Ricerc@Sapienza

Aim: to investigate the expectations and knowledge of
intrapartum epidural analgesia from woman’s point of
view.
Methods: a multidimensional investigation was carried
out on a sample of 360 healthy women in a large
Italian obstetric facility. Results. Intrapartum epidural
analgesia was more common in patients with higher
education level and higher socio-economic income as
well as in women who are employed. Most epidural
analgesia were requested by patients who judge
themselves as anxious and who have fear of pain in
labour. Many women demanding epidural analgesia
seem to fear a loss of control during labour. Additionally,
some of those not wanting epidural analgesia feel that
it can negatively affect their ability to collaborate. In
spite of adequate pain control, a proportion of women
with epidural analgesia was poorly satisfied by the
procedure. Overall, patients were poorly informed
about intrapartum epidural analgesia.
Conclusion: the main expectation of patients from
epidural analgesia is the ability to maintain self-control
during labour and delivery rather than pain relief.
As the goal of intrapartum analgesia is pain relief,
patients should be better counseled about intrapartum
epidural analgesia in order to avoid a situation where
an unnecessary analgesia betrays their expectations.