Use of post-operative patient controlled analgesia:

Does the use of post-operative patient controlled analgesia (pca) in hospital settings help reduce overall morphine consumption.

Directions

find two research articles that provide high level evidence to answer your question.

Section 1: Evaluation of the research articles

Using the scholarly literature to support your work, answer the following questions:

a) What are the research questions asked in each of the papers?

b) What methods do the authors use to collect data to answer their questions?

c) How do these methods relate to the chosen methodology and/or study design?

d) What level of evidence is provided by the studies?

Section 2: Relating research to practice

Considering your answer to (d) above and the key findings of the studies, explain how these articles help to answer your clinical question, considering your population and practice setting. Use scholarly literature to support your argument.

Marking Criteria

Demonstrates ability to critically appraise a journal article.

Demonstrates ability to understand and describe key findings from research and other evidence-based resources and link these findings to a research question.

Demonstrates the ability to consider utilizing research for nursing practice and/or professional development.

Writes in an appropriate academic style, substantiating work with scholarly literature and using Harvard referencing