Regulations, standards, and guidelines protecting PACU healthcare workers

Professional nurses working in the post anesthesia care unit (PACU) are among the 4,000,000 health care workers in the United States. Of these, more than 200,000 employees and volunteers are potentially exposed to waste anesthetic gases and are at risk of occupational illness. Among the special concerns of PACU personnel is the issue of contamination of the air in the work environment. The US Department of Health and Human Services and the US Department of Labor are responsible for developing and implementing the regulations, standards, and guidelines in the health care industry including those that protect the health and safety of PACU personnel. Regulations are continuously being developed and refined to ensure that they adequately protect PACU health care workers. PACU health care workers must be sufficiently informed of their risks and take required actions to protect their own health.