To establish recommendations for those not in active labour. The aim of this change is to provide assessment and care for low risk patients, such that they can safely be admitted only when in active labour. Electronic fetal monitoring is overused in 'low risk' delivery. EFM was defined as monitoring which occurred either intermittently or continuously, usually after a 20 minute assessment room strip was done. 220 charts were surveyed of low risk patients.
Epidurals provide effective pain relief for labour with minimal effects on the fetus.
Labour progress and outcome is influenced by a wide variety of coexisting anesthetic, obstetric and patient variables. Good clinical research encompassing randomization, blinding and absence of selection bias is a major challenge in the obstetric setting. There is ongoing debate about whether the association between epidurals and CS rate in nulliparous patients is causal or merely reflective of a need for increased pain relief due to underlying obstetric factors or complications. Questions about the timing of epidural initiation during labour have also been raised. Also observed was a difference in the number and timing of epidurals in induced compared to non-induced labours.