USP Quality Review

No. 81, Issued September 2004

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In This Issue:

Patient-Controlled Analgesia Pumps

In noncritically ill patients, patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) has been shown to improve pain management with less sedation, less opioid consumption, and potentially fewer adverse effects (e.g., respiratory complications). PCA pumps offer several safety features to prevent the administration of excessive amounts of analgesic medication (e.g., a "lockout interval" that specifies the minimum amount of time between each dose and an established maximum allowable amount of drug during a predefined time period). Despite these advantages, medication errors involving PCA pumps continue to occur.

Data Analysis
Selected Cases from MER
Recommendations Based on Analysis of Medication Errors


The USP Quality Review is a publication of the USP Center for the Advancement of Patient Safety. USP operates two complementary error reporting programs: the USP Medication Errors Reporting Program, presented in cooperation with the Institute for Safe Medication Practices, and MEDMARX®. For information on how to report errors, visit www.usp.org/hqi/patientSafety or call 1-800-23-ERROR (1-800-233-7767).