Question

A postsurgical patient has been provided with a morphine patient-controlled analgesic (pca but has expressed her reluctance to use it for fear of becoming addicted. how can the nurse best respond to this patient's concerns?

Answer 1

The nurse should assure the patient that morphine patient-controlled analgesics are safe and is not addictive because of the controls and precautions observed when using the medicine.  Morphine pca's dosage and usage are controlled and carefully monitored by computers, nurses and the hospital itself. This controls will not allow the pca to exceed to minimum allowable dosage per patient per hour thus overdose or addiction is less likely to happen.