PATIENT-CONTROLLED ANALGESIA - AN ASSESSMENT BY 200 PATIENTS

Two hundred patients completed a questionnaire about their experiences of patient-controlled analgesia. The questionnaire covered the follow ing topics: pre-operative information, reasons for pressing and not pr essing the button, pain relief, side-effects, safety, advantages and d isadvantages of patient-controlled analgesia, worries associated with its use and control over pain. A high level oi satisfaction with the d evice, together with a view that it afforded control over pain, emerge d from replies to simple, general questions, However, more detailed qu estions revealed side-effects and fears that constrained its use and h ence patients' ability to control pain. Control is predominantly a fea ture of the professional's view of patient-controlled analgesia, rathe r than the patient's experience of this analgesic technique.