A post-anesthesia care unit (PACU) registered nurse is primarily in charge of taking care of patients following a procedure or surgery as they recover from the effects of anesthesia. Their responsibilities revolve around observing a patient's vital signs and consciousness, identifying and monitoring the side-effects from the anesthetics, and keeping an eye on the patient's overall behavior. Furthermore, it is essential to assist patients and their families or guardian, responding to any inquiries and concerns and discussing post-surgery care procedures.

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Registered Nurse In Pacu Responsibilities

Here are examples of responsibilities from real registered nurse in pacu resumes representing typical tasks they are likely to perform in their roles.

  • Achieve departmental goals and objectives by instituting SGNA standards and processes for inpatient and outpatient care.
  • Stay current on ACLS, BLS and CPR while working in the critical care areas of the hospital.
  • general surgery, ent, orthopedics, endoscopy, cataract, gynocological, podiatry, or plastic surgeries.
  • Re-Cover patients according to policy in PACU.
  • Provide BLS and ACLS classes monthly and as needed.
  • Monitor patients post anesthesia including EKG monitoring, magnesium drips, watching VSS and closely monitor acute situations and conditions.
  • Provide patient care for pediatric and adult post-operative patients recovering from anesthesia, ambulatory surgical procedures, invasive and extensive surgeries.
  • Staff RN in PACU with population of all ages.
  • Assist in the procedure suites with colonoscopies and EGD's.
  • Circulate open heart cases, endoscopic vascular, and thoracic cases.
  • Prep patients for procedures, obtain medical history, start IVs, administer antibiotics.
  • Gain vast knowledge of common anesthetics, pain management, ACLS medications and reversal agents.
  • Perform clinical procedures using various monitoring equipment: ET-C02, IBP, EKG ventilator and defibrillators.
  • Implement new guidelines for identifying those patients who may have potential for difficult Foley catheter insertion.
  • Familiarize with a variety of surgical specialties including: ophthalmology, ENT, orthopedics, and podiatry.

Registered Nurse In Pacu Job Description

Perhaps the hardest question to answer when deciding on a career as a registered nurse in pacu is "should I become a registered nurse in pacu?" You might find this info to be helpful. When compared to other jobs, registered nurse in pacu careers are projected to have a growth rate described as "much faster than average" at 12% from 2018 through 2028. This is in accordance with the Bureau of Labor Statistics. What's more, is that the projected number of opportunities that are predicted to become available for a registered nurse in pacu by 2028 is 371,500.

On average, the registered nurse in pacu annual salary is $83,154 per year, which translates to $39.98 an hour. Generally speaking, registered nurse in pacus earn anywhere from $49,000 to $141,000 a year, which means that the top-earning registered nurse in pacus make $71,000 more than the ones at the lower end of the spectrum.

As is the case with most jobs, it takes work to become a registered nurse in pacu. Sometimes people change their minds about their career after working in the profession. That's why we looked into some other professions that might help you find your next opportunity. These professions include a staff nurse, icu staff nurse staff, clinical research nurse, and head nurse.

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Registered Nurse In Pacu Skills and Personality Traits

We calculated that 22% of Registered Nurse In Pacus are proficient in Patients, BLS, and Acls. They’re also known for soft skills such as Communication skills, Compassion, and Detail oriented.

We break down the percentage of Registered Nurse In Pacus that have these skills listed on their resume here:

  • Patients, 22%

    Recovered orthopedic and chiropractic manipulations patients from general anesthesia; monitored post-injection pain management patients.

  • BLS, 13%

    Prepare patients for surgery, care for them post surgery, and maintain certification for ACLS, PALS, and BLS.

  • Acls, 9%

    Participated in on-call rotation.- Utilized ACLS certification skills.

  • Acute Care, 5%

    Provide acute care for adult & geriatric postoperative patients recovering from anesthesia encompassing a wide variety of orthopedic surgical procedures.

  • Critical Care, 3%

    Position involves post-anesthesia monitoring in an immediate postoperative critical care setting with patients ranging in age from infants to geriatrics.

  • Advanced Life Support, 3%

    Maintain certifications in Pediatric Advanced Life support, Advanced Cardiac Life Support, Neonatal, and Basic Cardiac Life support.

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Registered Nurse In Pacu Resume

Most registered nurse in pacus list "patients," "bls," and "acls" as skills on their resumes. We go into more details on the most important registered nurse in pacu responsibilities here:

  • Communication skills can be considered to be the most important personality trait for a registered nurse in pacu to have. According to a registered nurse in pacu resume, "registered nurses must be able to communicate effectively with patients in order to understand their concerns and assess their health conditions" registered nurse in pacus are able to use communication skills in the following example we gathered from a resume: "recognize and respond to emergency situations as appropriate * demonstrates excellent written and oral communication. "
  • While it may not be the most important skill, we found that many registered nurse in pacu duties rely on compassion. This example from a registered nurse in pacu explains why: "registered nurses should be caring and empathetic when looking after patients." This resume example is just one of many ways registered nurse in pacus are able to utilize compassion: "demonstrate compassion and sensitivity to pain management, emotional support and family needs during delivery of post anesthesia care for patients. "
  • Detail oriented is also an important skill for registered nurse in pacus to have. This example of how registered nurse in pacus use this skill comes from a registered nurse in pacu resume, "registered nurses must be responsible and detail oriented because they must make sure that patients get the correct treatments and medicines at the right time." Read this excerpt from a resume to understand how vital it is to their everyday roles and responsibilities, "perform detailed assessments and neurological checks, vital signs, and i/o's while collaborating with physicians and specialists. "
  • In order for certain registered nurse in pacu responsibilities to be completed, the job requires the skill "emotional stability." According to a registered nurse in pacu resume, "registered nurses need emotional resilience and the ability to manage their emotions to cope with human suffering, emergencies, and other stresses." As an example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies: "implemented nursing process to assess and document patient's physical and emotional status upon arrival in post-anesthesia care unit. "
  • Another common skill for a registered nurse in pacu to be able to utilize is "organizational skills." Nurses often work with multiple patients with various health needs a registered nurse in pacu demonstrated the need for this skill by putting this on their resume: "required physical ability, strong assessment and organizational skills and teamwork. "
  • Lastly, this career requires you to be skillful in "physical stamina." According to registered nurse in pacu resumes, "nurses should be comfortable performing physical tasks, such as moving patients." This resume example highlights how registered nurse in pacu responsibilities rely on this skill: "provide direct nursing care pre-operatively including history & physical, obtainlabs, ekg, intravenous access, medication administration. "
  • See the full list of registered nurse in pacu skills.

    Before becoming a registered nurse in pacu, 46.4% earned their bachelor's degree. When it comes down to graduating with a master's degree, 5.3% registered nurse in pacus went for the extra education. If you're wanting to pursue this career, it may be possible to be successful with a high school degree. In fact, most registered nurse in pacus have a college degree. But about one out of every five registered nurse in pacus didn't attend college at all.

    Those registered nurse in pacus who do attend college, typically earn either nursing degrees or nursing science degrees. Less commonly earned degrees for registered nurse in pacus include business degrees or psychology degrees.

    Once you're ready to become a registered nurse in pacu, you should explore the companies that typically hire registered nurse in pacus. According to registered nurse in pacu resumes that we searched through, registered nurse in pacus are hired the most by Aya Healthcare, USPI, and SCA Health. Currently, Aya Healthcare has 2,129 registered nurse in pacu job openings, while there are 474 at USPI and 228 at SCA Health.

    If you're interested in companies where registered nurse in pacus make the most money, you'll want to apply for positions at Dignity Health, Scripps Health, and Express Healthcare Professionals. We found that at Dignity Health, the average registered nurse in pacu salary is $126,964. Whereas at Scripps Health, registered nurse in pacus earn roughly $125,791. And at Express Healthcare Professionals, they make an average salary of $122,085.

    View more details on registered nurse in pacu salaries across the United States.

    We also looked into companies who hire registered nurse in pacus from the top 100 educational institutions in the U.S. The top three companies that hire the most from these institutions include Methodist Hospitals, Maxim Healthcare Group, and St. Vincent's Medical Center.

    The three companies that hire the most prestigious registered nurse in pacus are:

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    What Staff Nurses Do

    Staff nurses are registered nurses who are usually assigned to work in a care home, a company, or in a clinical setting. They advise the physical assessments of patients, employees, and residents. They also handle the checking of vital signs, providing basic medical procedures, giving first aid, and, if possible, providing over the counter medication. Staff nurses provide medical attention to the people in their place of assignment. They help pave the path to their patients' full recovery. Staff nurses are expected to be patient and have good interpersonal skills.

    In this section, we compare the average registered nurse in pacu annual salary with that of a staff nurse. Typically, staff nurses earn a $14,812 lower salary than registered nurse in pacus earn annually.

    While the salaries between these two careers can be different, they do share some of the same responsibilities. Employees in both registered nurse in pacus and staff nurses positions are skilled in patients, bls, and acls.

    These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. A registered nurse in pacu responsibility is more likely to require skills like "pre-op," "pacu rn," "post-anesthesia care," and "compassion." Whereas a staff nurse requires skills like "cpr," "surgery," "telemetry," and "medication administration." Just by understanding these different skills you can see how different these careers are.

    Staff nurses tend to make the most money in the health care industry by averaging a salary of $58,739. In contrast, registered nurse in pacus make the biggest average salary of $72,535 in the health care industry.

    On average, staff nurses reach similar levels of education than registered nurse in pacus. Staff nurses are 0.0% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.2% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

    What Are The Duties Of an ICU Staff Nurse Staff?

    A clinical research nurse is responsible for conducting research studies on various health conditions, illness treatments, and healthcare methodologies, analyzing existing scientific research to make new reports. Clinical research nurses also communicate with other health professionals and health organizations for their insights and recommendations for a specific medical study, ensuring to report their findings to doctors and medical researchers for further validation and clinical trials. A clinical research nurse must have excellent knowledge of communication, both written and spoken, as well as expertise in the medical industry.

    Next up, we have the icu staff nurse staff profession to look over. This career brings along a lower average salary when compared to a registered nurse in pacu annual salary. In fact, icu staff nurse staff salary difference is $5,650 lower than the salary of registered nurse in pacus per year.

    While the salary may be different for these job positions, there is one similarity and that's a few of the skills needed to perform certain duties. We used info from lots of resumes to find that both registered nurse in pacus and icu staff nurse staff are known to have skills such as "patients," "bls," and "acls. "

    While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, several resumes showed us that registered nurse in pacu responsibilities requires skills like "acute care," "pre-op," "pacu rn," and "surgical procedures." But an icu staff nurse staff might use skills, such as, "life support," "cpr," "ccrn," and "med-surg."

    Icu staff nurse staff may earn a lower salary than registered nurse in pacus, but icu staff nurse staff earn the most pay in the health care industry with an average salary of $68,704. On the other side of things, registered nurse in pacus receive higher paychecks in the health care industry where they earn an average of $72,535.

    In general, icu staff nurse staff study at similar levels of education than registered nurse in pacus. They're 2.2% more likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.2% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

    How a Clinical Research Nurse Compares

    The clinical research nurse profession generally makes a lower amount of money when compared to the average salary of registered nurse in pacus. The difference in salaries is clinical research nurses making $22,807 lower than registered nurse in pacus.

    While looking through the resumes of several registered nurse in pacus and clinical research nurses we discovered that both professions have similar skills. These similarities include skills such as "patients," "bls," and "acls," but they differ when it comes to other required skills.

    As mentioned, these two careers differ between other skills that are required for performing the work exceedingly well. For example, gathering from registered nurse in pacus resumes, they are more likely to have skills like "pre-op," "pacu rn," "post-anesthesia care," and "airway management." But a clinical research nurse might have skills like "surgery," "patient outcomes," "oncology," and "telemetry."

    Additionally, clinical research nurses earn a higher salary in the education industry compared to other industries. In this industry, they receive an average salary of $61,917. Additionally, registered nurse in pacus earn an average salary of $72,535 in the health care industry.

    Clinical research nurses are known to earn similar educational levels when compared to registered nurse in pacus. Additionally, they're 4.1% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.3% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

    Description Of a Head Nurse

    Head nurses tend to earn a lower pay than registered nurse in pacus by about $2,981 per year.

    While their salaries may vary, registered nurse in pacus and head nurses both use similar skills to perform their jobs. Resumes from both professions include skills like "patients," "bls," and "acls. "

    While some skills are shared by these professions, there are some differences to note. "pre-op," "quality care," "pacu rn," and "post-anesthesia care" are skills that have shown up on registered nurse in pacus resumes. Additionally, head nurse uses skills like cpr, oncology, surgery, and triage on their resumes.

    Now, let's take a closer look at the financials in each career. The education industry tends to pay more for head nurses with an average of $80,362. While the highest registered nurse in pacu annual salary comes from the health care industry.

    The average resume of head nurses showed that they earn similar levels of education to registered nurse in pacus. So much so that the likelihood of them earning a Master's Degree is 3.1% more. Additionally, they're more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree by 0.7%.