I feel that I could write a book about the genuine, caring, intelligent, and skilled nurses I have the honor to work with, but I will try to keep it brief! Our PACU provides care for an extremely diverse population. From level 1 traumas, transplants, outpatient surgeries, GI procedures, remote anesthesia, dental cases for members of our community with specific needs, and rare surgeries that are done nowhere else in the country, the list could go on and on! We care for them all and cater to each patient's needs no matter how challenging. It is truly amazing to work alongside nurses who care for patients of this caliber.

Before working here, I don't think I understood how competent PACU nurses must be in all different specialties in order to properly care for post-surgical patients. With that being said, the teamwork in our PACU is unmatched. If you were to visit us in preop you would witness RNs helping one another by tag-teaming patients. Hooking patients to the monitor, starting IVs, pulling meds, grabbing the interpreter iPad, checking glucoses, and so much more! All of these tasks they perform on a patient that isn't technically theirs just so the primary RN can focus on the patient questionnaire and charting. We have to hurry to get these patients to the OR on time. There is always someone asking what they can do to help you. If you were to wake up in our PACU or outpatient area you would see a very similar scene! RNs helping one another with any task possible. Our post-op patients often wake up in excruciating pain due to the nature of the surgeries. It can be challenging to help them feel better, but we all try our best and don't stop our efforts until our patients are in a more comfortable place. This often takes advocating for them. Our PACU team gives each patient their time and attention. Our patients often wait a long time for rooms to become available. This includes our critical patients needing ICU beds. The patient and their families often feel discouraged or frustrated by this barrier. We have and continue to implement ways to better care for these patients. This includes providing entertainment (books, DVDs, magazines, etc.), ensuring food trays are ordered for them, administering all floor-ordered medications and testing that is needed, providing emotional support to them during their wait, and most importantly advocating for them to get that bed they've been waiting on if possible! Whether it is Preop or postop, advocating for our PACU patients from start to finish is always an important part of their care to us. I do want to touch on our fearless charge nurses as well. The coordination that goes into patients coming in and out of the ORs is astounding. It is often a thankless job, but they do it and they do it well. Even with their extremely busy roles and phones constantly ringing, they still find time to help whenever they can. It is truly a team effort.

Our patients don't always remember us, but we know that we are an integral part of their recovery and healing. It is an honor to care for them compassionately on (most times) the scariest days of their lives. I think it's safe to say that our PACU is busy, wild, and unpredictable, but if you're lucky enough to work here then that means you are working with some of the best RNs in BJH.

We all know being a nurse isn't easy, but when you have an amazing team, it makes it a tad easier. It isn't always smooth sailing, but in this PACU your teammates will never let you sink! I hope they all know how much they impact their patients and the people they work with.