Check the Blood Pressure! An Educational Tool for Anesthesiology Trainees Converting Epidural Labor Analgesia to Cesarean Delivery Anesthesia

Recognition and treatment of maternal hypotension during epidural anesthesia administration for intrapartum cesarean delivery preserves maternal-fetal perfusion. A case that required quality assurance review uncovered lapses in maternal hemodynamic monitoring during the transition to intrapartum cesarean delivery anesthesia. To address this, a practice outline was designed for trainee's education describing intrapartum epidural dosing for cesarean delivery and adequate blood pressure monitoring. The time-lapse between epidural dosing and subsequent blood pressure was evaluated before and after the introduction of our educational tool. The time-lapse between blood pressure measures decreased to <10 minutes (10.78-13.92 vs 8.8-9.76 minutes).