Post-Anesthesia Care Unit

A post-anesthesia care unit, abbreviated PACU and also called post-anesthesia recovery or simply recovery, is a part of hospitals, ambulatory care centers and other medical facilities where patients who received general, regional or local anesthesia are transferred from the operating room to be monitored, typically by anesthesiologists, nurse anesthetists and other medical staff. Providers follow a standardized handoff to the PACU staff covering which medications were given in the operating room, how the patient's hemodynamics behaved during the procedure and what is expected during recovery. After initial assessment and stabilization, the patient is monitored for potential complications until transfer back to a hospital room or, for some outpatient surgeries, discharge to a responsible driver.