PERINATOLOGIYA AND PEDIATRIYA.2019.1(77):12-20; doi 10.15574/PP.2019.77.12

Tytarenko N. V., Kukuruza I. L., Kostyuchenko А. V., Vozniuk A. V.
National Pirogov Memorial Medical University, Vinnytsya, Ukraine

One of the main conditions for the legitimacy of agreement to the medical intervention is patient's awareness. The consent for the epidural analgesia for labor is unique. The autonomy and competence of the Ukrainian female patients are controversial because of their limited awareness about anesthesia for labor during the antenatal counseling. Very often pregnant women first encounter the anesthesiologist when they are already in advanced labor and have no time to either gain an information or make a decision. This article outlines the main problematic issues of informing female patients before obtaining a consent for epidural analgesia during labor in healthy women. The experience of anesthesiologists of the Vinnytsa regional perinatal center is presented in this paper. These anesthesiologists inform pregnant women about epidural analgesia during labor with the help of informational bulletin «Epidural analgesia and labor» on the stage of antenatal counseling, which significantly reduces the ethical and practical difficulties associated with the need for a detailed explanation of the risks of analgesia to the female patient with severe pain during childbirth. The risks and benefits of the epidural analgesia during labor are described from the evidence-based medicine point of view, which should form the basis for the counseling of pregnant women. Anesthesiologists should be aware of current evidence of the risks and benefits of epidural analgesia during labor and know modern standards for providing information to female patients.

Key words: labor, epidural analgesia, complications, еxplanation to the patient, informed consent.

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Article received: Nov 21, 2018. Accepted for publication: Feb 20, 2019.