Patient controlled analgesics for post operative patients: In post-operative patients, how do PCA devices compared with traditional analgesic methods affect pain management during their hospital stay?

Patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) is a portable, computerized infusion pump that releases a regulated amount of analgesics typically intravenously or subcutaneously when a patient presses the button (Perry, Potter, Stockert, Hall, Ross-Kerr, Wood, Astle, and Duggleby, 2014).The purpose of a PCA is to give the patient the control to manage their own pain before the pain gets intolerable, keep a steady level of comfortability and prevent complications that can arise from untreated pain. The button should be pressed on the earliest sign of pain or before a pain provoking activity (Perry et al., 2018). Notable strengths of the PCA are patient control for quicker pain relief, overall safe pain management with minimal risks of overdose or inappropriate use (Perry et al., 2014). Conclusion: patients will have less post-op complications due to pain while using the PCA. Patient education is an important factor in the effectiveness of the PCA delivery system. Research suggests PCA is effective with pain management and comfort is improved compared with conventional methods of opioid analgesia.