Improving Postanesthesia Care Unit (PACU) Delays: A Quality Improvement Project.

PURPOSE: Delays within the postanesthesia care unit (PACU) are a major cause of complications and inefficiency. In this project, we investigated the factors associated with delays in the PACU and implemented policies to mitigate these factors.

DESIGN: A quality improvement project.

METHODS: Data were collected for 10 months and included 1,134 surgical patients in a tertiary Obstetrics and Gynecology hospital in Kuwait. Several meetings were held with stakeholders to identify and overcome the reasons contributing to delays within the PACU.

FINDINGS: Among the top reasons for PACU delay were manpower shortage and lack of bed availability in the surgical wards due to improper admission and discharge policies. Policies were implemented to improve admission policy, hasten patient discharge, and improve patient flow through the operating theater (OT). These policies lead to a significant reduction (25 minutes) in the average time patients spend in the OT, mainly by reducing the stay in the PACU by 19 minutes.

CONCLUSIONS: PACU delays were mostly due to reasons outside the OT. Further, follow-up is needed to assess the sustainability of these improvements and identify any new challenges that may arise.