The Role Of Epidurals In Our Labor And Delivery

We do have pain protocol, and that is just to go by what the patient says. It is patient specific, and we don't have standing orders for pain meds. In our Labor and Delivery, 95% get epidurals for pain control. There is not a specific time when they have to get it. I have seen patients get their epidural at 1 cm, and I have seen patients get it at 10cm. Most of the doctors feel once the patient ruptures their membranes, they can get an epidural because they are going to eventually deliver. The epidural takes on average 5-10 minutes to administer, including setting the patient up for the epidural. The epidural takes about 15-20 minutes to be totally effective. Once the patient gets the epidural, we end up inducing the patient because the epidural