PACU Registered Nurse Job in Saint Louis, MO

You'll work as a Registered Nurse in a Level I PACU at Barnes-Jewish Hospital Nursing in Saint Louis, Missouri. This is a 16-week contract assignment on a high-acuity post-anesthesia care unit recovering adult, adolescent, and geriatric surgical patients across multiple specialties.

Schedule and Hours

• 4x10 shift schedule: Monday through Friday, 12:00 PM to 10:30 PM
• No weekends, holidays, or on-call required
• Guaranteed 3 shifts per 13 weeks; cancelled shifts must match your regular shift length
• Occasional pre-op work 5:30 AM to 7:30 AM when no PACU patients are present

The Role

You will recover post-surgical patients from neurosurgery, ENT, plastics, orthopedics, thoracic, vascular, trauma, general, colorectal, GYN, urological, electrophysiology, interventional radiology, and transplant procedures. Open heart surgeries and liver transplants are not recovered on this unit. Average daily census is 70 to 90 patients across 38 bays, with approximately 80% of patients admitted to the hospital following surgery.

Required Experience and Skills

• Minimum 2 years of PACU experience in a Level I trauma center
• Critical care and ICU experience required
• Proficiency with mechanical ventilation, vasoactive drips, artificial airways, invasive monitoring including ICP, and blood product administration
• Experience managing dysrhythmias, EKG rhythm analysis, phlebotomy, IV placement and maintenance
• Familiarity with post cardiac surgery, lobectomy, chest trauma, exploratory laparotomy, splenectomy, and trauma patients
• Epic charting system proficiency required; must pass Relias EKG exam
• Float scope limited to PACU or PreOp units only

Certifications and Requirements

• Current BLS and ACLS required
• CCRN and TNCC preferred
• Must reside at least 75 miles from the facility
• Maximum 7 days requested time off per contract; all RTO finalized at submission

Interdisciplinary support is available through respiratory services, interpretation services, and rapid response teams.