Nurses' adoption of a patient-controlled analgesia approach

The value of a patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) approach has been demonstrated in the literature. A group of nurses responsible for implementing a PCA approach in their agencies reported varying levels of success. It was not known how nurses' values, goals, and experiences influenced their innovation adoption behavior, nor was it understood how an organization's contextual factors affected nurses' adoption of the PCA approach. The purpose of this study was to increase the understanding of the factors that influence nurses' adoption of PCA. A total of 13 coinvestigators responsible for the implementation of PCA in their agencies formed a participatory action research group. A phenomenological approach, using staff nurse focus groups, was chosen by the coinvestigators to gather data from their respective agencies. The concept of innovation adoption provided the framework for the study.