Two weeks in post-anesthesia

I will hold my hands up and say I wasn’t looking forward to spending time in the Post-Anaesthetic Care Unit at all. To me, it felt like an entirely alien environment and I almost didn’t want to go in on the first day. How wrong I was.

In anaesthetics you build up a rapport with a person, but they are quickly induced, and in surgery they’re usually fast asleep. It’s different in recovery: they wake up (which was very scary for me the first time) and you really get to spend time with them.

There’s something about dealing with any post-anaesthetic needs – keeping them warm, pain-free and free of sickness – which feels really rewarding. Everyone wakes up disorientated to where they are; chatting to them and keeping them calm and comfortable was a fantastic feeling.

I’ve worked in healthcare for a while but being with patients when they are the most vulnerable gave me what I can only explain as a nice warm feeling, and made me really feel like starting the ODP course was the right choice for me.

Two weeks didn’t seem long enough; I can’t wait to start my recovery placement start in the next few months.