The health care provider plans to titrate a patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) machine to provide pain relief for a client with acute surgical pain who has never received opioids in the past. Which of the following nursing actions regarding opioid administration are appropriate at this time? (Select all that apply.)

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Monitoring for pain relief and teaching the client about how opioid use will improve postoperative outcomes are appropriate actions when administering opioids for acute pain. Although postoperative clients usually need decreasing amount of opioids by the second postoperative day, each client's response is individual. Tolerance may occur, but addiction to opioids will not develop in the acute postoperative period. The client should use the opioids to achieve adequate pain control, and so the nurse should not emphasize the adverse effects.

The Health Care Provider Plans to Titrate a Patient-Controlled Analgesia