When high dependency and intensive care units are full, which occurs more and more often nationally, recovery wards are being utilised to hold critically ill patients. Recovery practitioners are often expected to assist in the care of these patients.

A small study established the views of a sample of recovery practitioners regarding the recovery unit being used as stop-gap, or ICU overflow. There were positive and negative opinions from recovery practitioners who were involved in the care of these critically ill patients. Recovery practitioners often reported feeling inexperienced and ill equipped, with increased levels of stress when working in the ICU bay. Only 20% of recovery practitioners in the study, expressed optimism about working in the ICU bay, and 60% identified that training and development was a strategy which may help to overcome some of their perceived problems.

This paper reports these concerns and identifies strategies which have been implemented to address some of these concerns.

Nursing and the role of the nurse have always been difficult to define (Nightingale 1986). This is especially true in operating theatres where task focused care often takes precedence over holistic patient care (Conway 1995). There is no shortage of literature suggesting that theatre nurses are preoccupied in preparation of instrumentation (Conway 1995, Holmes 1994) and if a non-nurse were to observe staff in some operating theatres it may be difficult to see where the nursing exists.

In this care study I will explain the care that SVB received following his admission to the Post Anaesthetic Care unit (PACU) and summarise his discharge to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). The limitations that this case report presents are that often the care received in the PACU can be quite short in terms of total length of stay in hospital. It is not uncommon that High Dependency patients are received for initial care into the PACU following surgery and to be further discharged and nursed in either a dedicated High Dependency Unit or to the Intensive Care Unit.

Laryngospam is a relatively common airway emergency. Mevorach [1996] cites Olsson and Hallen [1984] who found a mean incidence of 8.6/1000 in adults and 27.6/ 1000 in children. From these figures it can be assumed that most post anaesthetic care nurses at some time in their career will encounter it. Prompt action is required, and knowledge of the physiological processes involved along with an appreciation of the treatment options available. This article will aim to discuss laryngospasm and will examine briefly the phenomenon of post laryngospasm induced pulmonary oedema.

Tne 15th Annual BARNA Conference was held at the Clarendon Suites in Edgbaston, Birmingham on 26th & 27th June 2001.