Question

A client has been admitted to a post-surgical unit with a patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) system. Which statement is true of this medication delivery system?

A. Use of opioid analgesics in a PCA is contraindicated due to the risk of respiratory depression.
B. Thorough client education is necessary to prevent overdoses.
C. The dose that is delivered when the client activates the machine is preset.
D. An antidote is automatically delivered if the client exceeds the recommended dose.

Answer 1

The true statement regarding patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) systems is that the medication dose is preset. Thorough client education is crucial, and while naloxone reverses opioid overdoses, it is not automatically provided by the PCA system.

Step-by-step explanation:

The statement that is true of a patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) system is that the dose that is delivered when the client activates the machine is preset. This allows patients to self-administer pain relief within safe, prescribed limits, helping to prevent overdoses and ensuring effective pain management.

Thorough client education is necessary for the use of a PCA system, to ensure that patients understand how to use it correctly and are aware of the risks, including the opioid analgesics' high potential for abuse and the risk of respiratory depression.

Opiate antagonists like naloxone serve as antidotes for opioid overdoses by reversing respiratory depression. However, naloxone is not automatically delivered by PCA systems; it must be administered separately by medical personnel in the event of an overdose.