PACUs across the country all experience downtime at some point in a given day, and there is much evidence to support the fact that downtime or nonproductive use of staff can be a problem for a PACU budget. A PACU cannot run effectively without enough nurses to cover the patient recoveries or with too many nurses and not enough patients. “Flexing” of staff means being able to look at the unit as a whole and stagger nurses appropriately in order to accommodate changes in PACU arrivals and discharges. Many patient care managers will study the OR caseload the day before and set up a plan for nurses who may voluntarily go home early; they will look at union contracts and/or staffing policies to decide how and when to send nurses home.