Document Type
Article
Publication Title
Determinants of Extended Postanesthesia Care Unit Stay
Abstract
Frustration is a common emotion felt by up to 70% of workers in high-stress environments.1 As a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist, I can attest to the postanesthesia care unit (PACU) as being a high-stress environment. The PACU Registered Nurses and staff provide expert care to postoperative patients. The PACU offers postoperative patients a safe recovery from anesthesia through monitoring and stabilization, as well as pain and symptom management through prevention and early intervention. It prepares patients for timely discharge or transfer.2 At times, some patients may experience adverse effects in the PACU, resulting in a longer than 90-minute length of stay (LOS).3 A LOS of 90 minutes or longer in the PACU can create a windfall of adverse effects on workflow in the surgical arena. Extended LOS often results in overcrowding in the PACU, limited bed availability, and insufficient PACU staff to accommodate new admissions. With limited bed availability in the PACU, surgery can be negatively impacted due to no place for postoperative patients to recover from surgery safely. These noted adverse effects on workflow have led to significant frustration among the surgical and PACU staff. If health care workers in the surgical arena could identify which determinants lead to an extended LOS in the PACU, the extended LOS could be reduced or avoided altogether. Thus, exploring the article by Alghamdi et al3 on factors associated with prolonged PACU stay is essential.
First Page
836
Last Page
837
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jopan.2026.02.004
Publication Date
6-2026
Recommended Citation
Vaughn, Jonathan, "Determinants of Extended Postanesthesia Care Unit Stay" (2026). Nursing Publications. 5.
https://digitalcollections.umc.edu/sonfac_pub/5
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
