***TASK*** the task is to summarize an input biomedical literature in six sentences 
    ***INPUT*** the input is a biomedical literature 
    ***OUTPUT*** the output is the summary of an input biomedical literature in six sentences 
    ***DOCUMENTATION*** 
    ***EXAMPLES*** 
    Input: The pharmacy and nursing time requirements , quality of postoperative pain control , and cost of patient-controlled analgesia ( PCA ) and intramuscular ( i.m . ) analgesic therapy were studied . All timings were conducted with a stopwatch on a single nursing unit that primarily receives gynecologic surgery patients . The various work elements involved in each type of therapy were timed individually . Both quality of analgesia and cost were evaluated in a prospect i ve , r and omized study in hysterectomy patients . I.M. patients received meperidine hydrochloride 75 - 100 mg every three to four hours as needed . PCA  patients had access to morphine sulfate 1 mg or meperidine hydrochloride 10 mg , with a six-minute lockout period . The patients scored their pain every four hours . Direct costs for PCA were calculated as drug cost plus tubing cost plus form cost plus maintenance cost plus depreciation cost . Direct costs for i.m . therapy consisted of the cost of drugs . The total mean nursing time per patient was 16.9 minutes for PCA and 10.7 minutes for i.m . therapy . Pharmacy time per patient was 5.1 minutes longer for PCA than for i.m . therapy . Thirty-six hysterectomy patients ( 17 i.m . and 19 PCA ) were enrolled in the study of pain control and cost . Among i.m . patients , 64 % of the pain scores were mild or worse , compared with 40 % for PCA patients . The median pain scores were moderate for i.m . patients and mild for PCA patients . Scores tended to be lower for PCA patients at 16 and 20 hours . Although equal numbers of patients in the two groups experienced nausea , i.m . patients needed more doses of antiemetics than PCA patients . ( ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS & NA ; Cardiovascular diseases cause more disability and economic loss in industrialized nations than any other group of diseases . In previous work [ Nurs Res 49 ( 2000a ) 1 ] , most coronary artery bypass graft patients ( CABG , N=225 ) reported unrelieved pain and received inadequate analgesics . This study proposed to evaluate a preadmission education intervention to reduce pain and related activity interference after CABG surgery . Patients ( N=406 ) were r and omly assigned to ( a )  st and ard care or ( b ) st and ard care+pain booklet group . Data were examined at the preadmission clinic and across days 1–5 after surgery . Outcomes were pain‐related interference ( BPI‐I ) , pain ( MPQ‐SF ) , analgesics ( chart ) , concerns about taking analgesics ( BQ‐SF ) , and satisfaction ( American Pain Society‐POQ ) . The impact of sex was explored related to primary and secondary outcomes . The intervention group did not have better overall pain management although they had some reduction in pain‐related interference in activities ( t(355)=2.54 , P<0.01 ) and fewer concerns about taking analgesics ( F(1,313)=2.7 , P<0.05 ) on day 5 . Despite moderate 24‐h pain intensity across 5 days , patients in both groups received inadequate analgesics ( i.e. 33 % prescribed dose ) . Women reported more pain and pain‐related interference in activities than men . The booklet was rated as helpful , particularly by women . In conclusion , the intervention did not result in a clinical ly significant improvement in pain management outcomes . In future , an intervention that considers sex‐specific needs and also involves educating the health professionals caring for these patients may influence these results Immediately before they underwent femoral angiography , 45 patients were given one of three types of audiotapes : a relaxation response tape recorded for this study , a tape of contemporary instrumental music , or a blank tape . All patients were instructed to listen to their audiotape during the entire angiographic procedure . Each audiotape was played through earphones . Radiologists were not told the group assignment or tape contents . The patients given the audiotape with instructions to elicit the relaxation response ( n = 15 ) experienced significantly less anxiety ( P less than .05 ) and pain ( P less than .001 ) during the procedure , were observed by radiology nurses to exhibit significantly less pain ( P less than .001 ) and anxiety ( P less than .001 ) , and requested significantly less fentanyl citrate ( P less than .01 ) and diazepam ( P less than .01 ) than patients given either the music ( n = 14 ) or the blank ( n = 16 ) control audiotapes . Elicitation of the relaxation response is a simple , inexpensive , efficacious , and practical method to reduce pain , anxiety , and medication during femoral angiography and may be useful in other invasive procedures The purpose of this comparative study was to examine differences in pain intensity , sleep disturbance , sleep effectiveness , fatigue , and vigor between patients undergoing cholecystectomy who received either patient-controlled analgesia ( PCA ) or intramuscular ( IM ) injections of narcotics for postoperative pain . The PCA group consisted of 16 women , aged 22 - 58 ; the IM group consisted of 10 women , aged 22 - 60 . Data were collected on patients ' postoperative days 1 and 2 . Findings indicated that patients receiving PCA reported less pain on postoperative day 1 and less fatigue on postoperative day 2 than patients receiving IM injections of narcotics BACKGROUND In previous studies comparing patient-controlled-analgesia and intramuscular pain management have been unable to provide conclusive evidence of the benefits of either method of postoperative pain control . AIM The purpose of the study was to compare the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of intravenous patient-controlled-analgesia with intermittent intramuscular morphine for Chinese women in the first 24 hours following elective gynaecological surgery . METHODS A r and omized control design was used . The main outcomes were level of pain and cost for the two types of pain management . Participants indicated their level of pain at rest and when deep breathing or coughing on a 100 mm Visual Analogue Scale , on seven occasions within 24 postoperative hours . Costs for the two types of pain management were based on the costs of equipment , drugs and nursing time . RESULTS A total of 125 women participated in the study .  Mean pain level over the 24 hours in the patient-controlled-analgesia group was significantly lower than in the intramuscular group ( P < 0.001 ) . Mean pain level over the seven occasions for the patient-controlled-analgesia group was 11.83 points ( 95 % CI 7.14 - 16.52 ) lower when at rest and 11.73 points ( 95 % CI 5.96 - 17.50 ) lower during motion than the intramuscular group . Cost per patient was $ 81.10 ( Hong Kong ) higher for patient-controlled-analgesia than for intramuscular pain management . Women in the patient-controlled-analgesia group had significantly greater satisfaction with pain management than those in the intramuscular group ( P < 0.001 ) , but reported significantly more episodes of nausea ( P < 0.05 ) . CONCLUSIONS While patient-controlled-analgesia was more costly , it was also more effective than conventional on-dem and intramuscular opioid injections after laparotomy for gynaecological surgery Background and Objectives : To compare the use of patient-controlled analgesia to intermittent intramuscular injections of morphine following major gynecological laparoscopic procedures in order to assess differences in level of pain , sedation , episodes of nausea and /or vomiting , hospitalization time and patient satisfaction with their postoperative analgesia . Methods : Seventy-two patients undergoing major gynecological laparoscopic surgery were r and omized to receive either postoperative analgesia via intermittent intramuscular injection of morphine ( Group 1 ) or patient controlled analgesia ( PCA - Group 2 ) . All patients received anesthesia via a st and ardized protocol . Postoperative pain levels were recorded via a 10 cm visual analogue scale , and sedation scores were recorded on a st and ard PCA form . Episodes of nausea and vomiting were also recorded on the same form . Results : There were no statistically significant differences between intramuscular analgesia and PCA for any of the factors studied . Most significantly it was found that most patients ceased to require either form of parenteral analgesia within 24 hours of their procedure , regardless of the operating time . Conclusion : It is important for the surgeon to be aware of the effects of postoperative analgesia on his or her patients ' level of satisfaction . We do not recommend the use of PCA analgesia following major laparoscopic gynecological surgery Colonic surgery patients were studied to measure : the influence of continuous thoracic epidural analgesia ( TEA ) on a postoperative pain score , the time till onset of defaecation , blood loss , postoperative temperature elevations , rate of bacterial contamination of wounds and urine , and general surgical complications .  Group I patients ( n = 57 ) received general anaesthesia and TEA for the operation , followed by continuous TEA ( 0·25 per cent bupivacaine ) for 72 h.  Group II patients ( n = 59 ) received general anaesthesia for the operation , followed by systemic analgesia on request . Significant beneficial effects of TEA in group I were demonstrated by lower pain scores in the first 24 h after surgery and earlier defaecation . However , there were fewer temperature elevations in group II . There was no significant difference between the groups in terms of positive bacteriological cultures , blood loss , need for postoperative mechanical ventilation and complications . However , there was a trend toward a higher rate of rectal anastomotic breakdown , increased blood replacement and intensive care therapy , and longer hospitalization in group I. These results do not suggest any significant beneficial therapeutic effect of continuous TEA in colonic surgery compared with a conventional systemic analgesic regimen . In selected patients ( i.e. those with severe pain or those prone to develop postoperative ileus ) continuous TEA may be beneficial OBJECTIVE To examine the effects of adjunctive postoperative massage and vibration therapy on short-term postsurgical pain , negative affect , and physiologic stress reactivity . DESIGN Prospect i ve , r and omized controlled trial . The treatment groups were : ( 1 ) usual postoperative care ( UC ) ; ( 2 ) UC plus massage therapy ; or ( 3 ) UC plus vibration therapy . SETTING The University of Virginia Hospital Surgical Units , Gynecology-Oncology Clinic , and General Clinical Research Center . SUBJECTS One hundred and five ( N = 105 ) women who underwent an abdominal laparotomy for removal of suspected cancerous lesions . INTERVENTIONS All patients received UC with analgesic medication . Additionally , the massage group received st and ardized 45-minute sessions of gentle Swedish massage on the 3 consecutive evenings after surgery and the vibration group received 20-minute sessions of inaudible vibration therapy ( physiotones ) on the 3 consecutive evenings after surgery , as well as additional sessions as desired . OUTCOME MEASURES Sensory pain , affective pain , anxiety , distress , analgesic use , systolic blood pressure , 24-hour urine free cortisol , number of postoperative complications , and days of hospitalization . RESULTS On the day of surgery , massage was more effective than UC for affective ( p = 0.0244 ) and sensory pain ( p = 0.0428 ) , and better than vibration for affective pain ( p = 0.0015 ) . On postoperative day 2 , massage was more effective than UC  for distress ( p = 0.0085 ) , and better than vibration for sensory pain ( p = 0.0085 ) . Vibration was also more effective than UC for sensory pain ( p = 0.0090 ) and distress ( p = .0090 ) . However , after controlling for multiple comparisons and multiple outcomes , no significant differences were found . CONCLUSIONS Gentle Swedish massage applied postoperatively may have minor effects on short-term sensory pain , affective pain , and distress among women undergoing an abdominal laparotomy for removal of suspected malignant tissues Although epidural opioids frequently are used to provide postoperative analgesia , several articles have suggested that the analgesia after epidural fentanyl is similar to that after an equal dose of fentanyl given intravenously . To address this issue further , 29 postthoracotomy patients were studied in a r and omized , double-blinded trial comparing a lumbar epidural fentanyl infusion with an intravenous fentanyl infusion for analgesia , plasma fentanyl pharmacokinetics , and respiratory effects for 20 h postoperatively . In all patients in both groups , good analgesia was achieved ( pain score less than 3 , maximum 10 ) over a similar time course , although the patients receiving epidural infusion required a significantly larger fentanyl infusion dose than did the patients receiving intravenous infusion ( group receiving epidural fentanyl infusion : 1.95 + /- 0.45 micrograms.kg-1.h-1 ; group receiving intravenous fentanyl infusion : 1.56 + /- 0.36 micrograms.kg-1.h-1 ; P = 0.0002 ) . The time course for the plasma fentanyl concentrations was similar in the two groups , and plasma fentanyl concentrations were not significantly different at any sampling period ( T7-T20 ; group receiving epidural fentanyl infusion : 1.8 + /- 0.5 ng/ml ; group receiving intravenous fentanyl 
    Output:
    
Types of outcome measures The primary outcome was the relief or reduction of post-operative pain .
Results Overall , there is no strong evidence to support the use of any intervention even though a few interventions showed some benefits .
However , evidence for these benefits was often based on single studies .
Most of the included studies showed that there was no difference between the interventions and the usual care with both being found equally effective .
Implication s for practice There was no strong evidence to support a particular practice .
No intervention was found to be harmful ; however , this does not presume to be evidence of safety .