Specially Trained Registered Nurses Can Safely Manage Epidural Analgesia Infusion in Laboring Patients

PurposeTo discover evidence for defining the registered nurse's (RN's) role in the management of epidural analgesia in the labor and delivery setting.DesignThe Labor Epidural Nurse Safety (LENS) study consisted of two parts. The first part was a 10-year retrospective review of the outcomes of 2,568 laboring women for whom epidural catheters had been placed and verified by an anesthesiologist or certified registered nurse anesthetist, then continuous epidural infusion initiated, and basal rate or patient-controlled epidural analgesia (PCEA) dose increased, if needed, within specified parameters by specially trained labor and delivery RNs. The second part compared the outcomes of the neonates born to the 2,568 women in the first part of the study with neonates born to mothers who received PCEA with a continuous infusion initiated and managed exclusively by anesthesiologists and/or certified registered nurse anesthetists at two control sites.MethodsMaternal outcomes were quantified by incidences of clinically significant hypotension and sentinel events, such as respiratory distress, cardio/respiratory distress, loss of consciousness, and seizures. Evidence of neonatal outcomes was collected by comparing Apgar scores.FindingsNo sentinel events occurred, and there was no increase in maternal hypotensive events in the RN-managed group. There were no statistically significant differences in Apgar scores between the experimental and control groups.ConclusionSpecially trained RNs can safely initiate continuous infusions and increase the basal rate of epidural analgesia infusions or PCEA doses administered to laboring women, after insertion and confirmation of correct catheter placement by a qualified anesthesia provider, without adversely affecting maternal and fetal/neonatal outcomes.