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 following topics: pre-operative information, reasons for pressing and not pressing the button, pain relief, side-effects, safety, advantages and disadvantages of patient-controlled analgesia, worries associated with its use and control over pain. A high level of satisfaction with the device, together with a view that it afforded control over pain, emerged from replies to simple, general questions. However, more detailed questions revealed side-effects and fears that constrained its use and hence patients' ability to control pain. Control is predominantly a feature of the professional's view of patient-controlled analgesia, rather than the patient's experience of this analgesic technique.