Developing a paediatric recovery course.

There is increasing need for suitably trained perioperative staff to work within the recovery room (or post anaesthetic care unit) especially where our patients are children. There appears to be a lack of paediatric nurses applying for and taking up recovery posts, therefore making recruitment of staff problematic. A solution might be to attract adult registered nurses into this specialist area; however this raises the issues of providing adequate training and development to equip them with the necessary knowledge and skills to care for children.

The provision of care for children in shared units.

This article will look at the implementation of the National Service Framework (NSF) for children, young people and maternity services with specific reference to the segregation of children from adult patients, and the requirements for appropriately trained staff in the care of children, within the Post Anaesthetic Care Unit (PACU).