Reengineering: breaking tradition

The increased use of technology and standards of care have turned the PACU into a high-technology, costly environment that is intensive care-like in character. The use of new-generation anesthetics and reversal and pain control agents has added significantly to the escalation of actual costs while decreasing length of stay. PACU managers are being called on to justify this high-dollar real estate with diminishing productivity statistics. The concept of reengineering is applied to these challenges as a management tool to break traditions to respond to the changing environment.