Practice of Labor Analgesia among Anesthesiologists Across India: Cross-sectional Study

BACKGROUND: The practice of labor analgesia is an essential part of standard obstetric care. There are many guidelines and programs, which have been setup in labor pain management, in the developed country. In India, the practice of labor analgesia is not very popular. The role of labor analgesia providers lies in educating the parturients about the need of labor analgesia and also to develop comprehensive programs and guidelines in providing it. AIM: The aim of our study was to assess knowledge and practice of labour analgesia among anaesthesiologists across India. METHODS: Survey was carried out using SurveyMonkey, an online internet website. Questionnaires were sent by mail to 11,986 anesthesiologists. The questions were based on methods of labor analgesia practice, regional analgesia techniques, commonly used drugs, complications and myths surrounding labor analgesia. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Responses were compiled and data was analysed. Results were expressed as percentages. RESULTS: There were 1351 responses to the survey. Labor analgesia was practiced mainly by anesthesiologists across India (71.34%, n = 945). Regional analgesia techniques were the most common techniques followed in providing labor analgesia (69.61%, n = 940) and among regional analgesia techniques, epidural analgesia (43.52%, n = 588) was the most common method. Bupivacaine was considered the drug of choice (64.10% n = 866) and Fentanyl was the standard adjuvant used (83.34% n = 1126). Majority of the respondents did not believe in myths surrounding labor analgesia. CONCLUSION: Epidural analgesia is the most common technique practiced, bupivacaine the commonly used local anaesthetic, fentanyl common adjuvant used in practice of labour analgesia by anaesthesiologists across India.