PCA: Is that Patient- or Provider-Controlled Analgesia?

Use of patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) continues to be a mainstay for managing acute pain in hospitals. PCA provides increased patient satisfaction and better pain control than the traditional as needed dosing of intravenous opioids (Hudcova, McNicol, Quah, Lau, & Carr, 2006). Not every patient is a candidate, but for those who fit the criteria, it can provide excellent pain management with limited side effects if prescribed appropriately. Education and attentive monitoring are imperative to the successful use for both the providers who prescribe PCA and the patients who use the technology.