PACU

We have a 28-bed PACU at our main campus servicing 21 operating rooms, and a 10-bed PACU at our Fanny Allen Campus servicing 5 operating rooms. We care for patients who have had any kind of anesthesia, including those who were anesthetized for procedures rather than surgery.

We stabilize and provide pain management for a broad range of inpatients and outpatients, ranging from pediatric patients who have received tubes in their ears to patients recovering from major surgery. We work closely with the Anesthesia Department and surgeons. Our Medical Center Campus PACU is organized in four pods, one for outpatients, one for inpatients, one for pediatrics and one that includes an inpatient/outpatient mix including procedural recovery. Our nurses float daily between the pods, ensuring that every day will be different. Our Fanny Allen Campus specializes in orthopedic and eye surgery outpatients who require a unique combination of care to ensure that their pain is controlled, but they are not overly sedated.

As a PACU nurse, you will learn all about anesthesia and the issues that come up around anesthesia and surgery. You will learn about longer and shorter acting anesthesia - and you will understand how anesthesia works.

We are always at the leading-edge of PACU care. We implement best practices, and we participate in research to determine those best practices. We encourage and support our nurses in their work to become a Certified Post Anesthesia Nurse (CAPA) or a Certified Ambulatory Perianesthesia Nurse (CPAN), and we provide support for continuing education units.

For more information call Megan Brunovsky at 800-722-9922, option 3, or 802-847-9680 or visit www.fletcherallen.org.

Post Anesthesia Care Unit (PACU)

Orientation

We provide an 8 to 16 week orientation, depending on your needs and background. We provide orientation at both our Medical Center Campus and Fanny Allen Campus PACUs. You will rotate through various sectors of PACU - inpatient, outpatient and pediatric then you will do a care-based orientation. You will also participate in applicable CORE classes. We orient you in 8-hour shifts with 2 to 3 preceptors so you see the broadest case base possible while on orientation. Pediatric advanced life support (PALS) and advanced cardiac life support (ACLS) are required within your first year.