Prescribing and self-administration of morphine in Hispanic and non-Hispanic Caucasian patients treated with patient-controlled analgesia

The purpose of this study was to determine whether differences in either prescribing or self-administration of morphine exist between Hispanic and White (Caucasian) post-operative patients treated with patient-controlled analgesia (PCA). A review of the medical records of 30 Hispanic and 30 White patients who received postoperative PCA was conducted. Both prescribed and self-administered morphine were analyzed using a two-sided, two-sample Student's t-test. No differences in the amount of morphine prescribed (11.23 ± 3.22 mg/hr in Hispanic patients, 11.05 ± 4.28 mg/hr in White patients; p = 0.8503) or self-administered (2.58 ± 2.02 mg/hr in Hispanic patients, 3.32 ± 3.00 mg/hr in White patients; p = 0.2711) were discovered. This study identified no statistically significant difference in either opioid prescribing or self-administration between Hispanic and White post-operative patients.