Ode to the PACU Nurse
I am a PACU Nurse That’s what I love to be
You gotta love the Uro men “Nurse, I have to pee”!
The patients they come rolling out With a hiss and a roar
They never come in steadily Often too many to ignore
Handover can be a challenge “Nurse, he’s had this and that”
Whilst we are busy hooking-up There is no time to chat
The anaesthetist wants to bolt The scrub nurse stands impatiently
Notes in hand, ready to tell What they had operationally
The monitors keep on beeping The LMA is in position
We try to count the resps And finish the admission
But the patient starts to move Then out comes the tube
They wriggle here and there As we try not to disapprove
The obs we try to monitor We keep a careful eye
Then nurse “I’m gonna be sick” It just makes you want to cry
You reach for the anti-emetic With shaking hands you prepare
A syringe of magic potion Vomit if you dare!
The paperwork starts to mount The patient says the pain is worse
You grab a vial of Morphine Trying not to curse
You breathe a sigh of relief As the pain starts to abate
Then the surgeon prods them You resist the urge to berate
Finally it’s time to ring the ward Can you beat hand-over time?
The ward phone rings and rings Of course, we cut it fine!
It’s time to shut the OR And finish for the day
They bring them all to PACU And go on their merry way
PACU then becomes too full You say “stop” we have to close
But alas there is no respite And we continue with the show
It’s 5pm, the witching hour The OR’s work is done
But left to their own devices The PACU nurse cracks on
We are on the round-about With all the exits blocked
We try to clear the back-log Whilst racing against the clock
Without the PACU Nurse Where would we be?
Up the creek without a paddle And floundering in the sea!
Devika Cook PACU Conference Auckland October 2015