Ja. Seago et al., FACTORS INFLUENCING STAY IN THE POSTANESTHESIA CARE UNIT - A PROSPECTIVE ANALYSIS, Journal of clinical anesthesia, 10(7), 1998, pp. 579-587
Study Objective: To identify indicators of prolonged length of star (L
OS) in the postanesthesia care unit (PACU) and to test the following h
ypotheses: (1) that patient age, pain medication administration at the
time of PACU admission, length of surgery, and cardiovascular, pulmon
ary, and pain responses postoperatively predict prolonged PACU LOS and
(2) that cardiovascular and pulmonary symptoms preoperatively predict
cardiovascular and pulmonary symptoms postoperatively. Design: Prospe
ctive, observational analysis. Setting: PACU of a university teaching
hospital. Patients: 1,067 patients scheduled for surgery with general
anesthesia between February and September 1996, 18 rears of age or old
er. Measurement and Main Results: 11.2 % of the variation in prolonged
PACU LOS can be predicted by age, pain medication at the time of PACU
admission, and postoperative cardiovascular, pulmonary, and pain symp
toms. A significant number of patients who did not report a prior hist
ory experienced postoperative cardiovascular and pulmonary symptoms. C
onclusion: Patient history and postoperative symptoms predict only a s
mall percentage of prolonged PACU stays. Organizational factors may be
a more important predictor of prolonged PACU stay. Additionally, asse
ssment of cardiovascular and pulmonary history needs refinement to imp
rove prediction of patient responses postoperatively. (C) 1998 by Else
vier Science Inc.