Nurse-controlled intravenous analgesia. Effective control of pain after thoracotomy.

Nurse-controlled continuous intravenous opioid analgesia was evaluated prospectively in 60 patients after thoracotomy. The rate of opioid infusion was adjusted, and bolus does were administered, as required to maintain patient comfort. The patients evaluated their pain using a visual analogue scale on 10 occasions during the first 48 hours after surgery. Pain scores remained consistently low throughout the period of measurement. Over the study period there was a 30-fold difference between the least and greatest requirement for opioid to achieve adequate analgesia. No major side effects were encountered. The study indicates that nurse-controlled intravenous analgesia can be successfully used for pain relief after thoracotomy.