ACPAN Level 1 PACU Certification is designed for practicing PACU nurses to demonstrate their specialisation and compliance with the practice guidelines of Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthesia (ANZCA) Statement PS04 (2018) and ACPAN statements 1, 2 and 4. The process is suitable for Division 1 Registered Nurses with a minimum of 1900 hours PACU experience to be completed within 3 years. Once the process is finalised you will be included as a PACU Nurse in the ACPAN register which is accessible on the ACPAN website and visible for the public.
Download the ACPAN PACU Clinical Criteria Statement, ACPAN PACU Experience Statement and ACPAN reflective log template from the ACPAN website once you have logged in as a member.
Fill in and complete:
Possible topics may be:
On the ACPAN website is also a case log APP available that can be downloaded to your smartphone/device. The APP can record information about a specific case which will be stored as a case report.
Complete successfully the online PACU certification exams and download the certificates:
To prepare for the certification exam, ACPAN has study resources available on their website (Resources tab in the main menu) and also courses available at the ACPAN Academy may be suitable for your preparation.
The PACU certification exam consists of four sub-exams:
Each sub-exam is available on the ACPAN Academy, will take 15 minutes and costs $20. You will have to obtain an 80% pass for each sub-exam. After successful completion, you can download a certificate. You can take each sub-exam as often as you like, but each attempt will cost $20.
Before starting the sub-exams:
When passing all four sub-exams the first time, the total costs for PACU certification will be $80.
Register your anaesthesia certification application:
Register your certification application on the ACPAN website (education tab at the main menu). You will be asked to complete the following details: name, address, email address, phone number, AHPRA registration number, and ACPAN membership number.
Upload all documents to the ACPAN website:
Once your registration details are completed, upload all required documents to the ACPAN website:
After uploading all documents to the ACPAN website, your application will be reviewed and you will receive a confirmation email of your successful certification application including your PACU certification certificate. Your name will also be added to the ACPAN certification register which is visible for the public.
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Your certification will be valid for three years. After these three years, you can apply for recertification. The recertification process entails 5 steps:
Prepare an overview of your 30 CPD points: you are required to provide evidence of completion of a certain number of hours of continuing professional development in the previous three years, which must incorporate 10 hours per year in peri anaesthesia (this is included in the 20 hours/year required for AHPRA).
Complete successfully the online certification exams and download the certificates:
Update your details
Upload all documents to the ACPAN website:
You will receive confirmation of your recertification application including a certification certificate
The content of the sub-exams is based on the ACPAN level 1 curriculum for PACU nurses. The exam questions have been written by a large, representative group of experienced perianaesthesia nurses and are relevant to the current practice of anaesthesia nursing in Australia. Each question is referenced, reviewed and updated bi-annually. Continuous upgrading of the question bank and relevant references is a task not undertaken lightly by the ACPAN Board and a stringent process is followed.