3 Simple Questions to Predict Labor Pain and Epidural Analgesia Use in Parturients

Overview

Labor pain is complex to understand and challenging to define because of the interaction of multiple maternal and fetal factors. Poorly controlled acute post-procedural pain may result in harmful physiological and psychological consequences for both mother and baby. It is therefore important to understand the prelabor factors that may affect the labour pain to facilitate the intrapartum pain management. The goal of this prospective observational study is to verify if expectations regarding pain experience translate to actual pain outcomes for women who are undergoing induction of labor.

A prospective observational cohort study. 100 parturients having induction of labor that match inclusion criteria will be asked to participate. After written informed consent, vital signs and patient demographics will be obtained and recorded. A 3 question survey will be given. Patients will be asked to rate, using a 0-10 cm visual analog scale (VAS), their anxiety level ("On a scale of 0-10 cm, with 0 being not anxious at all through 10 being extremely anxious, how anxious are you about your upcoming labor and delivery?"), their anticipated pain ("On a scale of 0-10, with 0 being no pain at all and 10 being pain as bad as you can imagine, how much pain do you anticipate experiencing during your upcoming labor and delivery?"), and using a categorical scale, to rate their anticipated epidural analgesic need ("On a scale of 0-5, with 0 being none at all, 1 being much less than average, 2 being less than average, 3 being average, 4 being more than average, and 5 being much more than average, how much epidural pain medication do you anticipate needing during your upcoming labor and delivery?"). Then 24 hours after delivery, patient VAS scores will be recorded, number of boluses, total number of hours of labor, patient comfort level and satisfaction

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