Samad Khalid, Khan Mueenullah, Khan Fauzia A, Hamid Mohammad, Khan Fazal H
Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, Aga Khan University, Karachi.
J Pak Med Assoc. 2006 Mar;56(3):108-12.
To identify the factors that prolong the length of stay inthe post anaesthesia care unit (PACU).
This audit was conducted in the PACU of a university hospital. A special form was designed and filled for those patients who stayed unplanned in the PACU for more than two hours. All patients who were admitted to the PACU after surgery were included. Patients undergoing cardiothoracic surgery, those directly shifted to ICU and cases done under local anaesthesia were excluded. Data was collected for 20 months by a designated recovery nurse for all included patients including those admitted outside the scheduled surgery hours.
The total number of patients who were admitted to the PACU during the audit period were 13644, out of these 1114 (8.1%) stayed in the PACU for more than 2 hours. The percentage of overstay patients on monthly basis ranged from 6.4% to 10%. The commonest reason was the need for postoperative monitoring 578 (51.8%), unavailability of beds in the special care areas 264 (23.7%), pain management 68 (6.1%) and 61 (5.4 %) for postoperative ventilation.
Our results show that majority of patients stayed in the PACU for more than two hours either because they needed postoperative monitoring or because of unavailability of bed in the special care areas.
确定延长麻醉后监护病房（PACU）住院时间的因素。
本审计在一家大学医院的PACU进行。为那些在PACU意外停留超过两小时的患者设计并填写了一份特殊表格。纳入所有术后进入PACU的患者。排除接受心胸外科手术的患者、直接转入重症监护病房的患者以及在局部麻醉下进行手术的病例。由指定的恢复护士在20个月内收集所有纳入患者的数据，包括那些在预定手术时间以外入院的患者。
审计期间进入PACU的患者总数为13644人，其中1114人（8.1%）在PACU停留超过2小时。每月滞留患者的百分比在6.4%至10%之间。最常见的原因是需要术后监测578例（51.8%）、特殊护理区域床位不足264例（23.7%）、疼痛管理68例（6.1%）以及术后通气61例（5.4%）。
我们的结果表明，大多数患者在PACU停留超过两小时，要么是因为他们需要术后监测，要么是因为特殊护理区域床位不足。
