HISTORY
19th Century
Although methods of general anesthesia have been available for
more than 160 years, PACUs have become common only in the past 50 years. The first
description is from 1801 at the Newcastle Infirmary in England and predates modern
anesthesia. Two rooms, each with five beds and adjacent to the operating room, were
reserved for patients who were seriously ill or who had just undergone a major operation.
[1]
In 1863 Florence Nightingale wrote[2]
:
"It is not uncommon, in small country hospitals, to have a recess or small room
leading from the operating theater in which the patients remain until they have recovered,
or at least recovered from the immediate effects of the operation."
In 1873 at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Charles Tomes,
a British dental surgeon, delivered the graduation address to dental students at
Harvard. There, he observed ether being administered in an induction room, as well
as
the use of a recovery room: "Also, patients were apt to be noisy after recovery,
so they are, at this hospital, temporarily placed in a small ward, whence, after
complete recovery, they are transferred to their own wards."[3]
