Context: The critical period for a patient who was given general anaesthesia is the time during immediate recovery from anaesthesia. The PACU is a dynamic entity that greatly benefits the delayed recovery patients from research directed  interventions to guide the next level of care for post-operative health status.

Aim: The aim of this study is to determine peri-operative risk factors, morbidity and mortality of delayed recovery cases and correlate the outcomes of these patients with ASA physical status and Modified Aldrete’s recovery scores in the Post Anaesthesia Care unit (PACU) .

Methodology: After institutional ethics committee approval and written, informed consent, 434 adult patients belonging to both genders posted for general surgical elective procedures were included in this observational study. Delayed recovery patients were identified at the end of surgery using Modified Aldrete’s Recovery Score and shifted to PACU for further follow up until their discharge and  morbidity and mortality was recorded.

Results: Mean intra-operative blood loss and mean duration of surgery were proportionally increased as the ASA physical status is high = 0.000, statistically significant. As the pre-operative ASA physical status grading is increased the percentage of patients that had more than 48 hrs PACU stay also increased and it was statistically significant with p = 0.029. As the ASA grade increases the recovery scores were inversely proportional, p=0.029 statistically significant.

Conclusion: Preoperative co-morbid conditions, ASA physical status and Modified Aldrete’s Recovery Scores are good predictors of postoperative outcomes for patients given general anaesthesia.