What is the Effectiveness of Preoperative Education for Patients Using Patient Controlled Analgesia to Enhance Pain Management?

By WAN Yim Lai, Yani, NO II, Ward 23/F

Background

Post-operative pain is a common problem after surgery and interferes with patient’s general functions. Poor pain management causes serious complications, delays recovery, and increases length of stay in hospital. Patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) via a pump is used by patients to administer their own analgesia and PCA provides rapid pain management. Many studies have reported that pre-operative PCA education could lead to better pain management.

Purpose and Problem Statement

The study was aimed at investigating the effectiveness of pre-operative PCA education to enhance pain management.

Implementation Plan

Pre-study and post-study data were collected by interviewing patients using the questionnaire 24 hours after operation with implementation of pre-operative PCA education.

Results

Pre-operative PCA education can achieve better pain control, enhanced patient knowledge and satisfaction.

Recommendations and Next Steps

PCA education should be done prior to an operation in order to enhance pain control while increasing patient knowledge and satisfaction.