The Mount Sinai journal of medicine, New York
-
Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Improving patient-controlled analgesia: adding droperidol to morphine sulfate to reduce nausea and vomiting and potentiate analgesia.
Opioid-related side effects, including nausea and vomiting, are common in patients using morphine in patient-controlled analgesia for postoperative pain relief. The purpose of this study was to determine if the addition of droperidol to a morphine sulfate delivery system could decrease the incidences of nausea and vomiting without increasing droperidol-related side effects. Forty ASA 1 and 2 patients scheduled to undergo peripheral orthopedic surgery were randomized to receive either morphine sulfate (2 mg/mL), or morphine sulfate (1.9 mg/mL) plus droperidol (0.125 mg/mL) for postoperative self-controlled analgesia. ⋯ The patients who used morphine sulfate plus droperidol had significantly less nausea and vomiting and used significantly less morphine. No patient experienced droperidol-related side effects. We conclude that the routine addition of droperidol to morphine sulfate in self-controlled analgesia improves the comfort of patients following peripheral orthopedic surgery.
-
Though we should help improve the lives of those with disabilities, it is not because we owe them help. The paper begins with a discussion of some features of disabilities: they are defining, ubiquitous, mutable, context dependent, and normative. The moral meaning of "owing" is analyzed and sources of moral duties set out and related to the moral claims of the disabled. Finally the paper suggests that decency--a minimal concern for the welfare of those whose lot we can improve--is a richer way to explain the moral propriety of helping the handicapped.