Efficacy of patient-controlled analgesia in women cholecystectomy patients

The purpose of this comparative study was to examine differences in pain intensity, sleep disturbance, sleep effectiveness, fatigue, and vigor between patients undergoing cholecystectomy who received either patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) or intramuscular (IM) injections of narcotics for postoperative pain. The PCA group consisted of 16 women, aged 22-58; the IM group consisted of 10 women, aged 22-60. Data were collected on patients' postoperative days 1 and 2. Findings indicated that patients receiving PCA reported less pain on postoperative day 1 and less fatigue on postoperative day 2 than patients receiving IM injections of narcotics.