Nash & Associates White Paper:
"PCA
Patient
Controlled
Analgesia
Is it Safe in Today's Hospitals?"
- (May 9, 2011)
Patients who undergo a surgical procedure in a hospital are often placed on intravenous
pain medications after the procedure. These medications, such as morphine or other opioid
narcotics, are frequently delivered by a pump mechanism that can be regulated by the
patient. This is termed a PCA or patient controlled analgesia pump.
Studies have found that there are roughly one half million or more in-hospital cardiopulmonary arrests
(IHCA) in the U.S. every year and that approximately 80% of those patients who suffer an in-house
cardiopulmonary arrest do not survive, or sustain permanent and severe brain injury if they do live.1 This
same literature suggests that the difference between survival, or not, depends upon whether the
cardiopulmonary event was witnessed and how quickly CPR is initiated. Obviously, if a patient is receiving
continuous monitoring, that patient is much more likely to have a witnessed arrest and thus to have
responsive treatment and equipment available immediately, as opposed to a patient who is on a general
care floor without continuous monitoring. This is critically important for a patient who is receiving an
opioid narcotic medication via a PCA pump because such medication is known to cause respiratory and
potentially cardiac depression, which can lead to a cardiopulmonary arrest...
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