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S P E E D Y
R E C O V E R Y
and avoid PONV, the 2 most frequently cited causes of prolonged recovery in our nationwide survey of 190 surgical facility managers.
Pain (68.0%) and PONV (55.2%) topped the list (survey respondents
could indicate all that applied), followed by extended observation
(23.2%), patient hasn't voided (22.7%), hemodynamic instability (16.0%) and hypothermia (4.4%). Other less-obvious reasons cited for prolonged recovery included anesthesia (oversedation and duration of the neuraxial block), paperwork delays to logistics (no bed available in PACU, and no ride available in the parking lot), to physicians who visit the bedside to speak with the patient and family.
Read on to see how your PACU compares to our survey-takers in key areas.
Preventing delayed discharge
So many variables spanning patients' entire stays with you affect how long it takes to discharge them. Did you administer pre-emptive analgesia and antiemetic agents? What about aggressive post-op pain management? Is your discharge process streamlined? Did you pre-schedule the post-op appointment and ensure that the patient's ride home is
ready and waiting? Here's what our survey respondents rated as the biggest positive influencers of fast discharge:
• teamwork 54.7%
• intraoperative pain control
54.2%
• adequate PACU staff
36.3%
• adequate pre-op instructions 35.3%
• anesthesia available for discharge 15.3%
Yes, teamwork is No. 1. "Our nursing assistants help with cleaning beds, helping patients dress and wheeling patients out to vehicles,"
says Christina Williams RN, BSN, of the Tracy (Calif.) Surgery Center.
"It must be a team approach that starts pre-operatively in the sur-
