{
    "abstract": "Faced with a serious shortage of qualified nurses for critically ill patients, methods to reduce the time required to deliver care without sacrificing quality are needed. A non-electronic device designed as a patient-controlled analgesic (PCA) was evaluated as a nurse-controlled device (NCA). Twenty-five intubated patients received morphine sulfate (MS) with the nurse-controlled device (NCA) and 12 by standard IV push policy. The average nursing time for narcotic dosing with the standard policy was 5 minutes/unit dose. A total of 1,183 NCA doses were given over 77 patient days. The average doses per patient day were 15 (2-38). The average nursing time was 22 seconds/NCA dose. The NCA saved 85 nursing minutes/patient day. Annual nursing labor costs were reduced by $77,000.00 with NCA. Total costs for standard IV push narcotic use were $36.43/patient day versus $35.45/patient day for NCA. Using this protocol, the NCA system saved $8,500.00 annually. By increasing the duration of PCA use to 72 hours, the annual savings would become $49,500.00. These data indicate that a simple NCA can deliver controlled drugs rapidly and safely, save valuable nursing time, and decrease the cost of ICU care.",
    "authors": [
        {
            "affiliation": "Department of Surgery, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas 75235-9031.",
            "firstname": "J A",
            "initials": "JA",
            "lastname": "Weigelt"
        },
        {
            "affiliation": null,
            "firstname": "C",
            "initials": "C",
            "lastname": "Dyke"
        },
        {
            "affiliation": null,
            "firstname": "R L",
            "initials": "RL",
            "lastname": "Martin"
        }
    ],
    "conclusions": null,
    "copyrights": null,
    "doi": "10.1097/00005373-199009000-00010",
    "journal": "The Journal of trauma",
    "keywords": [],
    "methods": null,
    "publication_date": "1990-09-01",
    "pubmed_id": "2213947",
    "results": null,
    "title": "Alternative delivery system for controlled drugs in the surgical intensive care unit.",
    "xml": "<Element 'PubmedArticle' at 0x788501dfac00>"
}