Postanesthesia care unit length of stay: quantifying and assessing dependent factors
| Autor: | Alex S. Evers, Jean P. Waddle, Jay F. Piccirillo |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 1998 |
| Předmět: |
Adult
Male Postoperative Care medicine.medical_specialty Postanesthesia care Standard of care biology Adolescent business.industry Length of Stay Middle Aged biology.organism_classification Pacu Unit (housing) Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine Emergency medicine medicine Humans Anesthesia Female Intensive care medicine business Cost of care Hospital Units Aged |
| Zdroj: | Anesthesia and analgesia. 87(3) |
| ISSN: | 0003-2999 |
| Popis: | Postanesthesia care unit (PACU) monitoring reduces morbidity and is the standard of care for postsurgical patients. PACUs require large nurse to patient ratios, which contributes to the cost of care. Despite the importance and cost of PACU length of stay (LOS), no standards have been established. We performed an observational study of 340 PACU patients to measure actual and medically appropriate PACU LOS (the time required to achieve a medically stable condition for safe PACU discharge), to identify factors related to LOS, and to create a LOS prediction index. Mean (+/- SD) actual LOS was 95+/-43 min, and appropriate PACU LOS was 71+/-37 min. Appropriate PACU LOS predictors were anesthetic time, anesthetic technique, and amount of intraoperative fluids. Actual LOS was30 min longer than the medically appropriate LOS for 20% (68 of 340) of the patients. Frequent causes of excessive LOS were waiting for physician release or laboratory or radiographic results. Appropriate LOS may be related primarily to anesthetic factors, and nonmedical issues account for a significant amount of PACU LOS.Most patients are stabilized immediately after surgery in a postanesthesia care unit (PACU) until their discharge to a hospital ward. However, there are no standards for appropriate PACU length of stay (LOS). In this study, we measured actual and appropriate PACU LOSs and evaluated clinical factors that may influence PACU LOS. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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