New Orleans—Patients in postsurgical recovery, in the midst of oncologic treatments, or in the ICU frequently rely on patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) pumps to alleviate their pain. While PCA reduces suffering and effectively controls intake of highly addictive medications, a new study identified a sobering pattern of consistent errors, missing data and an alarming underestimation of bolus amounts that have the potential for devastating adverse outcomes for patients.
“We observed a