The major function of this unit is to monitor and observe the desired conditions of a patient after a surgery.

The nurses and other team engaged in the operations of the post anesthesia care unit are highly qualified and experienced in order to respond to any undesired and unwanted signs. The staff is usually prepared and trained for this specified purpose. The care unit includes machineries and monitors to keep an eye on heart beat, that can be other than normal due to the recent operation but it should not be varied to greater extents, which makes the staff do their work. Other thing that the unit monitors includes respiration system of the patient. It should be working properly, since the patient is sometimes unable to tell himself about his affection. The facility also measure the blood pressure of the patient, which may be high or low due to the operation, but again, it should be within a defined scale.

Another facility provided by the unit is to handle the pain of the patient after anesthesia. Sometimes, the pain becomes very excessive and certain measures are needed to be taken.

Having such a responsible and accountable job, anesthetic technicians are trained well before they start their work. The highest responsibility of the anesthetic technician is to take into account the beliefs, whether it is cultural or religious of the patient. Anesthetic technician also fulfills the medical privacy of the patient. The usual job of an anesthetic technician is to look after the machines and make sure whether they are working or not, prepare drugs necessary in normal and vital conditions, to prepare and supply air to the patient, monitor heart beat, temperature, respiration and other things. At the end, the anesthetic technician makes the patient wake properly, remove all installed devices and machines and forward the information to the related staff.

It is in very few cases that problems with patients in post anesthesia care unit increase to critical conditions and require some immediate action. But mostly, after waking and having all parameters okayed requires about 3-4 hours and then the patient is either discharged to transferred to the other department.