painkillers.

They can give themselves doses of pain relief medication using a control button worn like a watch.

The new system has just started at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital, Dr.

Barbara Jones said this week. Plans are under way for it to be used by child patients and terminally ill residents at Agape House.

Patients in pain no longer had to wait to attract a nurse's attention, she told a Rotary lunch.

Nor did they have to have painkiller injections in painful places.

The new devices pumped small, controlled doses of morphine into a patient's bloodstream. Using the control button, patients could decide when they needed a dose.

"Bermudians can now plug in, press the button and leave their pain behind,'' said Dr. Jones, chief of anaesthesia at the hospital.

Specialists had realised that patients were the best judges of when they needed pain relief, she said.

The pumps had been developed and had now been introduced for adult patients on general wards in Bermuda. "From now on, when you come into hospital for surgery, you will be shown a video and given an information sheet telling you how to use the pump.

"If you want it, we can give it to you for a small but insured charge that will allow you to have complete control of your own pain relief during your hospital stay.

"You will have the technology to deal with your own needs when you need it.

"The patient push-button is simply worn like a wristwatch -- just push the button when it hurts and you'll get a little morphine.'' The machines would not allow an overdose to be given, she said.

Patients could walk around and even have a shower while wearing them.

They lasted 72 hours, after which another one could be fitted if necessary.

They meant patients would get better more quickly, with fewer complications, and get back to work one day sooner on average.

Dr. Jones said allowing patients to control their own morphine would not make them addicts.