Assessment of postoperative pain management with PCA by patients and nursing staff

Patient-controlled analgesia has been proven to be an effective technique i n postoperative pain management. The aim of our study was to evaluate PCA o n general surgery wards. 311 patients and their nurses were questioned abou t their experiences in using PCA for postoperative pain management. Satisfa ction with pain relief judged by both patients and nursing staff, incidence of negative side effects and technical problems were studied. The great ma jority of patients and nursing staff rated the quality of pain relief as be ing satisfactory. incidence of negative side effects was extraordinarily lo w. There was no respiratory depression observed, technical problems hardly arised. Most of the patients coped very well with operating their PCA-pumps . We conclude that PCA is a safe and effective method in postoperative pain management on surgical wards. Under the condition of regular monitoring of pain intensity, of analgesic consumption, level of sedation and of side ef fects by trained medical and nursing staff, monitoring of respiration and v igilance is not necessary for the PCA regimen we used.