Pcu Floor Post Cardiac Or Progressive Care

I work on a progressive care unit which had a pt rn ratio of 3 1 when i started 3 years ago and now we are moving to 4 1 ratios now.

Pcu floor post cardiac or progressive care.

Pcu stands for progressive care unit and it is recognized by the aacn as a critical care area. Medical progressive care unit mpcu the medical progressive care unit mpcu provides specialized care for patients with diagnoses including angina sub acute mi and congestive heart failure chf. Systolic bp equal to or greater than 80 and equal to or less than 200 mmhg. Some pcus provide general care while others are more focused such as a cardiac care pcu.

These patients still need a high level of skilled nursing care and surveillance although less so than in an icu but are more stable. However these patients are on the less acute end of the critical care spectrum compared to other areas such as icu. Admission criteria for acute progressive and intensive care units system acute care general care telemetry transitional intensive care vital signs stability within acceptable range of tolerance for the patients and or generally evidenced by. Maintain airways and oxygenation status for respiratory failure patients using high flow oxygen optiflow cpap and bipap.

The progressive care unit pcu was designed for patients whose care needs fall between what must be delivered in the icu and what can be handled on most general medical floors. The nurse to patient ratio would be higher than in an icu but lower than a med surg unit anywhere from 1 to 3 to 1 to 5. The pcu started off supporting patients with heart and lung machines but today s pcu is much more complex and pcu travel nurses are in high demand. Progressive care unit registered nurse 11 2015 to 11 2016 indiana university health arnett lafayette in.

Not all pcus are created equal as some previous posters mentioned. A progressive care unit pcu is a hospital unit that specializes in treating medical and surgical patients whose needs are not serious enough for the intensive care unit icu but too complex for the regular hospital floor. How the pcu has evolved in the early 1970s progressive care units housed myocardial infarction patients requiring cardiac monitoring who did not need intensive care observation. They have decided to off set this increase in patient loads by increasing the number of cnas on the floor.