unit are scheduled on a regular basis to keep staff
updated on new information, changes, new procedures, and any
job-related topic.
The PACU offers shadow experiences to affiliate hospitals’
PACU nurses. We also offer experiences to clinical nursing
students and winter and summer nursing interns.
