The goal of this clinical trial is to compare traditional palpation to pre-procedural lumbar ultrasound prior to epidural placement in obese (BMI \>40) obstetric patient population. The main questions it aims to answer are: * Is a pre-procedural lumbar ultrasound superior to traditional palpation in terms of total number of epidural needle redirections during epidural placement? * Is there no difference in time to epidural loss between pre-procedural lumbar ultrasound and traditional palpation during epidural placement? Participants will be randomized to either a pre-procedural lumbar ultrasound or traditional palpation at the time of epidural placement.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
SINGLE
Enrollment
150
Investigators will utilize our ultrasound machine to complete a pre-procedural lumbar ultrasound prior to epidural placement.
MetroHealth Hospital
Cleveland, Ohio, United States
Epidural Redirects
Total number of epidural needle redirections
Time frame: Day of Epidural
Total time to epidural space
Total time to epidural space observed via loss of resistance.
Time frame: Day of Epidural
Number of attempts at a different level
Number of attempts at a different lumbar level.
Time frame: Day of Epidural
Epidural replacement rate
Includes epidurals that needed to be replaced because of failed epidural or inadequate pain relief
Time frame: Day of Epidural
Patient satisfaction
Patient's satisfaction with epidural experience observed by a survey in post-partum
Time frame: 24 hours post-epidural
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