title: Nurses' views on ease of patient care in postoperative pain management.
abstract: The fentanyl HCl iontophoretic transdermal system (ITS) is a compact, needle-free, pre-programmed patient-controlled analgesic system that was developed to address limitations to existing therapies for postoperative pain management. A randomized, controlled trial was conducted in 11 European countries to evaluate the efficacy and safety of postoperative pain control using fentanyl ITS compared with a standard regimen of morphine provided by an intravenous patient-controlled analgesia (IV PCA) pump. This article summarizes results from Nurse Ease-of-Care Questionnaires which were completed to assess the convenience and ease of use of each pain management modality from the perspective of the nurse. Nurses' ratings of patient-care tasks associated with each pain management system were significantly more favourable for fentanyl ITS than for morphine IV PCA. These findings suggest that nurses consider fentanyl ITS to be easier to use than morphine IV PCA.
authors.affiliation: East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust, Stevenage.
authors.forename: P van
authors.initials: Pv
authors.lastname: Raders
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Aubry
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Friberg
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Huygens
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Koch
mesh_terms: D000279:Administration, Cutaneous; D016058:Analgesia, Patient-Controlled / Q000379:methods / Q000451:nursing*; D000701:Analgesics, Opioid / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D017598:Efficiency, Organizational; D004867:Equipment Design; D005060:Europe; D005283:Fentanyl / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D007478:Iontophoresis / Q000379:methods / Q000451:nursing*; D009020:Morphine / Q000627:therapeutic use; D024802:Nurse's Role / Q000523:psychology; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000523:psychology*; D010147:Pain Measurement; D010149:Postoperative Pain / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011182:Postoperative Care / Q000379:methods / Q000451:nursing*; D012449:Safety; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D016526:Workload
chemical_list: D000701:Analgesics, Opioid; D009020:Morphine; D005283:Fentanyl