Evaluation of the efficiency of patient controlled analgesia in children with sickle cell anemia from the perspective of health care professionals and parents.

Abstract

In this study, we aimed to evaluate the efficacy of the PCA method as well as the attitudes of parents and health care professionals on the usage of PCA on children with SCA.
The parents of children with SCA(n=54) followed by Algology department and the healthcare providers(doctors, nurses)(n=32);totally 86 people were involved in the study.To evaluate the efficacy of the method, a questionnaire was prepared and the level of knowledge of the participants on PCA method;advantages and disadvantages of the method have been questioned.According to 65.6%(n=21) of the heath care providers PCA must be used during acute phase of pain.Great majority of the participants (93%,n=80) thought that pain was effectively controlled during day and night.PCA reduced the fear of unavailability of analgesic drugs in 83.3%(n=45) of parents and in 87.5% (n=28) of health care providers.The fear of exacerbation of pain was significantly reduced in parents(37%) compared to health care providers (9.4%)(p<0.05).Most of the parents (87%,n=47) reported that they did not preferred to use demand dose of analgesic until their children complained from severe pain due to concern of over dose or addiction.Repeated machine alarms(48%,n=26) and the length of refilling time(48%,n=26) were reported as disadvantages of PCA method.In this study, parents and health care professional found PCA method to be effective to relief pain in children with SCA.Fears and biased knowledge of the users about the drug thought to hamper to reach the sufficient analgesic dose.Educational courses for the users about PCA and drugs may increase the effect of PCA method.