OBJECTIVES: To describe and measure intravenous patient controlled analgesia (IV-PCA) processes in postoperative pain management in patients in clinical practice that has undergone surgery at the Uppsala University Hospital, Sweden. METHODS: A model was designed and visualized via swimlane notation. Sub process levels were defined as “education”, “purchasing/depreciation/maintenance”, “procurement”, “supply”, “application” and “disposal”. Based on these, data was collected by two research methods, interviews and measurement forms including patient and staff satisfaction questionnaires. RESULTS: Ten members of hospital personnel with different responsibilities were interviewed to define the roles and activities involved in the entire IV-PCA process. Ten different roles were defined with 149 different activities. The involved roles and the duration of each activity in the sub process levels “supply”, “application” and “disposal” were measured from 85 consecutive patients with 13 different surgery types. The average duration of IV-PCA use per patient was 87 hours and 32 minutes. The staff spent on average 85 minutes in IV-PCA related activities, of which the nurse spent 98%. The average cost, including material and staff, for 24-hour usage of IV-PCA was €58.38. The patients thought that their pain was under control and they did not think it could be treated better, but they had some problem with pain when breathing or expectorating. According to the staff the IV-PCA system was easy to use for the patient but hindered their mobilization. CONCLUSIONS: IV-PCA involves many different roles and activities and intertwined sub processes. Therefore the whole system is complex and resource demanding. Comparisons of the results from similar studies at other hospitals will be very useful when optimizing the process.