Improving Patient and Family Experience in Level One Post Anesthesia Care Unit

Abstract

Historically speaking, post-anesthesia care units (PACU’s) have been closed off to visitation. However, several studies on the patient experience of care that demonstrates that family visitation in PACU not only increases patient and family satisfaction, but also decreases their anxiety. The purpose of this project was to improve family outcomes by implementing family visitation in the PACU, utilizing two new valid survey items in the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems Outpatient and Ambulatory Surgery survey (CAHPS OAS). This project sought to demonstrate the need to change the focus from health care to optimizing health for patients and their families in the implementation of family visitation in the PACU. The basis for the implementation of this intervention rested on the Family-Centered Care model of practice. Pre-implementation and post-implementation surveys were conducted and collected into two different sets of data. The project result is clear that patient and family satisfaction increased by implementing family visitations in the PACU.